This article deals with the main batch of September 6 changes including:
- Seasonal service changes
- Warden Station construction
- Routing changes at Kennedy Station
- New services
- Modified bus diversion for College/Carlton construction
Also included are various tables showing vehicle allocations, the service budget, and construction projects.
Detailed before-and-after service plan comparisons will be added in coming days. Please check back.
Previously Announced
The following route changes are described in Part I of this series:
- 512/312 St. Clair
- 340 Junction Night Bus
- 8 Broadview
- 62 Mortimer
- 72 Pape
- 100 Flemingdon Park
Subway Gap Train Changes
“Gap trains” are extras that are scheduled as spares to be inserted as needed to fill gaps in subway service. The allocation of trains will change between Lines 1 YUS and 2 BD, with a general reduction in numbers due to “workforce constraints” (i.e. a shortage of operators). There is no change to scheduled service levels.
- Line 1 is reduced to 1 gap train in the AM peak and midday weekdays. All other periods will have no gap trains.
- Line 2 will increase from 2 to 4 gap trains in the AM peak, and from 1 to 4 in the PM peak.
There are no other changes in subway service levels.
6 Finch West Service Improvement
Scheduled travel times on 6 Finch West will be reduced and service frequencies improved. Travel times will be reduced by 10-12 minutes round trip, adjusted from a range of 84-88 minutes to 74-79 minutes. Recovery times will be standardized at 10 minute per round trip, adjusted from a range of 6-12 minutes on current schedules.
According to the TTC:
Per Metrolinx, intersection speed limits to increase from 25 km/h to 35 km/h.
- The above only pertains to intersection speed limits.
- The 25 km/h speed limit rule at platforms will remain enforced.
Seasonal Restorations
The following services will see seasonal restorations.
- 12 Kingston Rd
- 15 Evans
- 16 McCowan
- 23 Dawes
- 24 Victoria Park
- 25 Don Mills
- 29 Dufferin
- 37 Islington
- 38 Highland Creek
- 39 Finch East
- 41 Keele
- 43 Kennedy
- 44 Kipling South
- 45 Kipling
- 53 Steeles East
- 54 Lawrence East
- 59 Maple Leaf
- 60 Steeles West
- 65 Parliament
- 66 Prince Edward
- 67 Pharmacy
- 68 Warden
- 70 O’Connor
- 75 Sherbourne
- 77 Swansea
- 79 Scarlett Rd
- 84 Sheppard West
- 85 Sheppard East
- 89 Weston
- 92 Woodbine South
- 95 York Mills
- 98 Willowdale-Senlac
- 102 Markham Rd
- 105 Dufferin North
- 106 Sentinel
- 109 Ranee
- 112 West Mall
- 114 Queens Quay East
- 121 Esplanade-River
- 123 Sherway
- 124 Sunnybrook
- 125 Drewry
- 134 Progress
- 165 Weston Rd North
- 168 Symington
- 329 Dufferin
- 508 Lake Shore
- 830 Henry Kelsey-Middlefield
- 900 Airport Express
- 902 Markham Rd Express
- 903 Kennedy Stn–Scarborough Express
- 905 Eglinton East Express
- 906 Airport-Humber College Express
- 924 Victoria Park Express
- 925 Don Mills Express
- 927 Highway 27 Express
- 937 Islington Express
- 938 Highland Creek Express
- 939 Finch Express
- 941 Keele Express
- 944 Kipling South Express
- 945 Kipling Express
- 954 Lawrence East Express
- 960 Steeles West Express
- 968 Warden Express
- 989 Weston Express
- 995 York Mills Express
Service Improvements
Service will be improved on some routes beyond seasonal restorations to address crowding:
- 25/925 Don Mills
- 42 Cummer
- 45 Kipling
- 53 Steeles East
- 63 Ossington
- 96 Wilson
- 99 Arrow Road
- 165 Weston Road North
- 301 Queen Night Car
- 937 Islington Express
- 953 Steeles East
- 996 Wilson Express
Service Reliability Improvements
- 42 Cummer
- 45 Kipling
- 91 Woodbine
- 99 Arrow Rd
- 154 Curran Hall
- 160 Bathurst North
- 171 Mount Dennis
- 353 Steeles
- 905 Eglinton East Express
- 945 Kipling Express
Seasonal Reductions
The following routes will change to weekend only operation:
- 200 Toronto Zoo
- 201 Bluffer’s Park
- 202 High Park
Warden Station Easier Access Construction
Construction of the new bus terminal at Warden Station has progressed to a point where the temporary loading area must now be displaced, and all buses will load at on street stops.
Corrected: Note that service on 8 Broadview and 9 Bellamy will be interlined. 16 McCowan and 17 Birchmount will share a large south end loop, but will not interline.
Routing Changes at Kennedy Station
Several routes will change how they operate through Kennedy Station. Buses will no longer stop on Eglinton Avenue East at the South Service Road East Side.
Night buses will stop at Kennedy and Eglinton for transfer connections, as will early Sunday morning services using an alternate routing (dashed below) when Kennedy Station is closed.
Broadview and Pape Station Changes
As described in Part I of this article, bus routes are shifting between Broadview and Pape stations as Ontario Line construction progresses. The new allocations of bus bays are shown below.
510 Spadina Service Reduction
Service on 510 Spadina will be reduced from every 5 minutes to every 6 minutes with alternate cars running through to Union Station on weekdays from the AM peak through the early evening. This change was implemented in error and will be reversed in the next set of schedules on November 1.
Service Changes Arising from Past Annual Plans
Kipling/Belfield
45B service on Belfield Road to Atwell and Carlingview will be replaced by the new 145 Belfield route which will run to Viscount Station at Pearson Airport.
Service on 45 Kipling will be increased to maintain at least a 10 minute headway over the full route.
Bus bay allocations at Kipling Station are adjusted to include route 145.
Royal York, Kipling and Steeles Night Buses
New night services will be added:
- 373 Royal York will run via Royal York and Weston Road to the loop at Kipling and Steeles. This service will interline with 315 Evans-Brown’s Line to Long Branch Loop.
- 345 Kipling will run from Kipling and Steeles to Long Branch Loop.
353 Steeles extended to Martin Grove.
Long Branch Construction
Construction at Long Branch Loop continues. The only change in this map for September is the restoration of 508 Lake Shore streetcars as far as Humber Loop.
There will be 7 trippers eastbound in the AM peak from and 7 westbound in the PM peak between Humber and Distillery Loops via King. Trips that operate only between Roncesvalles Carhouse and Distillery Loop will run signed as 504 King Short Turn. (Eastbound PM peak, Westbound AM and PM peaks)
College/Carlton Construction
Track construction on Carlton east of Yonge has completed, and the 506B/306B shuttle bus service will now divert westbound via Yonge rather than via Church. This change was implemented on September 2.
Miscellaneous Changes
501 Queen
The crew break and relief point will be moved from Queen & Roncesvalles to Queen and Niagara/Claremont “to address local traffic concerns” at the former location.
Bus Route Divisional Reallocations
| Route | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| 54 Lawrence East | Eglinton | McNicoll |
| 68 Warden | McNicoll | Eglinton |
| 353 Steeles (mostly) | Malvern & Wilson | McNicoll |
| 354 Lawrence East (mostly) | Eglinton | McNicoll |
| 503 Kingston Road | Eglinton, Wilson & Mount Dennis | Eglinton |
| 903 Kennedy-STC Express | McNicoll | Eglinton |
| 905 Eglinton East Express | Malvern [Corrected] | Eglinton |
| 954 Lawrence East Express | Eglinton | McNicoll |
| 968 Warden Express | McNicoll | Eglinton |
25/925 Don Mills
Due to a temporary surplus of operators, additional buses will be scheduled on 25/925 Don Mills for this period (ending October 31). These vehicles will be available for redeployment on 5 Eglinton Crosstown in case of emergencies.
Early weekday morning service on 925 Don Mills Express will be adjusted to start at 5:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. to provide additional capacity during this time period.
929 Dufferin Express
Schedules adjusted to winter configurtation.
35/935 Jane, 36 Finch West, 84 Sheppard West and 927 Hwy 27 Express
Trippers on these routes for deployment on 6 Finch West in case of emergencies are removed from the schedule during all periods.
69 Warden South and 117 Birchmount South
These routes will no longer interline.
71 Runnymede
The stop on Rockcliffe Blvd at Corbett Ave will be replaced with a stop at Castleton Ave at Corbett Ave due to the completion of stop platform improvements.
122 Graydon Hall
A westbound trip will be added in the morning peak period to address “operational considerations” at York Mills Station.
123 Sherway
123B (Kipling Station-Long Branch via East Mall) will be restored in the morning. Service improved in afternoon periods on weekends due to demand. Service that previously operated on 123D (Kipling Station – Sherway via East Mall) will be removed in those time periods. Service will also be improved in the early morning period on Saturdays on route 123B and 123C.
300 Bloor-Danforth
An eastbound weekday trip departing from The East Mall at Bloor St W at 5:04am will be extended from Victoria Park Station to Kennedy Station to better align with the start of service on Line 2 Bloor-Danforth at Kennedy Station.
903 STC-Kennedy Express
The 903 STC-Kennedy Station Express will be changed to run northbound via Triton Road, McCowan Road, and Consilium Place instead of Triton Road, McCowan Road, Bushby Drive, and Grangeway Avenue. This matches the route of 134 Progress. Buses will no longer stop at Bushby Drive and McCowan Road.
Some trips will also be added in the early morning, PM peak and early evening periods on weekdays, and in the early morning and late evening periods on weekends to convert deadheads to revenue service trips.
Conversion from Articulated to Standard (40′) Buses
The following routes will operate with 40′ buses:
- 903 STC-Kennedy Express
- 904 Sheppard-Kennedy Stn Express
- 905 Eglinton East Express
School Trip Changes
All school trips, with a few exceptions, return with the September schedules. The table below lists changes in school trips compared to the Spring schedules.
| Route | Change |
|---|---|
| 12 Kingston Road | The 2:52 p.m. school trip from Neil McNeil High School will be shifted to 2:54 p.m. The school trips at 2:57 p.m. and 3:02 p.m. will be removed. |
| 32 Eglinton West | Three school trips departing from Michael Power-St. Joseph High School on weekdays will be shifted to at 2:30 p.m., 2:35 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. to address crowding and to better align departure times with dismissal times. |
| 37 Islington | The northbound school trip from Dante Alighieri will be removed as this school vacates the site. New school trips will be added which reflect the start and end time of Bishop Allen Academy as that school community is relocated to the site. |
| 42 Cummer | The 15:20 eastbound school trip departing from Leslie St and Cummer Ave will be removed and replaced with a new full-length trip departing from Finch Station at 3:02 pm, stopping at Leslie St and Cummer Ave at 3:19 pm. |
| 48 Rathburn | School trips servicing Silverthorn Collegiate will be adjusted to improve service reliability. There will be no change to scheduled service or departure times as a result of this change. |
| 76 Royal York South | Service on 76C (Royal York Stn-Queensway) that previously operated in the morning peak period on weekdays will be permanently removed with the relocation of students at Bishop Allen Academy to Dante Alighieri. With this change, northbound school trips previously servicing Bishop Allen Academy at 2:40 p.m., 2:42 p.m., 2:47 p.m. and 2:52 p.m., and the southbound trip that previously serviced the school at 2:50 p.m. will also be removed. Southbound school trips departing from Royal York Station at 8:31 a.m., 8:41 a.m. and 8:51 a.m. will be retained to provide continued service to Etobicoke School of the Arts. Northbound school trips servicing Etobicoke School of the Arts will also be adjusted to depart at 3:20 p.m. instead of 3:07 p.m. to better align with afternoon bell times. |
| 111 East Mall | The school trip serving Burnhamthorpe Collegiate will be adjusted to depart from The East Mall at Rathburn Road at 3:22 p.m. instead of 3:25 p.m. due to scheduling considerations. |
Construction Project Summary
Vehicle Allocations
Streetcar
Streetcar Route Maps
Bus
The number of 600-series buses will be considerably reduced in the new schedules. Two buses will be provided at each division between about 5am and 10pm weekdays.
eBus Service Compatibility
Service Budget
Many blocks of service for buses are too long to be assigned to eBuses. The table below summarizes the situation across the system.
According to the TTC, schedules at Malvern and Mount Dennis divisions will be adjusted on weekdays and weekends to optimize schedules for eBus fleet availability and maintenance requirements. There will be no change to scheduled service levels.
Details of Service Plans
The usual spreadsheet with details of the many changes in this Board Period will be added in coming days. Please check back.
Steve Munro 
The 16 and 17 interlining?? McNicoll interlining with Birchmount???
Steve: Thanks for catching that. Not sure where I picked up the idea they were going to be hooked up. I have corrected the article.
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Hey Steve what about the 91 school trips?
Are they going to come back?
Steve: The table lists only the changed trips. The rest come back as they were in the Spring. I will add a note to clarify that.
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Will destination signs be added soon?
Steve: I will add them at the same time as I add the service details spreadsheet.
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Heh 41% spare ratio for streetcars.
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Are they eliminating the night bus 337 Islington? Or they keeping in along with the 373 and 345.
Steve: The 337 remains in the schedule.
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Why does the 503 streetcar continue to be bused?
Steve: Partly it’s a shortage of streetcar operators, but also come November the 504 service will operate via Queen west of Spadina, and the 503 (to Dufferin) will fill in on the central part of the route. The real question when the now-and-forever reconstruction of King finishes will be whether the 503 streetcar is restored. It’s not like they don’t have any spare cars.
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Hey Steve,
What’s happening with the line 3 busway? I heard the 939 is supposed to cut to STC instead of Kennedy?
Steve: The busway doesn’t open until September 30, and so that will be in a separate article. The 939 will run through STC enroute from Kennedy to Finch both ways. Here is the route:
Westbound 939A: From Kennedy Station Platform B, north Transway Cres, east South Service Rd, north North Service Rd, continue north Scarborough Busway, west Ellesmere Station access road to Ellesmere Rd, east Ellesmere Rd, north Brimley Rd, east Triton Rd to Scarborough Centre Station bus terminal, continue east Triton Rd to McCowan Rd, north McCowan Rd, west Finch Ave E to Finch Station driveway.
Eastbound 939A: From Finch Station, east Finch Ave, south McCowan Rd, west Triton Rd to Scarborough Centre Station bus terminal, continue west Triton Rd to Brimley Rd, south Brimley Rd, west Ellesmere Rd, north West Service Rd to Scarborough Busway, continue south Scarborough Busway, south North Service Rd to Kennedy Station bus terminal.
Westbound 939B: From Kennedy Station Platform B, north Transway Cres, east South Service Rd, north North Service Rd, continue north Scarborough Busway, west Ellesmere Station access road to Ellesmere Rd, east Ellesmere Rd, north Brimley Rd, east Triton Rd to Scarborough Centre Station bus terminal, continue west Triton Rd to Brimley Rd, north Brimley Rd, west Finch Ave E to Finch Station driveway, serving Finch Station, west Finch Ave E, north Dufferin St, right onto busway, west busway, south Tangiers Rd, west Four Winds Dr to Finch West Station.
Eastbound 939B: From Finch West Station, east Four Winds Dr, north Tangier Rd, east busway, south Alness St, east Finch Ave W to Finch Station, servicing Finch Station, east Finch Ave, south McCowan Rd, west Triton Rd to Scarborough Centre Station bus terminal, continue west Triton Rd to Brimley Rd, south Brimley Rd, west Ellesmere Rd, north West Service Rd to Scarborough Busway, continue south Scarborough Busway, south North Service Rd to Kennedy Station bus terminal.
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Do you know if McNicoll will need more 40′ foot buses since they are receiving the 54/954 or did the 68/968 had the same levels of buses needed while at McNicoll?
Steve: The peak scheduled buses for these routes in March 2026 (before any of the summer cuts) were higher for 54/954 than for 68/968:
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Great job writing the article but I hate it when the TTC always reveals the board period service changes just in the last minute ahead of the changes. They should reveal the changes at least a few weeks ahead of time.
Steve: Thanks! (Service plan comparisons and sign code list are in the works. There’s a LOT of material this month.)
The service memo exists in draft at least a month ahead of implementation because the schedules are signed up by operators. They hold onto it for (a) last minute changes and (b) media events where they announce some part of the change just before it happens. The memo goes to their own internal departments only shortly before it comes out publicly and their comms folks have to rush to get service change notices on stops and online.
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Any word on artics being able to use the busway since 939 will have them and be using the busway past Sept 30 until the next board period when it is rerouted to end at STC? I think it’s opening at that date because it’s a talking point right before the municipal election rather than waiting for the next board period in November.
What was the reason for the early morning only changes to the routes departing Kennedy Stn using Transway Crescent? Interesting that they are now allowing this. I asked TTC a few years ago about rerouting the STC bound buses leaving platform B to use Transway Crescent to directly connect with Kennedy Road rather than loop the service roads as they currently do (it is much faster and efficient and sometimes ops do it). I was told they can’t. This was the response:
Steve: The early morning route is only on Sundays when Kennedy Station is closed. It provides a transfer connection at Kennedy and Eglinton.
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Is the opening of Line 6 and 5 a partial reason for the streetcar operator shortage? I’m assuming operators with seniority would have had the first opportunity for those lines, and might prefer it because of less stop & go traffic, fewer drivers passing by opened doors, or holding up streetcars by turning left etc.
Steve: The TTC has been running light on operators for years, and their recruitment does not keep up with departures for greener pastures. However, I can’t help thinking they don’t try very hard and are perfectly happy to always have one streetcar line out of service.
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Hey Steve, great work as usual. A correction on the divisional reallocations table. The 905 Eglinton East express at the time of writing is currently at Malvern, not McNicoll division.
Steve: Thanks for catching that. I have fixed the table.
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Hey Steve,
Do you know what garage will be running the new TTC bus route 145 Belfield & also the 353 Steeles Blue Night route is always been McNicoll running it not Malvern & Wilson iirc.
Steve: 145 Belfield is out of Mt. Dennis. 353 Steeles changes from Malvern+McNicoll to McNicoll+Wilson.
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Hey Steve, what Division is getting the 145 and why is 154 staying at Eglinton?
Steve: 145 is at Mt. Dennis. I suspect the 154 at Eglinton is a question of where there’s space and operators.
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If I were (god forbid) a TTC Board member I would be asking why “Management” has a huge number of spare streetcars, why the TTC and the City spent millions on new streetcar tracks over the last few years on Wellington, Kingston Road and on Adelaide between Spadina and York which they very seldom bother to use and why they are short of streetcar drivers but seem to have an excess of bus drivers – who they use on bustitutions. Looks like the silo mentality. again.
Steve: Yes, there is a big problem with underutilized fleets. The TTC has been used to a big spare ratio for ages, and this can’t help foster an environment of not trying to keep everything ship-shape. But you will get streetcars on Wellington on Labour Day for a few hours when the 504 is split in half for the parade.
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I wonder what other work might be happening on Lake Shore Blvd west of Humber. Otherwise they could route 507 and 508 from Kipling (New Toronto on the old route linens) loop instead of just giving up at Humber.
I will peruse the work on the loop itself presently and may have some pictures.
Steve: Yes, the original plan was to re-open to Kipling, but obviously something is in the way, although I worry it’s just the classic TTC problem of preferring to run buses when they can get away with it.
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I saw that the route 353 Steeles will extend to Martin Grove and you didn’t mention it here.
Steve: Thanks for catching that. I have added it to the section with the 345 Kipling and 376 Royal York services serving northern Etobicoke.
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