At the July 22 meeting of the TTC Board, there was a fair amount of discussion about a motion by Commissioner Saxe asking for a study of improving the College streetcar, properly known as 506 Carlton.

The TTC Board:

1. Directed staff, in collaboration with the General Manager, Transportation Services, to report back to this Board in Q1 2027 with recommendations how to improve the speed and reliability of the College streetcar through measures that are within the control of the TTC.

There was a companion motion at the Infrastructure & Environment Committee on July 15 with the intent is that the TTC and City work together on this project.

A few deputants spoke to the issue including a challenger to Saxe’s Council seat in the coming election, and they advanced various possible solutions to streetcar speed problems. There was some debate about whether the motion should only address the portion of the 506 Carlton car within Saxe’s ward, the full line, or the streetcar network overall. A related issue is that the TTC already has a study of streetcar operations in general underway that will report back early in 2027. It is not clear what a 506-specific resolution adds.

This article reviews various proposals to speed up streetcar service in the context of the 506 Carlton route. Although this is usually cast as a “streetcar” issue, that is only because the major downtown routes operate with streetcars. Some of the problems, notably political resistance to giving transit better priority over cars, would apply even if these routes used buses.

Issues covered here include:

• Stop geometry and spacing
• Transit priority signals
• Track switch and control system design
• Operating practices
• Red lanes and rights-of-way
• Service reliability and frequency
• Current and historical route speed
• Why “Carlton” and not “College”?