[txlseries4]

Short opinion piece from Edward Keenan The Star today

Who keeps telling City Hall that diverting Toronto’s busiest streetcar route for TIFF is a good idea?​

Edward Keenan: Who keeps telling City Hall that diverting Toronto’s busiest streetcar route for TIFF is a good idea?

Once again, the TTC will adjust 504 King for almost a week to make way for TIFF.

www.thestar.com

an excerpt:
"Once again this year, they’re diverting the 504 King streetcar for almost a week (Sept. 4 to 9, with further service disruptions expected through Sept. 13) to make way for the film festival’s hubbub. This disruption to Toronto’s busiest surface transit line has been an annual occurrence for some time, and every year there’s a bit of an outcry about it. More than 60,000 people daily ride the 504 King (and another 14,000 take the also-diverted 503). That’s more people than ride GO Transit’s entire Lakeshore line, East and West. It’s roughly the population of the entire city of Belleville. That’s a lot of commuters to inconvenience directly after Labour Day, when kids head back to school and people try to get back into the post-summer-vacation swing of things."

bypass

 

[drum118]

TTC restoring streetcar service through King and Church from Sunday

August 29, 2025

Starting Sun., Aug. 31, the TTC is restoring 504/304 King streetcar service through the King St. E. and Church St. intersection, following successful testing and commissioning of new streetcar tracks and overhead power systems.

Beginning at the start of service on Sunday, the 504 King will resume operating as a branched service, with the 504A operating both ways between Dundas West Station and Distillery Loop, and the 504B between Broadview Station and Bathurst St. via King. 304 King Night streetcars will operate between Dundas West and Broadview stations. King bus replacements will end.

Changes to 503/303 Kingston Road

Also starting Sunday, buses will replace streetcars on the 503 Kingston Road route, with service between Bingham Loop at Victoria Park Ave. and Joe Shuster Way, augmenting capacity on King St. W. with 504B King streetcars shortened to Bathurst St.

303 Kingston Rd Night streetcar service will be discontinued. Night service will continue to be provided at all impacted stops by the 301 Queen, 304 King, and 322 Coxwell night routes.

508 Lake Shore service returns from Tuesday

Starting Tues., Sept. 2, 508 Lake Shore streetcar service will resume, operating during morning and afternoon peak periods to support downtown office commuters. Eastbound service will terminate at Distillery Loop, extending from Long Branch in the west.

 

[DSCToronto]

TTC restoring streetcar service through King and Church from Sunday

August 29, 2025

Starting Sun., Aug. 31, the TTC is restoring 504/304 King streetcar service through the King St. E. and Church St. intersection, following successful testing and commissioning of new streetcar tracks and overhead power systems.

Beginning at the start of service on Sunday, the 504 King will resume operating as a branched service, with the 504A operating both ways between Dundas West Station and Distillery Loop, and the 504B between Broadview Station and Bathurst St. via King. 304 King Night streetcars will operate between Dundas West and Broadview stations. King bus replacements will end.

Changes to 503/303 Kingston Road

Also starting Sunday, buses will replace streetcars on the 503 Kingston Road route, with service between Bingham Loop at Victoria Park Ave. and Joe Shuster Way, augmenting capacity on King St. W. with 504B King streetcars shortened to Bathurst St.

303 Kingston Rd Night streetcar service will be discontinued. Night service will continue to be provided at all impacted stops by the 301 Queen, 304 King, and 322 Coxwell night routes.

508 Lake Shore service returns from Tuesday

Starting Tues., Sept. 2, 508 Lake Shore streetcar service will resume, operating during morning and afternoon peak periods to support downtown office commuters. Eastbound service will terminate at Distillery Loop, extending from Long Branch in the west.

As usual, Steve Munro has posted more info than on the TTC site: https://stevemunro.ca/

 

[Admiral Beez]

TTC eyes fare capping — and a fare increase — as part of new growth strategy

The TTC is exploring options to help boost ridership next year as it struggles to attract more commuters post-pandemic.

www.thestar.com

Paywall free: https://archive.is/9uVHw

My advice for TTC growth strategy is to stop fare evasion, improve safety/security, and control public nuisance (vagrancy, loitering, begging). Once you see how the subways in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei are run, with ironclad controls on fares, public safety and cleanliness of stations and trains, you just can't take Toronto's seriously. You try begging, littering or smoking drugs outside a Singapore subway station and you'll quickly find yourself arrested.

 

[T3G]

Speaking of fare evasion, what were they huffing when they made the Yonge and Melinda exit to King exit only, and why hasn't it long since been converted to double ended operation?


Maybe all the money they're spending on paying POOs could instead be used to expand PRESTO fare gates in locations such as this, or at the Duplex end of Eglinton; or at the west end of STC?

It is really, really hard to even pretend to care about fare evasion when there's so many terrible design decisions made at the company level that willingly leave fare money on the table. If there's an entrance to TTC property right in front of a client, it's really terrible infrastructure planning to make them walk around, in the case of Eglinton and STC the really long way around. Everyone who's ever spent any amount of time around others knows that people are lazy and in search of the most convenient solution to their issue - the TTC should be expecting this and catering to it, not forcing them to go elsewhere. Or stop whining about fare evasion.

 

[smallspy]

Speaking of fare evasion, what were they huffing when they made the Yonge and Melinda exit to King exit only, and why hasn't it long since been converted to double ended operation?
View attachment 678278

Maybe all the money they're spending on paying POOs could instead be used to expand PRESTO fare gates in locations such as this, or at the Duplex end of Eglinton; or at the west end of STC?

It is really, really hard to even pretend to care about fare evasion when there's so many terrible design decisions made at the company level that willingly leave fare money on the table. If there's an entrance to TTC property right in front of a client, it's really terrible infrastructure planning to make them walk around, in the case of Eglinton and STC the really long way around. Everyone who's ever spent any amount of time around others knows that people are lazy and in search of the most convenient solution to their issue - the TTC should be expecting this and catering to it, not forcing them to go elsewhere. Or stop whining about fare evasion.

That access has always been exit only, and from day 1 of the subway.

Go use it, and try and figure out where you can put a fareline. Spoiler: you can't.

Dan

 

[Northern Light]

Speaking of fare evasion, what were they huffing when they made the Yonge and Melinda exit to King exit only, and why hasn't it long since been converted to double ended operation?
View attachment 678278

Maybe all the money they're spending on paying POOs could instead be used to expand PRESTO fare gates in locations such as this,

Have you used the Melinda exit?

Its set up as an escalator going up, there is no staircase available.

Source: Station Fixation

You can reverse the direction, but it will still be one-way only unless you remove the escalator.

There is not sufficient room in the ROW to widen the entrance.

It was actually built as a staircase all the way, the escalator was a later re-fit, which is why you notice it doesn't go all the way down as the design of the station didn't have sufficient room for 'the pit' under the platform level floor.

The exit was a last minute addition to King before opening in '54, I'm told, because someone realized mathematically that the station had insufficient capacity to handle rush hour crowds. (remember this is before the Commerce Court exit was built.

or at the Duplex end of Eglinton

Duplex was a fully functioning entrance at one point, before the Crosstown project, when it actually had a building. The current (ish) iteration had among the highest far evasion rates in the system. Keep in mind, the current terminal is to be redeveloped, eventually, as per a discussion we've had here on UT.

; or at the west end of STC?

Can't speak to that one.

It is really, really hard to even pretend to care about fare evasion when there's so many terrible design decisions made at the company level that willingly leave fare money on the table. If there's an entrance to TTC property right in front of a client, it's really terrible infrastructure planning to make them walk around, in the case of Eglinton and STC the really long way around. Everyone who's ever spent any amount of time around others knows that people are lazy and in search of the most convenient solution to their issue - the TTC should be expecting this and catering to it, not forcing them to go elsewhere. Or stop whining about fare evasion.

Disagree. Don't get me wrong, more entrances would be convenient in many cases, and the way this issue has been handled through the years probably could have been better.

That said, I care plenty about people cheating, because it means I pay more for less service.

The idea that I should have to pick up the tab because someone else is lazy and morally bankrupt is a non-starter.

This argument carries the same weight to me as ........"Well littering is fine, because I shouldn't have to walk more than a block to find a garbage can" No...its not. Yes, we should have more garbage cans in this city, they should also be emptied more frequently too.......... but if you bought a pop and its empty now, you're going to carry it around until you find a garbage, period! That should motivate you to complain to your councillor about the need for more garbage cans.

Back to the matter at hand. Second exits, if un-staffed are generally the site of greater fare evasion, particularly in the era of Presto gates.

We used to have turnstiles where you couldn't fit two people, except maybe mom and baby and that you could not force either.

Presto gates were introduced for accessibility, as someone in a mobility aid can't get through a turnstile. But they have the downside of being relatively easy to get a second person through and/or to force.

This is what the old Duplex entrance used to look like (see turnstiles)

Credit:

 

[DSCToronto]

That access has always been exit only, and from day 1 of the subway.

Go use it, and try and figure out where you can put a fareline. Spoiler: you can't.

Dan

It is hardly asking too much to have people walk about 20 metres to the Melinda entrance and if (when) they finish building the second exit on east side of Yonge at Colbourne I guess it might also be an entrance once the building on that site is redeveloped and it can be inside. SEE: https://www.ttc.ca/about-the-ttc/projects-and-plans/King-Station

 

[drum118]

TC Strategic Planning Committee to hold next meeting on September 4

September 2, 2025

The TTC Strategic Planning Committee will hold its next meeting on Thu., September 4, 2025. The meeting will be a hybrid model, whereby Commissioners will have the option to attend in-person or remotely. The public also has the option to attend and make deputations in-person or depute virtually. The hybrid meeting will begin online at 10 a.m. and be streamed live on the Official TTC YouTube Channel.

For those attending in-person, the Committee meeting will be held in the 7th Floor Executive Board Room, 1900 Yonge St. (above Davisville Station on Line 1). The Committee will conduct the meeting using an online video conferencing platform.

Details of the hybrid model meeting are as follows:
Date: Thursday, September 4, 2025.
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: 7th Floor Executive Board Room, 1900 Yonge St. The meeting will also be live-streamed on the Official TTC YouTube Channel.

On April 16, the TTC Board established a Strategic Planning Committee and appointed the following members: Alejandra Bravo (Chair), Jamaal Myers, Fenton Jagdeo, Joe Mihevc, and Dianne Saxe. Commissioners also approved the Terms of Reference for the Strategic Planning Committee.

The Strategic Planning Committee assists the TTC Board in managing strategic planning and priorities, focused on two core strategic directions of the Board-approved 2024-2028 Corporate Plan, Moving Toronto, Connecting Communities:
• Strategic Direction 2: Attract New Riders, Retain Customer Loyalty.
• Strategic Direction 3: Place Transit at the Centre of Toronto’s Future Mobility.

The Committee will be scheduled to meet at least twice annually, with one meeting held before Board consideration of the TTC’s Annual Operating and Capital Budgets.

TTC Board and Committees of the Board materials are now housed and publicly available on the City’s Toronto Meeting Management Information System (TMMIS) to improve and streamline access to documents and decisions. Meeting materials from 2024 and earlier will continue to be available at ttc.ca until further notice.

Subscribe to E-updates to receive alerts when agendas are made available, and decisions are held or approved.

View the agenda at: https://secure.toronto.ca/council/#/committees/2984/27338

 

[picard102]

TTC eyes fare capping — and a fare increase — as part of new growth strategy

The TTC is exploring options to help boost ridership next year as it struggles to attract more commuters post-pandemic.

www.thestar.com

Paywall free: https://archive.is/9uVHw

My advice for TTC growth strategy is to stop fare evasion, improve safety/security, and control public nuisance (vagrancy, loitering, begging). Once you see how the subways in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei are run, with ironclad controls on fares, public safety and cleanliness of stations and trains, you just can't take Toronto's seriously. You try begging, littering or smoking drugs outside a Singapore subway station and you'll quickly find yourself arrested.

Who is going to pay to double the staffing to police every train and gates?

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Who is going to pay to double the staffing to police every train and gates?

Do as they do in Europe, increase the operating subsidies to cover it. The TTC is currently underfunded for its operations. Don't confuse with the capital budget.

Germany's public transport operating budget is approximately 25 billion euros per year, which supports various services like buses, trams, and regional trains. This investment is crucial for enhancing the economy and promoting climate action, as it generates about 75 billion euros in added value

The Canadian federal government needs to get into the act, since Queen's Park tries not to.

 

[T3G]

Have you used the Melinda exit?

Its set up as an escalator going up, there is no staircase available.

No, I haven't, I just passed by and thought it was silly.

I'll take back my comment about retrofitting it after the fact - but not about how building it this way was a dumb choice to begin with. You're digging a hole in the ground and can't make it a little wider to allow for double end operation? There's really no logical reason for not having all exits be accessible both ways, unless you do another silly thing like New York and build your stations without mezzanines.

Duplex was a fully functioning entrance at one point, before the Crosstown project, when it actually had a building. The current (ish) iteration had among the highest far evasion rates in the system. Keep in mind, the current terminal is to be redeveloped, eventually, as per a discussion we've had here on UT.

As far as I'm aware, the Duplex entrance going defunct predates the Crosstown project by quite a few years - it's not there in the 2007 streetview of the spot, and if memory serves it was shuttered along with the old bus terminal.

I've heard of the plans to redevelop the current terminal, and quite frankly said redevelopment can't come soon enough, but we have a bad habit in this province of making temporary things last rather longer than they should. It's been 23 years since this temporary terminal was put into use, and its redevelopment will occur who knows when... at some point, one would hope that it would have occurred to someone to drop some PRESTO readers in.

That said, I care plenty about people cheating, because it means I pay more for less service.

The idea that I should have to pick up the tab because someone else is lazy and morally bankrupt is a non-starter.

This argument carries the same weight to me as ........"Well littering is fine, because I shouldn't have to walk more than a block to find a garbage can" No...its not. Yes, we should have more garbage cans in this city, they should also be emptied more frequently too.......... but if you bought a pop and its empty now, you're going to carry it around until you find a garbage, period! That should motivate you to complain to your councillor about the need for more garbage cans.

It's not about endorsing fare evasion (or littering??), it's about accepting what human nature is, and working around it. The TTC's job shouldn't be to socially engineer people into walking further away, it should be to make payment options available in more places, so that those who are opportunity thieves rather than ideological no longer are. I don't endorse fare evasion, but I also can't work up any kind of righteous anger against it - human beings have always stolen, and we can no more change that impulse than we can change the colour of the sky. My anger is in its entirety towards those who insufficiently fund the TTC, so that fare revenue makes up a large and unsustainable portion of the operating budget, and fare evasion actively results in less service rather than simply being a cost of doing business.

Most people, though not organized thieves, will not take a philanthropic view like you, they will simply take advantage of whatever loopholes in the system exist to save time or money. As long as we have had an organized society, someone has always sought to game the system. Forget having POOs to catch people after the fact, the best way of dealing with said people would be to make it a problem for them to game said system in the first place, like a store that, instead of compelling the cashiers to catch shoplifters, restricts access to high value goods until they have been paid for. In the case of the TTC, it would either be installing crocodile filled moats... or installing fare gates at every possible entrance to a station (Victoria Park and Ossington are also really poor offenders for this type of design).

As for littering, unless we're talking about a remote conservation area, chances are more would be done to solve the littering problem by installing more trash cans rather than installing an authority figure to ticket people for doing so. Again, this doesn't mean I endorse littering when there aren't trash cans, it just means that most people are selfish rather than evil, and removing incentives for them to be is the key to solving, in a big way, those ills.

Back to the matter at hand. Second exits, if un-staffed are generally the site of greater fare evasion, particularly in the era of Presto gates.

Sure, but so are streetcars with all door boarding.

 

[81-717]

As for littering, unless we're talking about a remote conservation area, chances are more would be done to solve the littering problem by installing more trash cans rather than installing an authority figure to ticket people for doing so.

I don't think a lack of trash cans is a problem, pretty sure they exist at every station, to be fair.

most people are selfish rather than evil

That's deep.

 

[T3G]

I don't think a lack of trash cans is a problem, pretty sure they exist at every station, to be fair.

I didn't think we were talking about the TTC, specifically.

 

[Northern Light]

No, I haven't, I just passed by and thought it was silly.

I'll take back my comment about retrofitting it after the fact - but not about how building it this way was a dumb choice to begin with. You're digging a hole in the ground and can't make it a little wider to allow for double end operation? There's really no logical reason for not having all exits be accessible both ways, unless you do another silly thing like New York and build your stations without mezzanines.

I'll leave the rest, but the above I do want to address. The Melinda exit, as located (where it is now) cannot be wider.

There is no room on the sidewalk, and the subway tunnel and platform is literally under the entire road surface. A wider entrance would mean no sidewalk.

Is it/was it theoretically plausible to put the exit somewhere else? Look at the buildings there now, I'm going to suggest to you that the answer is no.

Once Commerce Court was developed, a new second exit was added which was also an entrance and which had an up escalator as well.

The idea that everything is feasible is simply not right. Somethings are take it or leave it. Unless you wanted to expropriate all the buildings in question and tear them down to build the entrance in question.

I get your desire, I share it, but it wasn't realistic here.