Service Analysis

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King, Adelaide & York Update: April 2024

Adelaide Street track almost finished! New traffic signals on King! Almost no work on York Street. And some really appalling track.

All photos in this article were taken by me on April 10 and 14, 2024.

Updated April 17, 2024: Photos showing pavement patching at King & Church added.

Updated April 21, 2024: Photo showing rail gap and pavement patch on westbound rail, west side of the intersection added.

The basic problem with some of the repairs is that they do not necessarily provide a continuous surface for streetcars. The reason for this is that the diamonds are designed to carry cars on their flanges so that the main part of the wheel does not produce the familiar “thunk” where at the crossing of two tracks. Some of the breaks shown here are within the diamond, and the flange way has completely broken off. As streetcars pass, their wheels fall off of the adjacent intact flange way into the gap even though the main rail head is continuous. This is particularly evident on the northerly westbound rail (see photos at the end of the article).

Updated April 26, 2024: Photo of work in progress on York Street south of Richmond added.

Adelaide Street

The two remaining chunks of new/replacement track are finally being installed on Adelaide Street, and some work is underway for new overhead. This will be the eastbound 501 Queen diversion for the Ontario Line construction.

Adelaide W from Bay 2024.04.10
Adelaide W. to York 2024.04.10
Adelaide E. to Victoria 2024.04.10
Adelaide E. from Sheppard to Bay 2024.04.14

York Street

Almost nothing has happened with the new track to be installed on York south from Queen. There is a pile of rail on Queen west of York, and some pavement cuts prior to excavation, but that’s all. Metrolinx is not exactly rushing with their part of the project.

Updated April 26, 2024

Excavation for a new trackbed appears to be complete between Richmond and Adelaide Streets.

Looking north from Adelaide toward Richmond on York. Apr. 26/24

King Street Signals

New signals intended to deter straight through auto movements have been activated on King at Church and at Yonge. The intent is to make a straight through movement one that must drive against a solid red signal. If the City ever installs red light cameras, there will be a bonanza in tickets.

The design provides separate signals for pedestrians, cyclists and authorized vehicles (mostly transit, but also taxis from 10pm to 5am). The signage, already complicated, is now more extensive and guaranteed to confuse any motorist. Indeed, during my visit, a 501 Queen bus created a traffic jam waiting for a conventional green signal while ignoring the transit signal.

Here is the collection of signs westbound at King and Church Streets. The signals are in the process of turning red for King, and they show an amber aspect for transit and cyclists.

An important point about signals is that they do not only tell people what they can do (for example, the red hand tells pedestrians not to walk, a green bicycle tells cyclists they can proceed). This gives some hint to everyone of how all traffic is expected to behave.

Nobody knows what an “authorized vehicle” is, and this is especially tricky for unmarked “cabs” like Ubers. If a car drives through a full red signal, is it allowed or not?

The large red aspect on the main signal (with the yellow backboard) never changes, but it will on occasion be joined by a green arrow in the bottom aspect.

Here is the cycle of displays eastbound at King and Yonge as east-west travel gradually opens up.

1. Transit and right turns allowed
2. Transit allowed, right turns ending
3. Transit allowed
4. Transit, cyclists and pedestrians allowed
5. Pedestrian cycle counting down. Next comes the amber phase for others.

This confusion shows how important the establishment of simple, clear barriers like a few short transit malls with planters and other physical limitations. Send motorists a clear message: “Don’t even think about driving here.”

All photos taken on April 14, 2024.

King & Church Track

Although the TTC told a good story recently on their subway track maintenance, the situation on the streetcar network is not quiet so rosy. A low point is at the intersection of Church & King, long overdue for complete reconstruction, where there are three separate pavement gaps and ad hoc rail repairs.

Westbound north rail 2024.04.14
Eastbound south rail 2024.04.14
Westbound south rail 2024.04.14

It is hard to take TTC claims that they value safety highly and repair faults promptly with conditions like this.

Updated April 17 & 21, 2024: The photos below show recently applied pavement patching.

Westbound north rail 2024.04.21
Eastbound south rail looking west 2024.04.17
Westbound south rail looking west 2024.04.17
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TTC Plans Buses on 510 Spadina June-October 2024

The TTC has announced plans for construction projects that will require replacement of streetcars by buses on 510 Spadina starting June 23 until October 2024.

In June and July, overhead will be rebuilt between King and Queens Quay. This will not affect route 509 Harbourfront, and service on that route will be increased to offset the missing 510 Spadina cars on Queens Quay.

In August through October, overhead work will shift to the section from College to Spadina Station.

At Spadina Station, track will be replaced and other work will be done in preparation for a platform extension that will be enabled by excavation for a nearby condo.

There is no word on plans for the overhead between College and King, or whether another shutdown will be required for that segment.

Both the 510 daytime and 310 night buses will operate in mixed traffic stopping curbside along their route. Buses will use the surface loop at Spadina Station.

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Service Changes Coming to East York & Thorncliffe Park

The TTC has announced route changes coming soon to routes serving Broadview and Pape Stations due to impending Ontario Line construction. This will occur in two stages. Note that the dates are approximate and depend on construction progress.

Effective Sunday, March 31, 2024

With the next schedule change on March 31, 2024, loading arrangements at Pape Station will change as shown in the map below.

  • All routes will drop off at Bay 1 just inside the station entrance from Pape.
  • 72 Pape will shift east to Bay 2.
  • Wheel-Trans will share Bay 2 with the Pape bus.
  • 25 Don Mills and 925 Don Mills Express will load on the street on Lipton Avenue. New bus bays will be built there starting on March 25 by Metrolinx.
  • 81 Thorncliffe Park will load at a stop in front of the main entrance of Pape Station.
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Service Reliability on the Scarborough RT Corridor (Part 2)

This is the second part of a review of headway reliability on the routes serving the former SRT corridor.

Routes included here are:

  • 903 Kennedy-STC Express
  • 939 Finch Express
  • 954 Lawrence East Express
  • 985 Sheppard East Express

For other routes, and an introduction, see Part 1 of this article.

The common thread through these reviews is that although there is transit priority in place between Kennedy Station and Ellesmere on Midland and on Kennedy, these routes have reliability problems. The red lanes benefit riders once they are on a bus, but their wait for a vehicle could delay their trip.

I do not expect that most readers will take a brief look at routes they use. However, some with an absolute passion for Scarborough bus service and lots of time might dive into details for every route.

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Service Reliability on the Scarborough RT Corridor (Part 1)

When the Scarborough RT closed, it was replaced by a bus shuttle, 903 Kennedy-Scarborough Express, running frequent service over streets paralleling the former SRT route. In previous articles, I reviewed actual travel times to determine how much traffic interference and transit priority contributed to speedy travel. See:

Since mid-November 2023, service between Scarborough Town Centre and Kennedy Station has been provided by many routes with the intention of eliminating transfer delays at STC. The following routes were extended south to Kennedy Station following the same route as the 903 Express. At the same time, service on the 903 was reduced as buses were redeployed to the other routes.

  • 38 Highland Creek
  • 129 McCowan North
  • 131 Nugget
  • 133 Neilson
  • 938 Highland Creek Express
  • 939A/B Finch Express
  • 954 Lawrence East Express
  • 985A Sheppard East Express

Debate over the planned busway in the former SRT corridor focuses on travel time savings using a private road from Eglinton to Ellesmere, but an important aspect for any rider is the wait time for their bus. The benefit of a faster ride can be undone by an unpredictable wait. This series of articles reviews service reliability on the extended routes as well as the remaining 903 Express operation between mid-November 2023 and the end of February 2024.

With all the focus on the shared route between Scarborough Town Centre and Kennedy Station, there remains the much longer portion of routes that have been extended. While the red lanes, and later the BRT roadway, should minimize further sources of irregularity, this does not change the fact that some of these routes have service issues east and north of STC.

This is part of a more general issue across the bus network that improvements are needed that will not come quickly or easily simply with a few transit priority projects. Moreover, riders need to see improvements now, not in the indefinite future after studies, priority lists and endless debates about who “deserves” better transit.

Included in Part 1 are routes 38, 938, 129, 131 and 133. The remaining express routes are in Part 2.

Updated Mar. 16, 2024: Route map added.

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The Bay Trolleybus in 1988

Back in 1987-88, I photographed the Bay trolleybus a lot. The route was threatened for a time by a proposed one-way pairing with Yonge Street, and the south end of the route went out of service for construction of the Harbourfront line.

Looking at these photos 36 years later, two things are quite striking: the changes all along the route where the canyon of newer buildings had not yet materialized, but also the frequency of service. Getting shots with two or three buses at a time was easy, far different from today when the service is infrequent with the “best” being a 14-minute PM peak headway, and 20-30 minutes at other times. This route saw a vicious downward cycle of riding loss and service cuts, and now is simply not worth waiting for.

For a history of the route, see the Transit Toronto site.

The route’s conversion to trolleybus was an offshoot of the 1972 decision to retain streetcars. The surplus TBs from 97 Yonge, released when the subway extension to York Mills opened, were originally intended for the St. Clair streetcar route, although the proposed service level would have been worse than the streetcars to be replaced. The Streetcars for Toronto advocacy group (which I chaired for a time) pushed for deployment of the surplus TBs on Bay given its frequent service and downtown location well placed to use the existing power distribution infrastructure. (A less obvious motive was to eliminate a potential threat to any other streetcar lines with the TBs looking for a home.)

The galleries below run from south to north along the route with photos from Fall 1987 and Spring-Summer 1988. Photos of 9200, the first production bus of the “new” TBs, are from a fan excursion.

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King & Queen West Service Changes February 18, 2024

For those who have been wondering where my usual wrap-up of coming service changes is, it seems to be stuck in the managerial bowels of the TTC. A few weeks ago I was led to believe that its release was imminent, but as of the evening of February 11, crickets.

See also:

There is an online public event on the evening of Thursday, February 15 for which you can register via the City’s site. You can also subscribe to updates on the City’s page (the link is at the bottom).

Major changes to routes in the Parkdale and Liberty Village area are coming on February 18, and the details have been posted for a while elsewhere. Time for me to catch up. When the service memo comes out, I will flesh this out with service frequency details. Here is a map showing the wandering routes in the west end.

King Street will be closed between Shaw and Dufferin for water main and track work. This is a multi-stage project, although from a transit point of view it will have two configurations.

Effective February 18, 2024:

King Street will close between Shaw and Dufferin. Various routes will change to provide service, such as they can.

63 Ossington will no longer loop northbound via Atlantic and King to Shaw, but will be extended west via Liberty, Dufferin and King to Sunnyside Loop west of Roncesvalles.

29/929 Dufferin routes are not affected at this stage of the project.

501 Queen will vary by time of day. The eastern terminus remains at McCaul Loop, but the western terminus will change.

  • Until 10pm, all 501 Queen cars will run only as far west as Dufferin Street, and they will turn south to Dufferin Loop (CNE Western Gate).
  • After 10pm, all 501 Queen cars will run through to Long Branch as they do now replacing the 507 Long Branch car.

301 Queen night car bus service will continue to operate between Neville and Long Branch.

504 King cars will also vary by time of day:

  • Cars on both the 504A and 504B branches will divert via Shaw and Queen to Roncesvalles.
  • 504A Dundas West cars will run north to Dundas West Station at all times.
  • 504B cars that would normally run to Dufferin Loop will run west on Queen.
    • Before 10pm, 504B cars will run through to Humber Loop replacing the 501 Queen service which will divert to Dufferin Loop.
    • After 10pm, 504B cars will terminate at Roncesvalles.
  • Note that streetcar service to Broadview Station will be restored and so the 504B cars will no longer end at Distillery Loop, but will run to their normal east end destination.

304 King night service will operate between Broadview and Dundas West Stations diverting via Shaw and Queen. [Updated Feb. 12 at 11:40am] The TTC media release confirms that the night service will operate with streetcars.

507 Long Branch service is not affected.

508 Lake Shore cars will divert via Shaw and Queen, but will otherwise operate on their normal route.

Effective Late June 2024

Note: The work at King & Dufferin has been postponed to 2025.

The intersection of King & Dufferin will close for complete reconstruction of the track. This will require changes in the 501 Queen and 63 Ossington diversions, as well as a revised south end for the 29/929 Dufferin services, but details have not yet been announced.

Effective August 2024

With the completion of work at King & Dufferin, routes should revert to the February configuration, but nothing is definite about TTC plans as riders know well. Stay tuned.

The work is supposed to continue until “early December” according to the TTC site, but until “November” according to the City site. Normally, the schedule change would occur in late November, and so it is not clear just what date they are aiming at. The usual December change is for the two-week holiday schedules just before Christmas.

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King Street Update — January 2024

Updated February 11, 2023 at 1:45 pm: In response to a reader comment, I have added illustrations from the City’s presentation deck showing the technologies used for traffic monitoring and analysis at the end of this article.

This article continues a series of reviews of operations on the King Street Transit Priority Lane of which the most recent is King Street Travel Times: May-December 2023.

On February 9, 2024, Mayor Chow held a press conference to announce various changes coming to King Street and the success of the Traffic Agent program in taming congestion downtown, particularly on King.

Regular readers will know the graphs below showing day by day travel times eastbound from Bathurst to Jarvis by hour from 3pm to 9pm. These charts have been updated with January 2024 data. (Note: Gaps in the charts in mid October and early December correspond to diversions via Church and Queen for water main repairs east of Jarvis. No streetcars covered the full Bathurst-Jarvis segment during these periods.)

The graphs illustrate the change in congestion levels peaking in the 5-6pm hour, but still quite evident in 6-7pm and to a small extent in 7-8pm. The build-up through the fall was caused by construction on Adelaide coupled with a complete lack of enforcement of the transit corridor and of “box blocking” at major intersections where cars enter but cannot cross in the allotted green time. With the introduction of Traffic Agents to enforce the rules on November 27, 2023, the street ran much more smoothly and the peak in congestion vanished.

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Travel Times on RapidTO Corridors – Part II – January 2024

This article continues the review of the evolving travel times on current and proposed RapidTO corridors that started with Travel Times on RapidTO Corridors – December 2023 Update – Part I.

The routes covered here are:

  • 60/960 Steeles West
    • Finch Station to Pioneer Village
    • Pioneer Village to Kipling
  • 86/986 Scarborough
  • 116 Morningside
  • 905 Eglinton East Express

Introduction

These charts are intended to show how travel times in many cases have been growing since the early days of the pandemic in March 2020. Where I have them, there is a small amount of pre-pandemic data for comparison.

In most cases, there is a notable drop in travel times in Spring 2020, with gradual growth thereafter. Drops for the year end holidays are common, but this was small in 2020 because isolation was still in effect. In 2021, there was a recovery followed by a combination of the drop for the holidays and the omicron wave. 2022 and 2023 saw bigger declines at the holidays. In some cases, the travel times in January 2024 are higher than the pre-pandemic values.

The Spring 2020 values are likely as good as one can expect from any transit priority scheme as they show the travel times of buses unencumbered by either traffic or heavy passenger loads.

Where the 85th percentiles (orange) spike well above the medians (blue), this shows the day to day variability in travel times that are particularly strong on Steeles West.

An important distinction lies in the location of time savings. Transit priority might not be present over an entire route, and a more detailed review of these data will show the locations of the critical segments. I have not included them here to avoid making an over-long article, but I will bring out more of that analysis as the City gets more deeply in route-specific studies.

A challenge for planners and traffic engineers is that the problem locations are likely to be the hardest to “solve” in the sense that they have the lease spare capacity, if any, to reallocate to transit. Conversely, there are areas where transit priority will make little difference because the road is uncongested most of the time, and signals are not a source of delay. Fine-grained study is essential to any new RapidTO plan.

In the first article of this pair, the charts ended at December 2023, but by the time I was working on this piece, the January 2024 data were also available and have been included.

In the case of routes already operating on red lanes in Scarborough (86/986 Scarborough, 116 Morningside and 905 Eglinton East Express), travel times have grown since 2020, but it is impossible to know how much they might have grown in the absence of transit priority measures other than by analogy to other corridors where conditions might not match.

Updated February 7, 2024: The charts for 116 Morningside have been updated to include data from late October to December 2020 that was omitted from the original version.

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Analysis of 903 STC Express: September-December 2023

This article is an update to my review of the 903 Express bus that replaced the Scarborough RT. The previous article here: Analysis of 903 STC Express: September-November 2023.

Additions in this round:

  • Data for December 2023
  • Performance of the 903 service to Centennial College east of STC (Scarborough Town Centre)
  • Travel times between STC and Ellesmere & Midland
  • A review of terminal layover times at Kennedy Station
  • The screenlines for arrivals and departures at Kennedy Station have been moved from Eglinton at Midland and at Kennedy to points on Eglinton just east and west of the loop entrances. This ensures that any delays at the intersections are counted in travel time, not in terminal time. The change has been applied retroactively to charts for September through November.

Correction: References to a 934 Progress Express should have been to route 913. This has been corrected. Thanks to a reader for pointing out this gaffe.

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