With kids headed back to school and employees returning en masse to in-office work, the TTC has upped service on several routes and made a series of other adjustments to increase frequency and reliability.

On Sunday, the transit agency rolled out the first set of improvements to restore service on bus, streetcar and subway routes to operate at near-full budgeted levels of service after over two years of reduced service.

Restoration of service is planned to continue through the year on a route-by-route basis, but riders may already notice the restoration of near-pre-pandemic service on many routes during their Tuesday morning commute.

Perhaps the most significant improvement is the restoration of Line 1 Yonge-University and Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway routes back to three-minute or faster service during peak periods, effective Tuesday, September 6.

Trains are arriving at closer intervals, but the changes only bring subway service back to 92 per cent of budgeted levels of service investment.

Bus and streetcar routes are also seeing service improvements to 97 and 84 per cent of budgeted levels of service investment, respectively.

Riders will likely notice improved on-time performance or additional service on busy streetcar routes like the 511 Bathurst and 512 St Clair, as well as several bus routes, including the 26 Dupont, 38 Highland Creek, 44 Kipling South, 100 Flemingdon Park, 102 Markham Rd, 123 Sherway, 131 Nugget and 134 Progress.

As students return to school, the TTC is making several seasonal adjustments and restoring school trips, with 112 new trips scheduled, including four new additions.

Things are returning to normal overall on the TTC, but there are still several routes that remain suspended, with the transit agency planning to review effectiveness through the 2023 Annual Service Plan.

Service upgrades and restorations will not include several of the TTC’s Downtown Express routes, including the 141, 142, 143, 144 and 145 buses.

And, as always, there will be construction to contend with: active track work along the 508 Lake Shore route means service will remain suspended for the foreseeable future.

Other active construction work is impacting service on routes across the city, including upgrades to Greenwood, Rosedale, Wilson and Donlands stations, plus track work like the ongoing King-Queen-Queensway-Roncesvalles project, now entering its third phase of construction.