Day: June 3, 2026

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Red Lane Effects on 29/929 Dufferin and 511 Bathurst

This article updates previously published on the Dufferin bus and Bathurst streetcar routes to show how the travel times in affected areas changed with the gradual implementation of red lanes over past months.

In summary, there is a reduction in travel time during some periods, but not others, typically because congestion is not an issue all of the time. An important factor, one we saw some years back on King Street, is not just to lower travel times, but to reduce the variations that contribute to irregular headways.

With a reserved lane, periods that might not be badly congested all the time have extra protection against surges like special events or construction projects that remove some network capacity. This depends on enforcement, of course, and paint alone will not keep motorists out of transit lanes.

The balance of the article shows how travel times have evolved from 2024 to May 2026 as a reference point before the World Cup events stress the transit and road system.

Also shown here are the headways on the three services from terminals and along the route. This is a very serious problem, and, indeed, the Achilles’ Heel of the RapidTO scheme. It is not enough to reduce travel times by a few minutes if the service reliability is poor.

Riders are more sensitive to wait times than travel times, especially over shorter distances because the unreliability of a wait contributes substantially to total travel time. On a route like Dufferin with local and express service, the short travel time can be completely outweighed by the longer wait for a bus which is also likely to be crowded when it eventually arrives.

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Reviewing Subway Delay Data 2025-2026

The TTC recently updated its delay records for subway, bus, streetcar and LRT on the City’s Open Data Site. These files are raw data, and some slicing and dicing are required to put them in an approachable format.

I have consolidated the data from January 2025 to April 2026 with the full set linked and explained at the end of this post. Extracts of interest are in the main article.

Caveats:

  • The accuracy of this information depends on what the TTC chose to log. I have no reason to believe that they omitted any incidents.
  • When a delay period is cited, this is the length of the event, but there is no indication of the pervasiveness on general operations and riders through multi-train delays or service suspensions. This information is not included in the logs.
  • There are many separate codes for events that are reported publicly as “operational” or “mechanical” problems. Getting a handle on these requires a second level of analysis to group related items. I have not done this here in the interest of getting the basic data into an article for discussion.

Much debate about subway delays and safety has focused on two areas:

  • Track level incursions and the benefits of Platform Edge Doors (PEDs)
  • Security of riders

Unauthorized access to track level is far more common than cases where a train strikes a passenger (733 incidents vs 26 over 16 months). Prevention of track level access requires a physical barrier that will dissuade all but the most determined from getting off of the platform. Other related delays involve debris which could be a source of fires. This requires a true barrier.

Security incidents take many forms, but they are quite numerous. Not all of them represent a threat to riders. There has been much hype thanks to Provincial regulations regarding open use of drugs, but other types of security and safety events are far more numerous. New arrest powers will only make a small dent. This is security theatre, not a real response to the broader range of public disturbances, aggressive behaviour, mental and other health problems. The TTC and City recognize this in the recently announced increase in various types of services to be provided on the system.

That said, I do recognize that there are problem areas on surface routes, but security in that part of the network is much less present, and current attention focuses on the subway.

What is very striking about the list is the prevalence of events related to equipment and infrastructure. These are “internal” to the TTC in that any reduction will require improvements in TTC practices. The TTC needs to address areas they can fix on their own rather than, as happens too often, they focus on issues external and beyond their control. This will not eliminate all delays, but should produce real benefits in reliability and quality of service.

Detailed breakdowns follow the “more” break.

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