The May 2014 schedules will bring major changes across the system mainly in response to construction projects. Extra running time will be provided on many routes in response to construction delays. At some times, the current headway will be maintained, while at others the headway will be stretched. In two cases (46 Martin Grove and 94 Wellesley), no buses are available to improve PM peak service to compensate for extra running time.

The budget for construction-related service is considerably less than what will actually be required. Although the total hours operated will be greater than the budget for May, “regular” service will be below budget while “construction” more than compensates. Some changes in the fleet and in service levels have been deferred until later in 2014.

2014.05.11_Service_Changes

This table is broken into four sections listing miscellaneous minor changes, construction-related changes, one route restructuring and seasonal changes.

Updated May 17, 2014:

Effective Tuesday, May 20, the diversions for the Queen & Victoria track project will be changed.

All westbound 501 Queen cars will divert via Church-King-York.

501/502/503 shuttle bus services will terminate at Church Street.

The details are on the TTC service advisory page (scroll down to see the portion effective May 20).

Updated May 15, 2014:

The 501 Queen diversion has been revised so that two thirds of the westbound cars travel via Church-King-York to Queen with the remainder operating via Church-King-Spadina.

Updated May 9, 2014:

Recently I asked Waterfront Toronto about the status of work on the Queen/King bridge at the Don River. Here is their reply:

Bridge repair work is underway by Infrastructure Ontario (IO). The bridge footings were impacted by excavation work being done for the installation of the back flow preventer, which was part of the work being undertaken for the flood protection landform.

Monitoring of the bridge by IO is on-going. They are currently performing bridge movement monitoring 3 times daily and will continue to do so until work is completed. IO will be installing micro pilings at the footings to secure the bridge, but this work cannot begin until the back flow preventer is installed. Temporary bracing is underway. Once that work has been completed IO will install micro pilings, then install the permanent backflow preventer, after which bridge repairs will begin.

Because of the delays, IO has had to request extension of the closure of the bridge. The bridge is to remain closed until at least August/September 2014.

With respect to the closure and transit, IO has been working with the City and the TTC on staging. Restoring transit is contingent on the completion of the work, so we assume it will be early fall, at the earliest.

Updated May 5, 2014 at 11:00 pm:

Contrary to information in the memo announcing the changes for May 11, the westbound Queen 501 diversion around the Victoria/Queen track construction will be via Church-King-Spadina (the reverse of the eastbound diversion), not via Church-Richmond-York which was a bad choice thanks to watermain construction on Richmond.

No, I don’t know why they are not using the recently rebuilt northbound track on York to get cars back to Queen sooner (westbound at least) or to avoid traffic congestion westbound to Spadina. I suspect for consistency of diversions and to maintain a common transfer point to the subway at Yonge and University.

Introduction of Articulated Buses on 29 Dufferin Saturday Service

Effective with the May schedules, the Saturday service on Dufferin will be scheduled based on the larger vehicles. The replacement factor increases the headway between buses by no more than 20% providing, effectively, an increase in capacity provided that service is reasonably spaced, always a challenge on Dufferin.

Construction Projects

The Metrolinx work on the Eglinton Crosstown line has now begun east of Yonge Street affecting many routes that use this portion of the corridor. Service is adjusted accordingly on:

34 Eglinton East

100 Flemingdon Park

54 Lawrence East

56 Leaside

51 Leslie

Interlining on the Leaside/Avenue Road and Leslie/Avenue Road North routes is discontinued during some periods.

City road construction will affect many routes:

7 Bathurst (Bloor to Eglinton)

36 Finch West (Kipling to Highway 27)

45 Kipling and 46 Martin Grove (Kipling from Bloor to Dixon Road)

54 Lawrence East (Markham Road to Kingston Road)

94 Wellesley (Wellesley at Harbord)

133 Neilson (Neilson Road)

Although the split operation of 501 Queen at Humber Loop will end on May 10, TTC construction will affect services using Queen Street:

501 Queen will divert both ways via Broadview, Gerrard and Coxwell during construction of the new intersection at Leslie Street for access to Leslie Barns. This work will begin with excavation for the sewer replacement now in progress on Leslie, followed by installation of the new intersection special work.

502 Downtowner and 503 Kingston Road services will be converted to bus operation diverting around the construction via Greenwood, Dundas and Jones. 501 Queen buses will operate from Woodbine Loop. The downtown loop will be via Simcoe, Richmond and Duncan Streets.

Night service will be provided by 301 Queen streetcars using the same diversion as the day service, and 301 buses will operate from Neville Loop to University.

Changes in the ALRV requirements for the Queen car will cause some 504 King trippers to be operated with CLRVs instead of ALRVs.

Extra service will be operated on north-south routes in the construction area: 31 Greenwood, 83 Jones and 72 Pape, and there will be a slight increase on the 143 Downtown Beach Express.

Cars on 506 Carlton, 505 Dundas, 504 King and 510 Spadina will operate their trips to/from Russell Carhouse via Gerrard and Coxwell.

During the reconstruction of the Queen & Victoria intersection, bus services will divert via Church, Richmond, and Simcoe to Adelaide returning east via Adelaide and Jarvis to Queen. Streetcars will divert westbound via Church, Richmond and York, while eastbound cars will run via Spadina, King and Church. This diversion is expected to last about three weeks. Richmond Street is already constrained by water main construction in the south lane west from Church.