TTC to improve service to 10 minutes or less on dozens of routes

Toronto transit riders will rarely have to wait longer than 10 minutes for a bus, subway or streetcar on 52 of its routes, the Toronto Transit Commission promised on Monday.

The "10 minute or better" service will cost the city about $11 million, and should be in place by the end of the year, TTC chair Josh Colle said at a news conference at Bathurst Station.

Colle said the plan, which was already approved in the 2015 operating budget, will enact the 10-minute standard seven days a week between 6 a.m. and 1 a.m. 

"That means that TTC riders will have shorter wait times at transit stops," he said. "It'll help to decrease crowding on vehicles and provide a more comfortable, convenient but most importantly reliable service for our users."

Nine of the routes already meet the 10-minute standard, meaning that 42 routes across the city are having their service expanded.

Colle said he can't guarantee TTC vehicles will never be late, but said the standard requires a significant investment in vehicles and employees, gives the commission a number to be held to, and makes the service "consistently more reliable."

TTC deputy CEO Chris Upfold said he expects the changes to increase fare revenue by about $4 million. 

He said the service expansion makes part of the TTC a "turn-up-and-go service" meant to give riders confidence that they don't have to plan.

The service announcement comes a week after a power outage and a failure of a backup power supply caused a crippling subway shutdown during morning rush hour. Colle said the announcement was made only because the specific routes are about to come before the commission.

Here are the routes covered by the new 10-minute-or-better service:

• Line 1 Yonge-University
• Line 2 Bloor-Danforth 
• Line 3 Scarborough 
• Line 4 Sheppard 
• 501 Queen 
• 502 Downtowner/503 Kingston Rd 
• 504 King 
• 505 Dundas 
• 506 Carlton 
• 509 Harbourfront 
• 510 Spadina 
• 511 Bathurst 
• 512 St Clair 
• 7 Bathurst 
• 22 Coxwell 
• 24 Victoria Park 
• 25 Don Mills 
• 29 Dufferin 
• 32 Eglinton West 
• 34 Eglinton East 
• 35 Jane 
• 36 Finch West 
• 39 Finch East 
• 43 Kennedy 
• 44 Kipling South 
• 45 Kipling 
• 47 Lansdowne 
• 52 Lawrence West 
• 53 Steeles East 
• 54 Lawrence East 
• 60 Steeles West 
• 63 Ossington 
• 65 Parliament 
• 72 Pape  
• 76 Royal York South
• 84 Sheppard West  
• 85 Sheppard East 
• 86 Scarborough
• 87 Cosburn 
• 89 Weston 
• 94 Wellesley 
• 95 York Mills 
• 96 Wilson 
• 100 Flemingdon Park 
• 102 Markham Rd 
• 113 Danforth 
• 116 Morningside 
• 129 McCowan North 
• 165 Weston Rd North 
• 191 Highway 27 Rocket 
• 192 Airport Rocket