TTC adjusting bus service on Spadina Avenue after traffic times tripled

The TTC will no longer run buses along Spadina Avenue during weekday afternoons after travel times on the route tripled following the suspension of streetcar service last month.

The TTC began replacing streetcars with buses on June 23 to allow crews to complete “critical” track work that is expected to take until December.

However, because buses cannot operate in the dedicated lane used by streetcars it has worsened gridlock along the busy corridor and the TTC is now taking action.

In a news release on Friday, the TTC said that 510 Spadina replacement buses will no longer operate between Front Street West and Queen’s Quay from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with the change taking effect next week.

Instead, buses will turn left on Front Street and right on Blue Jays Way to loop back around to Spadina Avenue. They will then continue their route northbound to Spadina Station.

“In the first week of this planned six-month service change, the TTC has seen southbound afternoon travel times triple to more than an hour from approximately 20-25 minutes at other times of day. Buses running south of Front Street are getting caught in congestion and gridlock as motorists attempt to get on the Gardiner Expressway,” the TTC noted in its release. “This change is the result of on-going monitoring of the route since June 23 when buses replaced streetcars to accommodate essential infrastructure work.”

The TTC says that it continue to monitor the situation along Spadina Avenue and “is looking at other possible improvements and modifications” as well.

The change to service along the route comes after former One Direction member Niall Horan posted a video last week which showed him walking to the Scotiabank Arena for a performance because the city’s traffic was “too bad.”

In the video, which was sped up and had The Proclaimer’s “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)” playing in the background, Horan was seen walking from just west of Yonge Street to an underground entrance of Scotiabank Arena past Bay Street.

“In all the years I’ve been playing shows, I don’t think I’ve ever walked into a venue,” Horan said in the video.

The changes to service along the 510 Spadina route take effect July 8.

The TTC says that accommodations will be made for customers with mobility needs who need to travel south of Front Street and they will be picked up by another bus.