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.
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..
Route
Location
Total Trips
Short Turns
% Short Turns
501 Queen
Woodbine Loop EB
3547
198
5.6%
Roncesvalles WB
3537
247
7.0%
503 Kingston Rd
Woodbine Loop EB
3252
136
4.2%
504 King
Spadina WB
6453
256
4.0%
Roncesvalles WB
3275
364
11.1%
Church EB
6319
126
2.0%
Parliament EB
6198
204
3.3%
Dundas EB
2943
71
2.4%
505 Dundas
Parliament EB
3040
212
7.0%
Lansdowne WB
3062
397
13.0%
506 Carlton
Coxwell EB
3031
293
9.7%
Lansdowne WB
3256
572
17.6%
507 Long Branch
Kipling WB
2074
88
3.0%
508 Lake Shore
Kipling WB
193
19
9.8%
512 St. Clair (*)
Lansdowne WB
2068
249
12.0%
Oakwood WB
2113
122
5.8%
(*) For 512 St. Clair, only data from November 14 onwards when streetcar service was restored are included.
The TTC has announced that the Queen car diversion around Ontario Line construction at Yonge Street will be simplified effective Sunday, November 10, 2024.
Streetcars will operate westbound via Church, Richmond and York, and eastbound via new track on York, Adelaide and Church. Connections to the subway will be via walking transfers south from Queen Station to Richmond (westbound service) and north from King Station to Adelaide (eastbound service). Connections to the University Line will be at Osgoode Station both ways.
Updated Nov 8 at 6pm: The TTC has confirmed that there will be no stops at Victoria, Bay or York as these are within walking distance of other stops.
The 501B shuttle bus from Broadview/Gerrard to Wolseley Loop at Bathurst Street will no longer operate.
There will be no 501/301 service on King Street at King or St. Andrew Stations.
Other services in the King Street corridor will remain: 503 Kingston Road, 504 King and 508 Lake Shore.
[An earlier version of this article cited November 6, not the 10th.]
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
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.
The City/TTC project to rebuild utilities, track and the roadway on King Street between Dufferin and Shaw Streets has completed earlier than originally planned. The roadway is now open, and TTC will be restoring power to allow testing of its new tracks and overhead.
Streetcar service between Shaw and Roncesvalles on King will resume with the October schedule change on October 6. Affected routes will resume their normal destinations:
501 Queen will operate to Humber Loop.
504B King will operate to Dufferin Loop.
63 Ossington will resume its Liberty Village loop via Atlantic Avenue and King Street. (Although there was a proposal to change this route to use Dufferin Loop as a western terminus in the Service Plan, this is not being implemented.)
This project originally included the reconstruction of the King/Dufferin intersection, but this was deferred to 2025 as part of a planned water main and track replacement project from Dufferin Street west to Close Avenue.
According to the TOInview map of planned construction work, other water main and track projects affecting King Street in 2025 include:
The Church Street intersection
Shaw to Bathurst
Updated September 18, 2024 at 3:40 pm:
The 63 Ossington bus will revert to using Atlantic Avenue, and then King west to Roncesvalles on Monday, September 16 until October 5. From October 6 onward, the Ossington bus will loop east on King to Shaw, its original pre-construction route and streetcars will serve King Street.
At long last, the new curve for a 501 Queen eastbound diversion via York Street south to Adelaide is being installed. Of course the entire diversion should have been operational before Metrolinx shut down Queen Street for the Ontario Line, but such careful planning is not what we expect from the agencies involved.
Indeed, the City took over the trackwork on Adelaide Street as part of other works in progress because Metrolinx was dragging its feet. Why they didn’t take the full project up to Queen & York is a mystery. With luck, the west and east ends of 501 Queen will be reunited before year-end 2024, but I am not making any bets.
Road and utility works for this project are contracted by the City and Metrolinx. Track installation is by the TTC.
Three weeks ago, on Sunday, July 7, the new switch was sitting at Queen and University ready for installation, but work on excavation and a new track foundation took some days afterward to begin.
Looking E on Queen to YorkLooking W on Queen to UniversityLooking S on York to Richmond
Here is the state of installation as of Sunday, July 28.
Looking E to York on QueenLooking W on Queen at YorkLooking S on York from Queen
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.
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.
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 2024.04.10Adelaide W. to York 2024.04.10Adelaide E. to Victoria 2024.04.10Adelaide 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 allowed2. Transit allowed, right turns ending3. Transit allowed4. Transit, cyclists and pedestrians allowed5. 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 2024.04.14Eastbound south rail 2024.04.14Westbound 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 2024.04.21Eastbound south rail looking west 2024.04.17Westbound south rail looking west 2024.04.17
Steve Munro 