TTC proposes bus-only lanes for five busy routes across the city

Thestar.com
December 6, 2019
Ben Spurr

Beleaguered bus riders, take heart! The TTC has a plan to make service on some of its busiest routes faster and more reliable.

In its new five-year service plan released Wednesday, the transit agency outlines a proposal to implement exclusive bus-only lanes and other service-enhancing measures on five of its most frequented lines.

The proposal was in part inspired by the project to give streetcars priority on King St. downtown.

The bus corridors the agency is eyeing for the improvements are Eglinton East, Dufferin, Jane, Steeles West, and Finch East, all of which primarily serve communities outside of the downtown core.

Each carry more than 33,000 passengers on an average weekday, and the busiest, Finch East, carries more than 53,000, according to TTC statistics. By comparison, the Line 4 (Sheppard) subway carries about 50,000 people per day.

According to the service plan, bus rapid transit lanes on the routes would cost $41.8 million over five years. Most of that, $40 million, is currently unfunded.

“Bus priority lanes would improve the reliability and speed of bus service. For customers, this means shorter travel times and less time waiting for buses,” said TTC spokesperson Stuart Green.

“The city’s population and economy are growing, but our roads are not and cannot. The focus needs to be on moving more people in higher-capacity vehicles.”

Green said the routes were chosen based on ridership, as well as other factors such as city-building objectives and which lines are particularly hampered by operating in mixed traffic.

In a statement Thursday, Mayor John Tory signalled support for the TTC’s proposal.

“I championed the King Street pilot, and, based on its success, ... I have been supportive of looking at bus-priority corridors as a way to improve transit reliability,” he said.

The mayor said he had told the TTC he wants the agency to get a bus rapid transit project up and running “as soon as possible.”

“It is my hope that the success of the first (bus rapid transit project), if done in the right way and based on lessons learned from the King Street pilot, will help us as we move ahead with the full five-year plan,” he said.

Details of what form the busways would take have yet to be determined, but Green said the agency’s plan is to limit the need to expand roadways, and, instead, focus on converting existing traffic lanes to bus-only lanes.

That could include painting lanes and pavement markings, adding signage, and upgrading stop areas. The agency could also remove on-street parking and restrict driveway access to private vehicles.

In addition to reserving lanes for buses, the agency would also look at more measures to improve service on the five routes. They include all-door boarding, which would cut down on vehicle stopping time by allowing passengers to board at vehicles’ rear doors, and implementing longer distances between stops to speed travel.

Unlike the King streetcar initiative, the TTC isn’t proposing to implement a pilot project of the busways before deciding whether to make them permanent.

“The plan is to get all five going,” said Green.

Cherise Burda, executive director of Ryerson University’s City Building Institute, said investing in busways is “overdue.”

She argued priority bus corridors have the potential to improve transit service quicker and at a fraction of the cost compared to subway or LRT lines. She pointed out the megaprojects under the Ontario government’s $28.5-billion transit expansion plan won’t be finished for about a decade or more, and “the city’s not standing still while that gets built.”

Toronto’s population is expected to grow by about a third to 3.9 million by 2041.

“We have to think of quicker-to-deploy solutions,” she said.

Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 21, Scarborough Centre), whose ward is bordered by the Eglinton East bus corridor, said dedicating parts of the road to transit vehicles is bound to provoke opposition from some drivers.

But he said he’s also heard from residents that the city needs to make transit more reliable.

“We have to find more efficient ways and bolder ways to help people travel,” said Thompson, who is an ally of the mayor’s.

The councillor called the TTC’s bus rapid transit plan “a bold step” and “something that is worthy of trying.”

Councillor John Filion (Ward 18, Willowdale), whose ward includes a portion of Finch East, said he would have to get more details about the TTC’s plan before he could support it.

He predicted dedicating space for transit on Finch wouldn’t be as easy as it was on King, because, unlike on the downtown street, there are fewer nearby parallel arteries that drivers displaced from Finch could use.

“When you’re up in North York, it’s a very different situation,” he said, warning the busway plan could cause “traffic mayhem.”

“Obviously, we need to do a better job of prioritizing public transit over vehicle use, but whether that translates into eliminating lanes on Finch for a busway, I’d have to see a lot more information.”

A report on the service plan will be debated at the TTC board next Thursday. It recommends the agency work with city officials and report back in early 2020 with an implementation plan for the priority bus corridors.