TTC derails Queen streetcars for summer

Streetcars to be replaced with buses during construction

Queen streetcars
Commuters board a westbound streetcar on Queen Street.  James Dalgarno/Toronto Observer

The TTC says they are replacing streetcars with buses along Queen Street during the summer to accommodate construction.

TTC communications specialist Stuart Greensays having one consistent mode of transportation along Queen Street makes sense during construction this summer.

“We would have needed replacement shuttles,” Green said. “It made more sense to create one seamless route.”

Commuters board a westbound streetcar on Queen Street.  (James Dalgarno/Toronto Observer)

The move is unprecedented. Streetcars have been a fixture along Queen Street — the TTC’s third busiest route — since 1921.

Buses can’t hold the same number of passengers as the larger streetcars and more vehicles will be required, Green said.

“Sixty-five buses will run the route from the Neville Park loop to Long Branch,” Green said. They will move the more than 43,000 commuters who use the 501 Queen streetcar line every day.

Green says construction along Queen Street is a good opportunity for the TTC to update its own infrastructure.

“During this period we will do track work at Queen and Coxwell and Queen and McCaul,” Green said.

That, combined with the city’s planned construction on the pedestrian bridge over Queen Street west of Yonge Street, could make for a tricky ride this summer.

Streetcars taken off Queen Street will be used to increase capacity and frequency on other lines, including the 511 Bathurst route, Green said.

Mixed reaction

This news led many online to voice their thoughts on the changes.

https://twitter.com/RenJohnston/status/836973245253447680

The changes are to be in effect from May 7 to Sept. 3.

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Posted: Mar 2 2017 4:25 pm
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