Updated October 21 at 4:20pm: The TTC posted an updated map and table of RSZs dated today. Information on the map and tables now match. There are only 9 active slow zones with target removal dates through to late November. The October 21 versions have been added to the end of this article.

Updated October 17 at 11:00pm: The TTC posted an updated map and table of Reduced Speed Zones dated October 17, but the info on the map is still out of sync with the info in the table of slow zones. The revised version is at the end of the article.

In previous articles, I have reported on the number, location and longevity of reduced speed zones on the subway. See:

• Reduced Speed Zone Tracking: Update to August 2025

A recent problem with the TTC website page where these are reported is that information is inconsistent between the map showing problem areas and the tables explaining each problem and its expected resolution.

Here is the current version of the RSZ map dated October 16 at 10:16am.

Here is the text describing these zones:

There are several inconsistencies between the current map and tables.

The statement that there are 13 zones appears to be based on the count of table entries. Note that for a “bothways” restriction, they count as two. Listing only a single direction in the table undercounts the number of locations. In this case the count, based on the same premise, should be 18 not 13.

In past versions each direction has counted independently, and in some cases more than one location was flagged in a track section (marked “X2” below).

There is a further problem if we compare the claimed completion dates with information shown on September 5.

There are definitely more entries in September than in mid-October, and so the TTC has been working away at these issues. However, the projected dates have drifted in many cases.

The TTC needs to adopt a consistent way of reporting reduced speed zones, counting how many are active and projecting credible target dates for remediation. As thing now stand, the information in the maps and text differs, and the count of RSZs appears to be lower than what is actually in effect. In turn, this allows management to “hit” a lower target by under-reporting problems, and this is precisely the sort of behaviour that has bedevilled the TTC’s performance metrics for years.

Updated October 17 at 11:00pm: Here are the October 17 versions of the RSZ map and tables. The TTC still appears to be incapable of posting consistent data. On the bright side, some of the zones that had “TBD” target dates on October 16 now have October or November dates.

Updated October 21, 2025

Here are the current versions of the map and tables with the information now back in sync.

Major Update October 10 at 12:50pm: Additional information on bus bay assignments at various stations, on street stop arrangements pending Line 5 opening, and service changes not mentioned in earlier versions of this post. Also added are various tables and charts of fleet allocations and other information.

Updated October 10 at 11:30pm: The spreadsheet showing detailed before and after service designs for affected routes is now available.

• 2025.10.12 Service Changes

The service changes planned for October 12 include four major groups:

• First stage of route reorganization for Line 5 Crosstown opening.
• Construction begins on Queen Street between Broadview and the Don River.
• Construction begins on College Street at McCaul.
• Construction ends in November at King & Dufferin.

History of This Article

As I publish this on Thursday, October 9 at 10:45am, the TTC has still not issued its usual detailed memo of pending service changes although the information has been floating around for weeks in various sources.

On October 9, there was a press release accompanying Mayor Chow’s media appearances, but this release only gives a hint of what is happening beyond the headline announcement of improved Line 2 subway service. That release includes a link to a page with more details, although regular TTC site readers would never find it.

Updated 5 pm October 9: A separate press release has been issued with the details of changes omitted from the first one. There are now separate pages for each modified route linked from a common page regarding the Line 5 changes. Maps showing the revised routes have been added to the end of this article.

There is an “Updates” page, separate from the regular “Service Changes” page, which can be accessed through the “Riding the TTC” page assuming you know it exists. It includes a link to the service changes, but there is no link from the TTC home page to this information. The Service Changes page gives details, but only for a handful of routes. Automatic links from route schedule pages are generated only for Service Changes items, and so the information on the Updates page is not linked for riders looking at route schedules.

Updated 10:50am October 9: The TTC Home Page now includes a link to the Updates post.

Updated 9:30am October 10: There are now route-level pages detailing the changes on the “Service Changes” page

Updated October 10: The detailed memo of service changes was issued mid morning today.

The TTC recently trumpeted its proposed Wayfinding Strategy which includes a strong digital component given the many riders who access information through online channels. Their own website badly needs overhaul, but even in its current state, information is not published in a consistent location.

The article following the break is a compendium of information from various sources.

The Labour Day weekend sees the TTC return to fall schedules on several routes, the end of some construction diversions, and the beginning of another.

Subway Service

There is no change in subway service

Streetcar Services

A plan to improve streetcar service to a six minute standard daytime headway begins with 512 St. Clair, and is expected to continue with 511 Bathurst and 505 Dundas at dates yet to be announced.

The construction work at King & Church finished recently. With the new schedules, streetcar service returns to King through downtown, but the west end of the line will divert around reconstruction of King & Dufferin until Thanksgiving weekend.

The 503 Kingston Road car will become a bus with the route shortened to Joe Shuster Way east of Dufferin. The 303 night service will be suspended. On Kingston Road the 322 Coxwell night bus will remain.

The eastern terminus of 508 Lake Shore will be shortened from Broadview Station to Distillery Loop.

Bus Services

Lawrence Station will reopen to bus service allowing restoration of regular bus services. The 52/952 Lawrence service will no longer operate via Avenue Road to Eglinton Station. Routes 124 Sunnybrook and 162 Lawrence-Donway will terminate at Lawrence Station rather than running west to Roe Loop on Avenue Road.

The south end of 325 Don Mills night bus will be extended east from Carlaw via Commissioners to Lake Shore Garage. The east end of 385 Sheppard East night bus will extended from Meadowvale Road to Rouge Hill GO Station.

Some of the seasonal services will end on Labour Day including:

• The weekend service to Biidaasige Park on 72D Pape will end, and buses will return to the 72C terminus at Commissioners and Saulter Streets.
• Weekday service on 200 Toronto Zoo and 201 Bluffer’s Park will end. Weekend service continues.
• Service on 203 High Park will end.

Many routes see restoration of services reduced for the summer lull in riding, although there are a few cuts scattered around the system. A large number of school trippers are also back, but these are not listed here.

The remainder of this article details various aspects of the changes and includes a link to a spreadsheet with the operating plans for all modified routes.

The list of surface route operating statistics for 2024 recently appeared on the TTC’s Planning webpage. This article consolidates data for the years 2019 (the last pre-pandemic year) to 2024.

Values included in the TTC files are:

• Weekday passenger count
• Weekday vehicle hours
• Weekday vehicle klometres
• AM peak vehicles
• PM peak vehicles

Derived values included in this article:

• Passengers (boardings) per vehicle hour
• Vehicle kilometres per hour
• Recovery rates relative to 2019

Pages for each set of stats are included in the detailed part of the article, and a PDF containing all tables is linked at the end.

In a future article, I will refresh a previously published table comparing service levels on routes in September 2025, when this information is available, with prepandemic conditions.

A basic message of both articles is that the TTC trumpets a return to former service levels, but the metric they use, vehicle hours, misrepresents the level of service provided. Buses and streetcars travel more slowly now than they did in 2019, and they have more generous recovery times at terminals. These combine to make a vehicle hour less productive in the amount of service it provides than in past years, and so 100% of former hours does not produce the same service. That is separate from other factors such as a decline in reliability, bunching and gaps which compound the less frequent scheduled service.

The problem is particularly bad on streetcar routes where a combination of factors including understaffing, budget constraints, and operating practices that slow service, lead to considerably less “recovery” to former service levels. In turn, this hurts service quality and blunts ridership recovery.

Crowding conditions are not addressed by these stats, and this is difficult to extract from TTC tracking data due to the coarse-grained nature of reported loads. TTC does not publish numeric vehicle loads, only broad light-medium-heavy loading indications. Although they report all-day ridership on each route, this is not broken down by time of day, location and direction, at least not for external consumption. TTC has crowding standards, but we do not know how well they meet them.

The number of peak vehicles is lower in 2024 than in 2019. This partly reflects limits on service growth, and partly the shift of demand into off-peak periods.

In the attempt to woo riders back onto the TTC, let alone to boost transit’s mode share for travel in line with City goals, the question of service level and quality is key. In theory, if demand actually sits below the historic level, then less service is needed to handle it. However, those who remember the condition of transit before 2020 will know that crowding was a pervasive problem and calls for better service were common. Only the March 2020 drop in demand saved the TTC from a capacity crisis.

Toronto must understand and commit the resources needed to achieve its transit goals. Just getting back to 2019 is no goal to aim at.