Kingston Road

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King-Church Construction and Traffic Effects

Updated May 5, 2025 at 12:50pm:

The TTC now has a web page with details of the changes for the first phase of the construction and diversions. This includes a map showing the diversions to west of Bathurst rather than just downtown. I have added this in the body of the article.

May 5, 2025 at 1:40pm:

Information about the 304 King and 303 Kingston Road night services has been added.

May 5, 2025 at 1:55pm:

The TTC has confirmed that overhead upgrades on King Street East and on Sumach/River will be completed before the King/Church track work end, and streetcar service will resume in September.

May 5, 2025 at 4:30pm:

I asked the City if it thought the intersections used by diverting streetcars and buses could handle the volume of traffic. They replied, but didn’t add much. See the end of the article for the exchange.

Major changes are coming to downtown streetcar routes on May 11 with the next schedule change. This will accommodate a combination of water main replacement, track reconstruction and streetcar overhead upgrades mainly at King and Church. Work is expected to require diversions until the October schedule change on Thanksgiving weekend. Streetcar service is expected to return with the September schedule change on Labour Day weekend.

The effects of work an King and Church have been known for some time through the Annual Service Plan and through a City report on the project. (The original report and recommendations were amended at the recent Council meeting to lessen the effect of various proposed lane closures.) Service levels have been published via the electronic version of schedules used by trip planning apps. The information about vehicles/hour at various locations is taken from those schedules.

(As an aside, the TTC website has still not been updated to include the 2025 Service Plan even though it was approved by the Board in January.)

With the concentration of transit service through various intersections, and the added complexity that most vehicles will make turns at these locations, there simply will not be enough capacity even under ideal conditions. It is no secret that “ideal” is a word rarely appropriate for transit operations downtown thanks to the lack of robust traffic management and real transit priority.

In past years, the diversion of services from King Street around the TIFF street fair created problems for transit travel times and reliability, but this lasted for a brief period. The planned diversions for King/Church will last through the summer.

Many of the water mains in the “old” city have been in service for over a century. Other parts of King Street have seen renewal, occasionally on an emergency basis following a break and sink hole.

The special trackwork at the King/Church intersection has been in bad shape for some time, and was overdue for replacement. Previous reconstructions were in 1983 and 2003. Other competing construction projects got in the way, and the track conditions have worsened year by year. There are many patches, and a well-deserved slow order unlike the standing practice even at freshly rebuilt junctions.

This intersection is also old enough that it predates the era of panel track construction where pre-welded sections are trucked in and assembled on site. This replaced the older style of tracks assembled piece-by-piece and often not welded robustly if at all. TTC has not yet been through its entire inventory of “old” track given the 20-30 year cycle depending on the level of service, wear, and disintegration at intersections.

Other work planned for this period of suspended streetcar service is the reconstruction of overhead on King and on the Distillery branch for pantograph-only operation.

Closing King & Church for an extended period concurrently with the Ontario Line construction at Queen & Yonge will add to the traffic snarls downtown. The City talks about using Traffic Agents to manage key intersections, but whether they provide enough people at enough places at enough times remains to be seen.

Routes Diverting off of King Street

Three routes are affected: 504 King, 503 Kingston Road and 508 Lake Shore.

The 504 King service will be broken into three sections:

  • A 504 streetcar service between Broadview to Dundas West Stations operating via the same route as 501 Queen between the Don Bridge and Spadina.
  • A 504C bus shuttle from Wolseley Loop south on Bathurst and east on King terminating at Broadview & Gerrard.
  • A 504D bus shuttle from Wolseley Loop south on Bathurst, east on King and south on Sumach to Front & Cherry. Buses will loop via [to be announced] and will not serve Distillery Loop.

The 503 Kingston Road service will be changed so that its western terminus shifts from York Street to Dufferin Loop. Cars will follow the same route as the 504 King via Queen from the Don Bridge to Spadina, then shift south onto King to follow the pre-diversion 504B route to Dufferin.

508 Lake Shore cars will follow the same route as 504 King.

Night Service Changes

  • The 304 King night car will operate every 20 minutes over the same route as the daytime 504 service diverting via Queen and Spadina.
  • A 304D night bus will run every half-hour over the same route as the 504D bus from Wolseley Loop to Broadview & Gerrard.
  • The 303 Kingston Road night car will operate every 20 minutes over the same diversion route as the 304 King night car, and will operate as it does now to Sunnyside.

The maps below are from the City Report about this project originally published in February. An updated map for the first phase has been added later in the article.

Source: City Report at p. 5

For part of the construction period, King/Church will be impassible even to the replacement bus service and it will divert south to Wellington and Front.

Source: City Report at p. 5

These maps do not tell the whole story because another set of construction diversions will overlap the King/Church changes until the next schedule change in late June.

Although water main work at Bathurst/Fleet/Lakeshore is now complete, track work continues there and on Bathurst Street further north. 511 Bathurst streetcars will continue to divert east via King to Spadina looping via Adelaide and Charlotte. The 511B shuttle bus will be shortened from Wolseley Loop at Queen to an on-street loop via King, Portland and Richmond to Bathurst Street.

509 shuttle buses continue operating between Exhibition Loop and Queens Quay Loop at Spadina. 510 streetcars continue operating to Union Station.

The combined effect of the diversions will be greater than during the total meltdown of King service in 2024 when all cars diverted north via Church to Queen because volumes of other routes (510 Spadina, 511 Bathurst and 501 Queen) will be added to the King services, and more intersections will be affected over a wider area.

Updated May 5, 2025 at 12:50pm:

The TTC’s project webpage has a consolidated map of the diversions for the first phase of the work.

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King/Church Construction Diversions and Transit Priority Plans

From May until early Fall, the TTC and City of Toronto will rebuild an aging water main and track at the intersection of King & Church Streets. A report before Toronto & East York Community Council on February 20, 2025, details plans for service diversions and transit priority measures.

There are two general plans for this project: the first is for phases when the intersection remains open for east-west traffic, and the second for the period when it will be closed. Note that the planned diversions are not the same as in the recent Annual Service Plan. Significant changes are the provision of service to the Distillery District replacing the 504A streetcar with the 504C bus, and the extension of 503 Kingston Road west to Dufferin Loop as opposed to the originally planned McCaul Loop.

Service along Queen Street between River and Spadina will substantially increase with the routes normally on King diverted to the north. Buses will operate as a streetcar replacement.

Traffic restrictions such as parking and turning permissions will change to provide more capacity for transit. Although the report cites the use of traffic wardens and changes to signal timings, it is silent on provisions for the much increased volume of streetcar turns at intersections where no priority signals exist today. (I await feedback from the City on exactly what they propose.)

The entire stretch of Queen Street as well as the Richmond/Adelaide diversion will not be used for CaféTO installations to conserve road space.

As part of this plan, a reserved lane will be created for streetcars eastbound approaching Broadview on Queen, and left turns by other traffic will be banned there.

Restrictions will be in effect from May 11 to October 14, 2025, although the City project is planned to run until August. Streetcar service could return in September, but this will depend on TTC plans for overhead reconstruction on King Street East and on the Sumach/Cherry branch to the Distillery District.

Details of routes and planned changes to traffic regulations follow in the full version of this article.

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TTC’s Dubious Short Turn Statistics

In the monthly CEO’s Report, one of the KPIs (Key Performance Indices) is a measure of the number of short-turned streetcars. This used to be reported as an absolute count, but is now expressed as a percentage of all trips.

Here is the most recent version:

This chart is a fiction born of the Rick Leary era when, in theory, all short turns were banned and the stats were made to fit the objective. Like many KPIs, this suffers from a combination of system-wide consolidation across all routes and time periods, as well as under-reporting of what is really happening.

An easy way to get the true count is to look at tracking data and compare two points on either side of a short-turn location. For example, Woodbine Loop at Queen and Kingston Rd. is a favourite spot for 501 Queen and some 503 Kingston Road cars to turn back. Counting the number of vehicles crossing Coxwell (west of the loop) with the number at Woodbine Avenue (east of the loop) shows how many cars did not travel east of Kingston Road and, therefore, were short-turned.

The TTC claims that they better their 1% target for trips short turned, but it is clear that they rarely achieve this. In some cases, the value rises above 20% indicating that although much service does get to the terminal, there is a good chance that a rider will encounter a short turn. This is separate from frustrations caused by gaps and bunching.

Short turns happen for many reasons including traffic congestion, too-tight schedules, service blockages for collisions, medical problems, parades … it’s a long list. Riders really don’t care. The basic point is that service they expected to receive is not there, and usually with no advance warning.

The table below summarizes the statistics from the vehicle tracking records in November 2024 for the period from 6am to midnight. It is clear that even on an aggregated level, the proportion of short turns is much higher on these routes that the TTC KPIs indicate.

Updated Dec. 6/24 at 1:30pm: Short turn counts for 504 King eastbound, 507 Long Branch and 508 Lake Shore westbound trips added.

Note: The legends on the original charts in this post were misleading. They have been changed to better reflect what the columns and lines on the charts represent..

RouteLocationTotal TripsShort Turns% Short Turns
501 QueenWoodbine Loop EB35471985.6%
Roncesvalles WB35372477.0%
503 Kingston RdWoodbine Loop EB32521364.2%
504 KingSpadina WB64532564.0%
Roncesvalles WB327536411.1%
Church EB63191262.0%
Parliament EB61982043.3%
Dundas EB2943712.4%
505 DundasParliament EB30402127.0%
Lansdowne WB306239713.0%
506 CarltonCoxwell EB30312939.7%
Lansdowne WB325657217.6%
507 Long BranchKipling WB2074883.0%
508 Lake ShoreKipling WB193199.8%
512 St. Clair (*)Lansdowne WB206824912.0%
Oakwood WB21131225.8%

(*) For 512 St. Clair, only data from November 14 onwards when streetcar service was restored are included.

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Wandering Streetcars: Fall 2024 (Updated Oct 21)

Updated October 21, 2024 at 11:30am: The end date for the 501 Queen diversion via Church, King and Spadina has been changed to “mid-November”.

Updated October 18, 2024 at 11:00am: Information on diversions that have finished has been moved to the end of the article to avoid confusion. A planned diversion on Queen west late evening and overnight service from October 21-24 has been added.

Effective October 13: (Don Bridge reopens two days earlier than the planned Oct. 15)

  • 501 Queen:
    • West end: Regular service.
    • Downtown: Streetcar Diversion via Church, King and Spadina both ways.
    • East end: Regular service restored at the Don Bridge.
    • Shuttle bus from Broadview & Gerrard to Queen & Bathurst:
      • Westbound via Church, Richmond and Bay
      • Eastbound via Bay, King and Church until 10pm daily
      • Eastbound via University, King and Church from 10pm to 5am daily
  • 503 Kingston Road: Regular service from Bingham Loop to King & York looping downtown via Church and Wellington Streets.
  • 504 King: Regular 504B routing restored between Broadview Station and Dufferin Loop. 504A has already been on its regular routing and does not change.
  • 508 Lake Shore: Regular route to Broadview Station via Queen and Broadview restored.

Effective October 21-24 Only

  • 501/301 Queen
    • October 21-24 only from 11pm to 4am: Streetcars divert between Shaw and Roncesvalles via King for trackwork at Queen & Brock. Shuttle buses to Neville Loop

Effective Mid-November:

  • 501 Queen: to be announced.
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Queen East Service Diversion: Sept. 26 – Oct. 2

Metrolinx work at Queen and Degrassi Streets will require a street closure and diversion of transit service during installation of a new bridge deck for the Lake Shore East GO corridor. As part of the Ontario Line work, the GO corridor will be raised to the now-standard elevation above roads it crosses. This work has been underway at various locations northward from Eastern Avenue along the corridor.

The Metrolinx work will begin on the evening of Friday, September 27 at 9pm, but the TTC will remove its streetcar overhead and power supply beginning on Thursday, September 26 at 9pm.

The Metrolinx work will end on the morning of Monday, September 30 at 5am, but streetcar service will not resume until Wednesday, October 2 at 4am to allow for reinstallation of streetcar overhead. A benefit of the new, higher bridge is that problems with passing trucks tearing down the overhead should cease.

TTC will run a shuttle bus service between River Street and Kingston Road, diverting both ways via Broadview, Dundas and Carlaw around the construction area.

This will affect the daytime and overnight services on 501/301 Queen and 503/303 Kingston Road.

TTC map:

Metrolinx map:

The TTC and Metrolinx notices for this work contain slightly different information. I have confirmed the dates shown above with TTC Media Relations.

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TTC Announces 2024 TIFF Diversions (Update 3)

Once again the Toronto International Film Festival will disrupt streetcar service downtown. This year, the effect is more severe because of already existing diversions and construction projects.

The TTC’s announcement of diversions is on their News page and on their Updates page in separate postings. The information differs between the two. There is also an announcement in their Service Advisories.

Updated September 5 at 1:20pm:

A map of the 504B service from Distillery to Woodbine Loop has been added to the Service Advisory. This advisory has been updated, but is still incomplete.

The table comparing the three notices has been modified to reflect recent revisions.

Updated September 5 at 7:50am:

The correct layout of King east diversions appears to be on the map in the Updates page which is included below. There are two services operating:

  • 504A between Broadview Station and King & York via Church and Wellington.
  • 504B between Woodbine Loop and Distillery Loop.

Updated September 4 at 10:00pm:

The three announcements are inconsistent, and the “Update” page for 504 King service in the east end does not make sense.

The TTC is setting a new record here for inconsistent public information. Here is a comparison of the claimed services.

RouteNews ItemUpdateService Advisory
East of University
503 Kingston RdTurns back from York.Turns back from York.Turns back from York.
504A KingTurns back from York. No mention of Distillery District service.See below. Original version was correct, but this was updated to a nonsensical routing.Turns back from York. Broadview Station reroute not mentioned.
504B KingBroadview Stn to DistilleryBroadview Stn to DistilleryTurn back from York. No special routing mentioned originally, but a map showing the Distillery to Woodbine Loop service has been added.
303 Kingston RoadNot mentioned.Turns back from York.Not mentioned originally. Updated to show turnback from York.
304 KingTurns back from York.Streetcar not mentioned, only shuttle bus.Turns back from York.
508 Lake ShoreTurns back from York. (Nonsensical)No service.Not mentioned.
West of University
504A King/Dundas WestTurns back from Spadina.Turns back from Spadina.Turns back from Spadina
504B King/HumberTurns back from Spadina.Turns back from Spadina.Turns back from Spadina.
304 KingTurns back from Spadina.Streetcar not mentioned, only shuttle bus.Turns back from Spadina.
303 Kingston RoadNot mentioned.Not mentioned.Not mentioned originally. Update implies there is no service west of York.
508 Lake ShoreTurns back from Spadina.Turns back from Spadina.Turns back from Spadina.
Diversion periodsSept 5-8
Sept 9-10 (3:30-9:30pm)		Sept 5-8Sept 5-8
Sept 9-10 (3:30-9:30pm)
MapDowntown area only.Full map but 504 east services do not match text.Downtown area only.

“Update” notice for 504 east end services:

Original (retrieved from archive.org):

504A King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and King and Church streets. Streetcars will then turn south on Church Street, west on Wellington Street, and north on York Street and east on King Street towards Broadview Station.

504B King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and Distillery Loop.

Revised version (from ttc.ca):

504A King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and Kingston Road and Queen Street East (Woodbine Loop). Streetcars will then turn south on Church Street, west on Wellington Street, and north on York Street and east on King Street towards Broadview Station.

504B King streetcars in the east end of the city will operate between Broadview Station and Distillery Loop.

This is different from the map which showed the 504A running from Broadview Station while the the 504B runs between Woodbine Loop and Distillery Loop. This turned out to be the service actually operated.

From 5am Thursday, September 5 to 5am Monday, September 9:

Service will be broken at University Avenue into east and west halves of routes.

The map below was added to the Service Advisory on the morning of September 5.

The descriptions below have been updated to reflect actual operations on the morning of September 5.

In the east:

  • 503 Kingston Road cars will operate from Bingham Loop to York via Church and Wellington, a cutback from their current terminal at Spadina (Charlotte Loop).
  • 504A King cars will operate from Broadview Station to York via Church and Wellington.
  • 504B King cars will operate from Woodbine Loop to Distillery Loop.
  • 508 Lake Shore cars will not operate east of Spadina.
  • 304 King and 303 Kingston Road night cars will turn back from the east at York.

In the west:

  • 504A King cars will operate between Dundas West Station and Spadina (Charlotte Loop).
  • 504B King cars will operate between Humber loop and Spadina.
  • 508 Lake Shore cars will operate between Long Branch and Spadina.
  • 304 King night cars will operate between Dundas West Station and Spadina.
  • There is no mention of any 303 service west of York Street.

Shuttle buses:

Replacement bus service will operate between Jarvis and Portland bypassing the TIFF area via University, Richmond (WB) / Adelaide (EB) and Spadina.

303 Kingston Road Night Car

There was no mention in the announcement of the 303 Kingston Road night car in the original TTC notices. It appears that the 303 is running only between Bingham Loop and York Street similar to the 503 daytime service.

I have asked the TTC for clarifications, but they remain silent on the topic.

Monday and Tuesday September 9-10

“Red carpet events” on King Street will require diversions between 3:30 and 9:30pm.

Wednesday to Saturday September 11-24

“Red carpet events” will occur, but are not expected to require diversions. Some service delays are likely.

What About Adelaide/Richmond?

Thanks to the glacial pace of construction on the Ontario Line diversion, an alternate route for streetcar service eastbound via Adelaide around TIFF is not available. Next year we are likely to see Richmond/Adelaide diversions rather than split routes.

Transit Signal Non-Priority

There is no mention in the announcement of signal adjustments, notably eastbound at King & Spadina and westbound at King & Church to support the greatly increased volume of streetcar left turns the 2024 diversions will require. Similarly, there has never been any transit priority for left turns westbound at King & Sumach to support a Broadview Station / Distillery Loop service. A major problem with past TIFF diversions has been queues at turning locations on diversion routes.

This is an example of how the City compounds the traffic issues caused by events such as TIFF with an absence of pro-transit signalling. We have millions to study red lanes and paint streets, but well-known routine diversions must fend for themselves.

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Yet Another Streetcar Diversion

The TTC will be making repairs to the track at Church & King, a location that has needed serious tender loving care for some years. This project will run from 11pm Friday July 12 to 4am Wednesday July 17.

This event and the confusion it will add for downtown travellers is a direct result of delays in complete replacement of the intersection, compounded by the Queen Street closure for the Ontario Line and the still-incomplete work on the Richmond/Adelaide diversion around Queen and Yonge that limps along with a vague “fall” completion date.

501/301 Queen:

  • Streetcars in the east end will operate only to Parliament Street and will loop back via Dundas and Broadview.
  • The 501B shuttle buses will operate westbound via Richmond and eastbound via King between Church and University.
  • Night service will be provided via streetcars diverting onto Dundas as shown in the map below, and night service on the 301 bus covering the central part of the route on the same path as the 501B daytime service.

503 Kingston Road:

  • 503 Kingston Road cars will operate as far west as King & Sumach, and then turn south to Distillery Loop.

504 King:

  • 504A King Dundas West to Distillery: Cars will divert both ways via Spadina, Queen, McCaul, Dundas, Broadview, Queen, King and Sumach/Cherry to Distillery Loop.
  • 504B King Humber to Broadview Station: Cars will divert on the same route as 504A to Broadview, then run north to Broadview Station.
  • 504 buses will operate from Broadview Station to Bathurst over the regular King route.

508 Lake Shore:

  • 508 Lake Shore cars will divert via the same route as the 504B King cars.

How well any of these services will operate remains to be seen especially the 504A route that will be much longer than normal.

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East End Streetcar Diversions April 19-29, 2024

Once again, streetcar service in the east end will be disrupted for construction diversions, although this will not be as long lasting as projects in recent years.

Updated April 27, 2024: The diversion for work at the Don Bridge on Queen Street finished early and all streetcar routes returned to their normal routes today.

505 Dundas Late Night Diversion

On Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 21, service after 11pm on 505 Dundas cars will divert both ways via the Carlton route (College, Carlton, Parliament, Gerrard) between Bay and Broadview. Replacement bus service will cover the missed portion of the streetcar route. This work is for track drain repairs at Mutual Street.

501/503/504/508/301/304 Don Bridge Diversion

From Monday, April 22 at 4am to Monday, April 29 at 4am, all streetcar service will divert via Dundas between Broadview and Parliament to bypass expansion joint replacement on the Queen Street bridge at the Don River. The work finished early and normal routings across the bridge were restored on April 27.

Shuttle bus service will operate on Queen between Carlaw and Sherbourne, and on the King route between Broadview Station and Sherbourne.

As of 7am on April 20, the TTC has posted a Service Change notice for King Street services (503, 504 and 304), but has not yet posted one for 501/301 Queen or 508 Lake Shore although these are also affected. The 501B bus service between Broadview and Bathurst should continue on its normal route. There is also an item on their News page describing this change.

Although not shown on this map, the diversion should not affect the 504A Distillery service.

Expansion joint replacement on this bridge occurs from time to time as this is a high traffic area, and the bridge can be damaged if the joint is in poor condition from vibration of passing streetcars.

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Downtown Route Changes Effective December 11, 2023 (Updated)

The City of Toronto will completely close the intersection of Bay & Adelaide from 7am Monday, December 11 to 7am on Saturday December 16 to all vehicles. Bay and Adelaide Streets will be open only for local traffic in the immediate area of the closure. This continues the work of (re-)installing streetcar track on Adelaide for the eastbound 501 Queen streetcar diversion around Ontario Line contruction.

Updated: Work at Bay and Adelaide actually completed on the afternoon of Friday, December 15 and the intersection reopened earlier than planned.

This will require diversion of the 19 Bay and 501B Queen bus routes.

The 19 Bay bus will divert via Dundas, Church and King both ways.

The 501B Queen bus which normally operates on Bay from King to Queen will use York Street for north/westbound trips and University Avenue for south/eastbound trips. Buses will operate both ways via King Street, and there will be no westbound service on Richmond Street

[Apologies for the soft images. They are from a City construction notice, and I used what is available.]

End of the King East Diversions

As the map for 501B Queen above shows, service is supposed to resume the normal routes east of Church with the completion of water main and Hydro work on the coming weekend which has a December 10 end date. This means that:

  • 501B Queen buses return to Queen Street east of Church
  • 503 Kingston Road streetcars return to King Street between the Don River and Church
  • 504 King streetcar service to Distillery Loop resumes

Updated December 11, 2023 at 4:15 pm

Another diversion has been added to the list. The 505 Dundas cars will divert both ways via Parliament and Gerrard. A 505 shuttle bus will run from Jarvis to Jones.

This diversion is required for track repairs, and will last until Thursday, December 21, 2023.

Updated: This diversion ended on Tuesday, December 19.

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East End Route Diversion Update

This post consolidates information about the diversions affecting east end bus and streetcar services as a convenience for readers.

Construction projects affecting these routes include:

  • Water main repairs on King between George and Sherbourne. This is a permanent repair for the problem that diverted all service in late October due to a sinkhole.
  • Reconstruction of Broadview Station Loop.
  • Adelaide Street reconstruction for the Ontario Line streetcar diversion.
  • Ontario Line construction at Queen and Yonge.

Routes as of Tuesday, December 5

501D Queen East streetcars run between Neville Loop and Distillery Loop via King west of the Don River. The easiest way to connect with these cars is to take any route headed east out of downtown that goes far enough to make a transfer connection with the 501D. Note that this is tricky at King and Sumach because stops are not well-located for a transfer connection eastbound there.

503 Kingston Road streetcars run between Bingham Loop and (officially) King and Spadina diverting via Queen between the Don River and Church Street. In practice, much of this service turns back via the traditional 503 downtown loop via Church, Wellington and York to King. If you want a 503 eastbound from anywhere west of York, it is best to get on any eastbound service and transfer to the 503 at Bay or Yonge. If you transfer at York, the 503 stops on the SE corner. Note that at Church and King Streets, eastbound 503 streetcars stop on Church just north of King. [Corrected 6:05 pm, Dec 5]

501B Queen buses that run between Bathurst (Wolseley Loop) and Broadview and Gerrard have swapped their route east of Church with the 503 cars. The 501Bs run on King Street, and the 503s run on Queen.

504 King streetcars are all turning back at Church Street looping via Church, Richmond, Victoria and Adelaide because they cannot run east on King.

504/505 King/Dundas shuttles operate from King and Parliament to Broadview and Danforth making on street stops on the NW and SW corners of that intersection. Subway connections are via a walking transfer. These buses continue west across the Viaduct to Castle Frank Station.

Both the 501B and 504/505 buses do not stop eastbound on Queen at Broadview, but instead stop northbound on Broadview beside the parking lot. Westbound buses stop at the usual southbound stop on Broadview at Queen.

504 King shuttles to the Distillery run from a downtown loop of Church, Wellington and York Streets, and they serve the eastbound stops on King at Bay and Yonge Streets, among others. At the Distillery, they are supposed to loop west from Cherry via Mill, Parliament and Front to Cherry. They do not serve Distillery Loop.

508 Lake Shore streetcars normally operate east on King looping via Parliament, Dundas and Broadview. They are diverting via Queen and Church. This is a peak only service.

There is no change to the 505 Dundas streetcars which continue to operate to Woodbine Loop via Gerrard and Coxwell east of Broadview.

Beware of TTC notices posted at stops as they are almost certainly out of date, incomplete or inaccurate thanks to the frequent route changes. There is a particular problem with outdated notices remaining at stops sometimes without a current replacement, or the “new” sign might be found in a different location (pole, transit shelter) than the “old” ones.

King Street water main work is supposed to be completed by the coming weekend, Sunday, December 10, and routes should go back to a somewhat less chaotic arrangement.

Effective Wednesday, December 6

Although Broadview Station Loop is still closed for construction, Broadview Avenue itself is open. Effective December 6, the 62 Mortimer and 8 Broadview bus routes will resume operation on Broadview stopping at Danforth at the NW (southbound) and SE (northbound) corners for subway connections.

These buses will continue south on Broadview to Gerrard, but will run out of service and loop via Gerrard, St. Matthews and Jack Layton Way. Riders making a transfer between these routes and the 504/505 King/Dundas shuttle should note that this does not stop at the same stops as the 8 and 62 buses. Southbound 8/62 riders would get off on the NW corner at Danforth and cross to the SW corner to catch a 504/505. Northbound 504/505 riders would get off on the NW corner (farside) at Danforth and walk back to the SE corner to catch a northbound 8 or 62 bus.

Effective Monday, December 11

For one week, the intersection of Bay and Adelaide will be completely closed to traffic. The TTC has not yet announced diversions for 19 Bay and 501B Queen (eastbound) buses.

Traffic congestion on King will no doubt be even worse during this period.