Transit & Politics
Yes, it’s been a tad quiet in here recently. We’re in the summer doldrums for transit news, and not yet into the fall which brings a rebound in activity, and in 2026, the municipal election. A while ago I started a series “How Slow Is My Streetcar?”, and pushed out a few articles that, I […]
This article continues a series reviewing the operating speeds of streetcar lines in detail looking at: The two intervals compared here are: Service Designs: June 2026: November 2019: Methodology For a description of the methodology behind these charts, please refer to the 510 Spadina article. Comparative Travel Speed by Route Segment In the charts below, […]
The operation of Toronto’s streetcars is under considerable fire for what is portrayed as the slowest cars in the world. Ironically, the very slowest of Toronto’s routes operates on a private right-of-way: 510 Spadina. The usual excuses about mixed traffic operation do not apply here. Recently, I published charts showing the speed of each streetcar […]
Among several reports on their recent meeting agenda, the TTC Board considered an update on the various Metrolinx projects that will add to Toronto’s rapid transit system: the Ontario Line, plus extensions to Line 1 (Richmond Hill), 2 (Scarborough) and 5 (Eglinton West). These are all grand projects collectively worth billions, but discussion turned to […]
At the July 22 meeting of the TTC Board, there was a fair amount of discussion about a motion by Commissioner Saxe asking for a study of improving the College streetcar, properly known as 506 Carlton. The TTC Board: 1. Directed staff, in collaboration with the General Manager, Transportation Services, to report back to this […]
The service changes for the second portion of the summer largely consist of restoring several routes to their pre-World Cup service. Track, overhead and sewer construction will resume on College between Bay and Church. Streetcars will divert both ways via Bay, Dundas and Parliament. Replacement buses will run from Spadina Station to Broadview & Gerrard. […]
In all the debates about streetcar operation and lack of speed, there is little by way of an overview of where the problem locations and times really are. There are discussions of track switching technology, signal priority (or the lack of it), whether stops are too close together, and operating practices such as standing slow […]
The TTC Board will meet on July 22 at 9:30am in Committee Room 2 at City Hall. The agenda includes several confidential items, and it is not yet clear when they will be considered and what period will be an open public session. As usual, the public portion will be streamed for those not making […]
On July 15, the TTC announced that it would award the contract for implementation of Automatic Train Control (ATC) on subway Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth). This will include the Scarborough extension now under construction. Updated July 17 at 8:30am: The value of the contract with Hitachi is $407.7-million according to the summary of contract awards (p. […]
Over coming years, Metrolinx will build new stations on the Ontario Line at Gerrard (Gerrard & Carlaw) and Leslieville (Queen & De Grassi). These structures will span local streets including two streetcar lines. Various partial and total closures of affected streets are needed for this work to proceed. Much of this involves sidewalk and curb […]
Phase 2 of the planned reconstruction of sewers and track on College and Carlton requires 506/306 streetcars to divert via Dundas Street between Bay and Parliament Streets. A replacement bus service will operate on College and Carlton. This arrangement begins on July 26 and is expected to continue until the end of 2026. 506B/306B buses […]
Water main construction, coupled with track repairs, will force the diversion of 504 King streetcars from November 2026 to early Summer 2027. Updated Aug. 1, 2026 at 10:40 pm: The dates for various stages of the work have been announced on the TTC’s page for this project. The map below is taken from a report […]
The Metrolinx Board met on June 25, and as usual for that secretive organization, most of the agenda was discussed in private session. What they do talk about in public is inevitably “good news”, and there is rarely any indication that the Board might have issues with management. Items included in this article: Write-Down of […]
This article is a followup to a review of subway delay data published here in early June. Four sets of data are summarized here: There is no bus data for May 2026 because the TTC’s June 22, 2026 update on the City’s Open Data site did not include it. The Open Data files include a […]
Recently, I wrote about a very unsatisfactory online meeting of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee for waterfront east transit. Little came of that meeting beyond a sense that nothing will happen soon to improve transit in the area. The big news, which was not “news” at all given the media coverage, was that $3-billion had been […]
Much attention regarding transit priority in recent months focused on the RapidTO red lanes for 29/929 Dufferin and 510 Bathurst, and on traffic signal timings for 6 Finch West, 5 Eglinton and a few intersections on 510 Spadina. Another change with less fanfare was the modification of parking and stopping restrictions on Dundas Street West […]
Service changes for the streetcar system were effective on June 7 in anticipation of the World Cup games starting on June 12. See: The main set of bus and rapid transit changes will occur on June 21. The seasonal changes are described as coming both from reduced summer demand and limits on operators to drive […]
As I began to write this on June 6 at 5:00pm, the TTC had not yet published the detailed memo of service changes for June 7. There is a web page listing World Cup related service changes, but no details about service frequencies. On an interim basis, I have used the electronic version of the […]
This article updates previously published on the Dufferin bus and Bathurst streetcar routes to show how the travel times in affected areas changed with the gradual implementation of red lanes over past months. In summary, there is a reduction in travel time during some periods, but not others, typically because congestion is not an issue […]
The TTC recently updated its delay records for subway, bus, streetcar and LRT on the City’s Open Data Site. These files are raw data, and some slicing and dicing are required to put them in an approachable format. I have consolidated the data from January 2025 to April 2026 with the full set linked and […]