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.
The TTC has announced that Greg Percy has been appointed interim CEO effective September 9.
Percy had a 15 year career including the President of GO Transit and Chief Operating Officer of Metrolinx, and since 2019 has been Executive Vice President of CAD Railway.
At a meeting on Friday, September 6, 2024, the TTC Board is expected to appoint an Interim CEO replacing the just-departed Rick Leary for a period of at least six months. Their special meeting will occur online starting at 2pm, but discussion of the appointment will occur in private session with results to be announced following the approval.
This process took longer than originally expected back on June 20 when Leary announced his resignation. Moreover, there have been conflicting reports of whether an Interim CEO could also compete for the permanent role through a search process now underway. An established transit professional is unlikely to uproot his or her career for a short term assignment.
The role brings many challenges, but chief among them will be to right “the good ship TTC” not just from the cumulative effects of the pandemic, but of the Leary years’ damage to organizational culture. It is no secret that he stripped the TTC of many from the leadership team built by former CEO Andy Byford, and that his management style brooked no opposition.
The TTC Board was complicit through their inaction, notably after the scandal of the “near miss” incident near Osgoode Station, and only finally launched an investigation into Leary’s performance in Fall 2023 after a failed attempt to oust him by Chair Jamaal Myers.
Some Board members regard their job as setting overall direction and policy, and leaving running the organization to management. That sentiment is fine in theory, but it assumes that the Board is well informed, ensures that mechanisms to monitor the system’s health are in place, and establishes policy, not just as a rubber stamp. In this they have failed, and even the reconstituted Board in Mayor Chow’s term has not fully addressed several issues, notably service quality and the future operating budget.
If an Interim CEO does little more than keep the lights on and the CEO’s chair warm for an eventual replacement, the TTC will lose vital time when inaction really is not an option. Key issues face the TTC today.
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.
Route
News Item
Update
Service Advisory
East of University
503 Kingston Rd
Turns back from York.
Turns back from York.
Turns back from York.
504A King
Turns 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 King
Broadview Stn to Distillery
Broadview Stn to Distillery
Turn back from York. No special routing mentioned originally, but a map showing the Distillery to Woodbine Loop service has been added.
303 Kingston Road
Not mentioned.
Turns back from York.
Not mentioned originally. Updated to show turnback from York.
304 King
Turns back from York.
Streetcar not mentioned, only shuttle bus.
Turns back from York.
508 Lake Shore
Turns back from York. (Nonsensical)
No service.
Not mentioned.
West of University
504A King/Dundas West
Turns back from Spadina.
Turns back from Spadina.
Turns back from Spadina
504B King/Humber
Turns back from Spadina.
Turns back from Spadina.
Turns back from Spadina.
304 King
Turns back from Spadina.
Streetcar not mentioned, only shuttle bus.
Turns back from Spadina.
303 Kingston Road
Not mentioned.
Not mentioned.
Not mentioned originally. Update implies there is no service west of York.
508 Lake Shore
Turns back from Spadina.
Turns back from Spadina.
Turns back from Spadina.
Diversion periods
Sept 5-8 Sept 9-10 (3:30-9:30pm)
Sept 5-8
Sept 5-8 Sept 9-10 (3:30-9:30pm)
Map
Downtown 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.
As I write this on August 29, the TTC has still not issued the usual memo detailing service changes for the coming schedule changes on September 1. Although information has been published on their website, this is incomplete, and in some cases possibly inaccurate. In particular, the details of travel times and vehicle allocations are only available in the detailed memo, and these allow better understanding of how fleet and staff resources are being shifted around on the system.
Updated August 30 at 12:30 pm: I have received the detailed memo of service changes from the TTC and will be updating this article in stages. Changes in this update:
The memo confirms that the originally proposed removal of 87 Cosburn service to East York Acres is not happening. Schedules on 87 Cosburn and 64 Main are revised to interline the routes during many time periods on a 10-minute headway.
Changes in subway gap trains on Lines 1 and 2.
Several maps added or updated.
Fleet and service summary tables added.
Construction project list added.
Updated August 31 at 9:45 am:
The full spreadsheet showing details of headway, running time and vehicle allocation changes has been added at the end of the article. Note that some of the information in the original version proved to be incorrect when compared with the TTC’s detailed memo due to discrepancies in the TTC’s service change web page.
A list of routes for which the Summer service cut was not restored in the Fall schedules has been added.
Updated September 1 at 4:25 pm:
Headway information for the Sheppard corridor revised to match the service implemented, and to reduce complexity of the description.
Updated September 3 at 2:30 pm:
A reader has pointed out that the TTC’s streetcar night service map incorrectly shows service on routes 303 and 304 heading straight west through Parkdale via King to Roncesvalles rather than via their Shaw/Queen diversion.
At a recent press conference, Mayor Chow and the TTC announced that many changes were coming in September. Two key points were omitted:
When the TTC speaks of service restoration relative to pre-pandemic levels, this is based on vehicle hours operated. However, on many routes so-called reliability adjustments extend the travel times and slow the scheduled speeds of buses. The result is that service arrives less frequently, but there is no change in vehicle hours operated.
Many service increases in September are restorations after the Summer lull when service is normally reduced due to lighter demand, notably on routes serving post-secondary schools.
The TTC has announced that streetcar service will be suspended, in part, over the 509 Harbourfront and part of 511 Bathurst at various times between Tuesday, September 3 and January 2025. This will allow the reconstruction and upgrading of the overhead system between Union Station and Exhibition Loop to be fully pantograph-compliant.
Information is posted in three separate items on the TTC site with the first being the most extensive.
The TTC seeks feedback on its Innovation and Sustainability Strategy. As I write this, the announcement has been posted on X/Twitter, but not on the main TTC page. Instead, it is well hidden, like so much on the TTC site, among many items on the “Riding the TTC” page under “Green Initiatives”. There is a link from the survey’s introductory page, but this is only available when launching the survey, not afterward. Within the Green Initiatives page is a link to the TTC’s 2024-2028 Draft Innovation and Sustainability Strategy, a 50-page document that puts the survey in a wider context, but which most readers are unlikely to access, let alone read.
The survey contains three sections addressing various aspects of a TTC strategy:
An “innovation pipeline”
Prioritizing climate actions
A culture of innovation and sustainability
Reading through the Draft Strategy, the overwhelming impression is of the creation of a bureaucracy within the TTC, not to mention a pervasive presence of an Innovation and Sustainability czar. Much of their work would focus on internal changes, only some of which actually address climate effects. This is not to say that innovation per se is a bad thing, but it is not defined. Moreover, it has been bundled with schemes to green the TTC that are really a separate project.
In a previous article, I reviewed travel times for the bus and streetcar operations on 510 Spadina Avenue at the north and south ends of the route where severe traffic congestion made bus operation extremely difficult. The north end problem resolved itself first with a diversion, then at least partly with completion of construction on Bloor Street, but the south end required a reserved bus lane to bypass the traffic queue for the Gardiner Expressway on ramp.
With all the attention on these areas, a separate factor is often overlooked in comparing the services: when and where there is little or no congestion, the buses are faster than the streetcars in spite of the “transit priority” treatment with dedicated lanes. The problem lies in a combination of different stopping patterns, traffic signals that do not favour streetcars, and operational practices requiring streetcars to creep through intersections.
This is the daily experience of regular riders on Spadina, and it is a “dirty little secret” that factors conspire to undermine the quality and speed of streetcar service. This is both a City and TTC problem because responsibility for road design and streetcar operations rest with the two organizations.
Updated August 11 at 2:20 pm: Charts have been added at the end comparing streetcar travel times over the central portion of the Spadina route in September 2014 and May 2024. The differences reflect both loading times, acceleration and operating practices of the former CLRVs compared to the current Flexitys,
In a previous article, I reviewed the transition from streetcar to bus operation on 510 Spadina in mid-June. Since then, the route saw other changes:
Beginning on July 8, TTC suspended service south from Front Street between 3 and 7pm on weekdays due to congestion and very extended travel times on the southbound approach to the Gardiner Expressway. See 510 Spadina Bus Modified Diversion Tracking.
On July 29, implementation of a reserved bus and cycling lane began south from Richmond to Lake Shore. See Reserved Bus Lanes for Spadina?
The reserved lane has greatly reduced delays at the south end of the route, albeit at the expense of road capacity.
This article presents travel times over various segments of Spadina from Bloor Street to Queens Quay during July 2024 to show the effect of the changing route configuration.
A key factor evident in the tracking data is that congestion occurs outside of the peak periods, and not necessarily in the same way each day. It can be tempting to cherry pick the afternoon peak as a worst case target, but that does not solve all problems. The extent of congestion also varies, and transit priority must be on a sufficient scale to deal with the bad days, not simply to improve conditions a bit over a short distance.
What is quite clear is that the City and TTC reaction to congestion problems gave the impression of surprise rather than preparedness, and that weeks of delays for riders could have been avoided or at least reduced in severity at both ends of the route.
The TTC has released the first draft of their 2025 Annual Service Plan for comment on their site. Readers with suggestions should use the TTC’s survey for input to the plan.
Updated August 9 at 5:20pm: The TTC has supplied new versions of maps for routes 49 and 405, as well as for the Etobicoke Blue Night service change proposals. On their behalf, thanks to readers who have flagged issues on the original versions.
The consultation looks at three areas of TTC service:
Proposed 2025 Changes
The One Fare Program
Community Bus Routes (4xx series)
There will also be pop-up consultations at various locations around the city.
Date
Time
Location
Routes
Aug 7
4:30 to 6:00 am
Bus ride-along
395, 385 and other affected night routes
Aug 7
6:00 to 8:00 am
Kennedy Stn
334
Aug 7
6:30 to 8:00 am
Rouge Hill GO
385
Aug 9
Noon to 2:30 pm
Dufferin Mall
402
Aug 12
9:30 am to Noon
North Park Plaza
400
Aug 13
4:30 to 6:00 am
Bus ride-along
337
Aug 13
6:00 to 8:00 am
Kiping Station
45, 49, 337 and other affected night routes
Aug 14
12:30 to 2:30 pm
Bus ride-along
13B
Aug 19
Noon to 2:00 pm
Coxwell Station
22, 70 and 404
Aug 19
Noon to 2:00 pm
Main Station
87A
In a recent Stakeholders’ session which I attended, it became clear that some of the 2024 ASP proposals that had not yet shown up in service would be coming in fall 2024. I asked the TTC for details of the outstanding 2024 proposals, and this information is in a table at the end of the article.
A further problem is that the substantial changes already planned for the Line 5 and 6 openings cannot be implemented until Metrolinx actually begins service there.
One key item that is not addressed by this round of consultation is the matter of service frequency. Most of the routes TTC proposes to modify suffer from infrequent service, and the benefit of the route changes will be muted by the absence of buses as opposed to lines on the map.
A recent X/Twitter thread began with a claim that the streetcar system suffers from slow operation because of closely spaced stops, specifically below 100 metres. I made a short reply showing the average spacing for each route, but have now generated charts showing all routes in detail.
There are only a handful of stops spaced closer to or below 100m, and so the claim that this is a source of much delay is easily disproved. The question then is what the typical spacings are, why, and how much “efficiency” could be obtained by eliminating some of them. I do not attempt to answer that question here, but simply present the actual stop spacing data so that there can be informed debate.
The TTC’s design goals for stops are set out in the Service Standards:
2.4 Surface Stop Spacing Surface stops should be designed in accordance with the TTC’s Technical Criteria for the Placement of Transit Stops. When the locations of stops are being planned for a route, it is necessary to strike a balance between the competing objectives of passenger convenience, operating efficiency, safety and community impacts. In general, increasing the number of stops on a route results in shorter walking distances for passengers but it also slows down service. To achieve a proper balance, the TTC will place bus stops in accordance with the standard presented in Table 2 [below].
Service Classification
Stop Spacing Range
Streetcar
300 – 400 metres
Bus – Local
300 – 400 metres
Bus – Express (Tier 1)
650 – 1,000 metres
Bus – Express (Tier 2, Limited Stop)
650 – 1,000 metres
Bus – Express (Tier 2, Local/Express)
650m for express portion; 300 – 400m for local portion
Bus – Community
Flag stop
It’s important to remember that Toronto streets are not laid out on a repeating grid as in some cities, and one cannot simply stop at “every second street”, or whatever layout works. Existing pedestrian circulation patterns, transfer points, major origins/destinations all play a role in defining a “good” stop location. This is even more of a problem in suburban areas with longer blocks and poor opportunities to access transit stop from “nearby” (as the crow flies) neighbourhoods.
Methodology
The stop distances for each route have been taken from the GTFS versions of the schedules published regularly by the TTC. These are used by trip prediction and planning apps to understand the layout of the system. In a few cases where current operations do not match the historic route layout (e.g. 501 Queen, 504 King, 512 St. Clair), I have used older data sources from a period when routes operated normally.
Steve Munro 