Spadina Bus vs. Streetcar: With streetcar route now closed, we tested both (so you don’t have to)

Toronto Star
Toronto Star
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Published 2024-06-26
With the TTC upgrading the Spadina streetcar right-of-way from now until December, the transit agency is resorting to the next best thing to keep people moving along the route. Which means transit riders on one of downtown's busiest routes will have to take one of the replacement buses now added to one of the city's most congested roads. To find out what that means to commuters, the Star’s Mahdis Habibinia took the 3.5-kilometre journey from Bloor Street to the waterfront during the afternoon rush — twice. First by the streetcar while it was still running; then by the replacement bus.
All Comments (15)
  • @elizabethhollowaye7494
    Today, there was an article about the 510 Spadina route in the Toronto Star, the first one since June 23, when streetcars were taken off that route and replaced with a curbside shuttle-bus operation. This past Friday, a journalist from the Toronto Star took the 510 Spadina streetcar from Spadina subway station and rode it to Queens Quay and Spadina loop. The trip took him (or her) just under 30 minutes. However on Monday, he took the same trip on one of the shuttle buses on the 510 Spadina route and it took him 106 minutes (1 hour and 46 minutes). The many shuttle buses on this route contend with private vehicles and also commercial vehicles such as (transport) trucks, making for traffic that either grinds to a standstill or crawls when it gets going again. I've switched to taking two streetcars, the combination of the 511 Bathurst and the 509 Harbourfront routes, which converge at Bathurst and Fleet Streets.
  • @Electrify85
    27 minutes to go 3.5 km?! Only in Toronto would they find a way to construct a tramway and have it operate at an average speed comparable to a power walk!
  • @sessionfiddler
    Upgrading overhead wires, fixing track and preparing for work to expand the streetcar platform at Spadina station? There must be a way to do all this work and maintain service. If in 2013, Tokyo could convert Daikanyama St. station from above ground to underground in 3.5 hours with 1200 workers in a one time event, why can't we do something like that here? Likely a lot of planning and probably one giant cost but how does that compare to all of our proposed budgets and timelines getting blown away with months or years delay and increases plus the inconvenience to users and the businesses around it?
  • @krooner500
    The ride would be more enjoyable if you were listening to the song Spadina Bus
  • @zokpls8712
    Close a lane to cars and add a bus lane…
  • @stoddard1953
    If you are able to, you're better off walking from Front/Spadina to Spadina station.
  • @Ryan.Hannah
    Why are they already upgrading the Spadina street cars? Isn't that the newest streetcar line in the city? That central street car corridor is only about 10 years old.
  • @highstreetkillers4377
    2.5kms by streetcar in 27 minutes? lol. Must be a lot of sitting sitting. You can walk that in like 15 to 20 minutes and save your $
  • @malaudisa
    The whole idea of using "trains" that require a track overhaul every 10 years is ludicrous. We could use articulated EV buses with no need for all new infrastructure like power cables and tracks. We're a dumb city run by incompetents.
  • @kevinb8702
    Laughable. What a joke streetcars are. Replace them with electric articulated buses in separated lanes. Get all the efficiency without the silly trackwork that takes months.