ttc bus

These are the TTC bus routes in most desperate need of improvement

Toronto transit experts revealed the transit routes they believe need to be made more efficient, ahead of Ryerson University’s Hacking Surface Transit in Toronto panel later this week.

Their answers were not unanimous, indicating that our public transit needs improvements across the board.

For Barbara Gray, the general manager of the city’s Transportation Services, improving the reliability and efficiency of bus routes, specifically on Dufferin, Finch, Lawrence and Jane, is a priority.

There are 12 TTC bus routes that carry 30,000 people every day, according to Gray. By improving surface level transit, the entire network will be more efficient as a whole, she said.

“I think we need to look at surface transit routes across the City and consider how different kinds of improvements will work in different contexts,” Gray said in the Ryerson City Building Institute newsletter.

Matti Siemiatycki, the associative professor and director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto, agreed that travel routes from the suburbs to the downtown core, like Finch, Jane and Dufferin, need to be prioritized, since these lines carry the most people.

The Finch West TTC bus was the pick of Andrew Miller, the associate director of Sidewalk Labs, for the transit route that most needs improvement.

Since there is no other bus routes that travels east-west in northern Etobicoke and Scarborough, this route has “immense ridership,” he said.

Miller suggested introducing a bus-only lane until the Finch LRT is projected to be completed in 2023. He also wants to see a 501 Queen streetcar pilot just like the now permanent King Street Pilot.

Lead photo by

Jason Cook


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