TTC Blue Night Network Service Upgrades

[299 bloor call control.]

though nothing would stop buses from going up bay street instead and loop via wellington, yonge and front

 

[W. K. Lis]

The last upgrade to the Blue Night Network was in 2015. See link for more information.

From link.

The Blue Night Network is the overnight public transit service operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The network consists of a basic grid of 27 bus and 4 streetcar routes, distributed so that almost all of the city is within 2 km of at least one route. It is the largest and most frequent night network in North America.

Toronto has had overnight streetcar service since the days of the Toronto Railway Company in the 1890s, and the TTC continued it when they took over in 1921. The routes selected for 24-hour service were those serving 24-hour employers such as factories, stockyards, and railway yards.

Over the years various streetcar routes were replaced by other modes, and where new subway lines replaced streetcars during regular hours, buses were put on overnight. But the overnight routings remained largely unchanged for decades, even after the TTC's service area expanded in 1954 from the Toronto city limits as they then were, to include the whole of Metropolitan Toronto ("Metro", which in 1998 became the present amalgamated city of Toronto). Only one overnight route (the Queen streetcar, later 501 Queen, to Long Branch loop) extended a significant distance into the suburbs.

In 1974, after the subway had been extended beyond the Toronto city limits in three directions, the same was done for overnight bus service. But large areas of Metro still remained without 24-hour transit — Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough each had only one or two routes — as late as 1986, when the TTC's planning department issued a report on Metro All-Night Transit Service calling for major changes.

The report pointed out that the importance of the original "demand generators" for overnight public transit had declined. Nightly demand was now twice as heavy on weekends as on weekdays, showing that not many people were using transit to get to night work. And as Metro had grown, only 45% of its population still lived within a 15-minute walk of the existing 24-hour transit routes. In fact, hardly any of the 14 overnight routes then in existence were strictly justified by demand any more, particularly on weekdays. But since "one of the TTC's primary goals is to maximize mobility and accessibility to transit service", the report's recommendation was to redesign the system, not eliminate it.

Most of Toronto has a squarish grid of main streets that originated as township roads and are spaced at 1¼-mile intervals (about 2 km). By running overnight buses along every second road in the grid, all parts of Metro would be reached and 86% of the population would be within a 15-minute walk (taken as 1.25 km or ¾ mile). To avoid excessively long trips, some grid streets such as Eglinton Avenue would require two bus routes meeting end-to-end, but still just 15 routes would be needed to form the grid. The 506 Carlton route had sufficient traffic to be retained in addition, for a total of 16 routes.

This is what the report proposed. In changing from the old network of 14 routes to the new set of 16, only 2 routes would be entirely unchanged. There would be 11 entirely new overnight routes (all bus-operated), with 7 existing ones eliminated (3 streetcar, 3 trolleybus, and only 1 bus route, as the night network would be shifted away from the streetcar tracks and trolleybus wires).

Despite the route eliminations and probable increased ridership, the changes could not be expected to finance themselves. The report recommended reducing service frequencies after 10 p.m. on certain routes in order to offset the increased costs.

The Commission agreed to the expanded service, but could not stomach the elimination of so many routes. Instead, they chose to retain all existing routes despite the cost, creating a 23-route night system.

Until this time, with the exception of buses that replaced subway lines, it had been understood that overnight transit was provided by regular routes that happened to have 24-hour service. Night services retained the same route names and numbers as their daytime counterparts, perhaps with a suffixed letter if there was a variation in the exact routing. But now a marketing decision was made to treat the overnight service as a new, distinct set of routes, even in those cases where the day route was identical.

The name Blue Night Network was adopted, and with it the 300-series route numbers described above, and a new color-coding for bus and streetcar stops. The existing standard TTC-stop sign had a red square or stripe at the top and bottom; now, for all stops with 24-hour service, this was changed to red and blue, with the legend "24 hr" added.Those stops used only for the Blue Night Network, mostly for night routes paralleling the subway, received the standard sign with red changed to blue (and a notice of the limited hours). The Blue Night Network debuted in February 1987.

In the fall of 2015, the TTC expanded the Blue Night Network program, with 16 new or revised routes incorporated into the network as part of a $95 million investment made by Toronto City Council.This included the restoration of streetcar service on King Street as the 304 King and on Spadina Avenue as the 310 Spadina, operating entirely with low-floor Flexity streetcars. As of January 2020, the 310 Spadina, 306 Carlton, 304 King, and 301 Queen operate using accessible Flexity streetcars.

 

[Northern Light]

The last upgrade to the Blue Night Network was in 2015. See link for more information.

View attachment 303639

From link.

The Blue Night Network is the overnight public transit service operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The network consists of a basic grid of 27 bus and 4 streetcar routes, distributed so that almost all of the city is within 2 km of at least one route. It is the largest and most frequent night network in North America.

The network should be filled out in key locations.

My list would be:

1) Either Martin Grove or Kipling, there are points where there is no N-S service from Islington to the City's western limits. That is not reasonable. That's a coverage gap of more than 4.5km

2) Bayview Avenue. Though mostly low density (which is an issue); this road serves a huge number of healthcare workers at Sunnybrook and Bloorview; and the need for many people to make their way to hospitals at all hours on a emergent basis due to someone being on the verge of death or due to an urgent enough, but not ambulance worthy health need etc. The gap from Don Mills to Yonge is 5km.

3) St. Clair Avenue East/Markham Road. On the E-W leg of this route there is a service gap from Danforth to Eglinton which is about 4km. There is considerable density on portions of Markham Road and the gap between McCowan and Morningside is 5km. This route also serves many industrial employers further north.

4) The need to split Victoria Park and Warden into 2 services. While northern VP is lighter in residential, it again has significant employment lands towards Steeles. Southern Warden really is too low in density to justify the service currently, but with the impending changes at Warden/St. Clair and at Eglinton (Golden Mile) this should change. Warden need not operate south of St. Clair.

I think the above strike me as those routes which provide the greatest equality benefits in terms of serving key employment clusters and higher density residential.

However, I would like to see the minimum level of service raised to every 20 minutes.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The network should be filled out in key locations.

My list would be:

1) Either Martin Grove or Kipling, there are points where there is no N-S service from Islington to the City's western limits. That is not reasonable. That's a coverage gap of more than 4.5km

2) Bayview Avenue. Though mostly low density (which is an issue); this road serves a huge number of healthcare workers at Sunnybrook and Bloorview; and the need for many people to make their way to hospitals at all hours on a emergent basis due to someone being on the verge of death or due to an urgent enough, but not ambulance worthy health need etc. The gap from Don Mills to Yonge is 5km.

3) St. Clair Avenue East/Markham Road. On the E-W leg of this route there is a service gap from Danforth to Eglinton which is about 4km. There is considerable density on portions of Markham Road and the gap between McCowan and Morningside is 5km. This route also serves many industrial employers further north.

4) The need to split Victoria Park and Warden into 2 services. While northern VP is lighter in residential, it again has significant employment lands towards Steeles. Southern Warden really is too low in density to justify the service currently, but with the impending changes at Warden/St. Clair and at Eglinton (Golden Mile) this should change. Warden need not operate south of St. Clair.

I think the above strike me as those routes which provide the greatest equality benefits in terms of serving key employment clusters and higher density residential.

However, I would like to see the minimum level of service raised to every 20 minutes.

Maybe with the opening of the Crosstown LRT, the Blue Night Network will also be upgraded in 2022.

 

[11th]

The network should be filled out in key locations.

My list would be:

1) Either Martin Grove or Kipling, there are points where there is no N-S service from Islington to the City's western limits. That is not reasonable. That's a coverage gap of more than 4.5km

2) Bayview Avenue. Though mostly low density (which is an issue); this road serves a huge number of healthcare workers at Sunnybrook and Bloorview; and the need for many people to make their way to hospitals at all hours on a emergent basis due to someone being on the verge of death or due to an urgent enough, but not ambulance worthy health need etc. The gap from Don Mills to Yonge is 5km.

3) St. Clair Avenue East/Markham Road. On the E-W leg of this route there is a service gap from Danforth to Eglinton which is about 4km. There is considerable density on portions of Markham Road and the gap between McCowan and Morningside is 5km. This route also serves many industrial employers further north.

4) The need to split Victoria Park and Warden into 2 services. While northern VP is lighter in residential, it again has significant employment lands towards Steeles. Southern Warden really is too low in density to justify the service currently, but with the impending changes at Warden/St. Clair and at Eglinton (Golden Mile) this should change. Warden need not operate south of St. Clair.

I think the above strike me as those routes which provide the greatest equality benefits in terms of serving key employment clusters and higher density residential.

However, I would like to see the minimum level of service raised to every 20 minutes.

Would running a more frequent Lawrence-Sunnybrook shuttle to complement 320 Yonge (already frequent) achieve the same goal? Unless the goal is to serve walk-up traffic on Bayview.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The 335 JANE should be extended south to The Queensway and the 301 QUEEN. Whether it use South Kingsway or Runnymede/Windermere to reach it depends on neighbourhood reaction.

 

[KhalilHeron]

the 385 should also really be extended to Rouge Hill GO. The area around port Union and Kingston has some decent density from apartments and the closest bus stop at night is a 1.7km walk on an absolute terror of an arterial.

 

[Northern Light]

Would running a more frequent Lawrence-Sunnybrook shuttle to complement 320 Yonge (already frequent) achieve the same goal? Unless the goal is to serve walk-up traffic on Bayview.

I would argue for the Bayview route.

My logic is this:

1) There is no 24/7 transit connection south to Eglinton from Sunnybrook.

Given the coming of the Crosstown, that seems unreasonable on its face that people who work, or otherwise have to reach Sunnybrook in the middle of the night can't connect to the Crosstown.

2) There is no northward connection to the Sheppard subway (or points beyond)

3) To the extent that the focus is on Sunnybrook, you want people to be able to reach it from the north, south, east and west. The connection to Yonge really only addresses the west.

Think about the time implication if you were going to/from Bayview and Sheppard and you need to go to Yonge, then back track along Lawrence; riding 3 routes (Sheppard, Yonge, and Lawrence) vs a single route on Bayview.

The same is true if someone can't exit the Crosstown at Bayview but has to go onto Yonge, take the night bus, then transfer again at Lawrence.

4) Finally I would add that there are high density clusters on Bayview at Sheppard; and another coming at Eglinton that justify 24/7 access to transit apart from Sunnybrook.

 

[Steve X]

The problem with Etobicoke is either a route on Martin Grove or Kipling would get like 2-5 riders for the entire night. People already have the 332 and 352 so it's only the portion south of Eglinton or the industrial area north of Dixon that's left out.

South of Eglinton is really quiet. They don't get much riders in the evening either. Everyobe tend you ride thrrough that area.

 

[W. K. Lis]

With the Crosstown LRT opening, the 11 BAYVIEW bus route should be able to get a Blue Night 311 BAYVIEW would be useful, along with a Blue Night 351 LESLIE following mostly the 51 LESLIE routing.

From link.

Other suggestions?

 

[Northern Light]

The problem with Etobicoke is either a route on Martin Grove or Kipling would get like 2-5 riders for the entire night. People already have the 332 and 352 so it's only the portion south of Eglinton or the industrial area north of Dixon that's left out.

South of Eglinton is really quiet. They don't get much riders in the evening either. Everyobe tend you ride thrrough that area.

The TTC has suggested a higher number, I'd have to find the report; but they indicated either Martin Grover or Kipling were right at the edge of qualifying for a route some time ago.

There was a suggestion both might even be justified.

I'd settle for one.

 

[anb]

I think Kipling would be the best choice.

While Martin grove does have more industrial areas, especially between Rexdale Blvd and 401/Dixon most of the night shift hours are throughout the entire night. The ridership wouldn’t be there. The real residential area strip is between Steeles and Rexdale, which the 396 already provide service to. But there is a gap between West Humber Blvd and Rexdale, although not the biggest deal for this area. And if anything, maybe a branch of the 332 or the 352 could head up martin grove to cover these empty spots.

Kipling has Residential/Commercial and Industrial all mixed through out its entire route. There’s a lot of plazas and some 24 hour spots that i guess are essential (Shoppers Drug Mart). It will provide a consistent connection throughout etobicoke and if this night route does happen, it could maybe attract some customers who never had this service to them before, but now does.

 

[W. K. Lis]

The 300B Bloor-Danforth westbound loops at The West Mall, Burnhamthorpe, and The East Mall. The 300B Pearson Airport continues up along Highway 427 to Eglinton Avenue West before continuing to Pearson Airport. There are no bus stops along Highway 427. There are high-rises in the area (IE. around Rathburn) and residences north of Burhamthorpe and south of Eglinton, but not accessible to the blue night bus.

Couldn't they change the 300B loop to continue up The West Mall to Rathburn before returning via The East Mall? Couldn't the 300A continue up The West Mall to Wellesworth Drive to Gentian Drive & Renforth Drive before continuing up to Pearson Airport?

Either that or add bus stops at Rathurn Road and Highway 427? (Unlikely, because it is on the highway and would need construction of ramps.)

 

[Steve X]

View attachment 380890

The 300B Bloor-Danforth westbound loops at The West Mall, Burnhamthorpe, and The East Mall. The 300B Pearson Airport continues up along Highway 427 to Eglinton Avenue West before continuing to Pearson Airport. There are no bus stops along Highway 427. There are high-rises in the area (IE. around Rathburn) and residences north of Burhamthorpe and south of Eglinton, but not accessible to the blue night bus.

Couldn't they change the 300B loop to continue up The West Mall to Rathburn before returning via The East Mall? Couldn't the 300A continue up The West Mall to Wellesworth Drive to Gentian Drive & Renforth Drive before continuing up to Pearson Airport?

Either that or add bus stops at Rathurn Road and Highway 427? (Unlikely, because it is on the highway and would need construction of ramps.)

That sounds more like a ticket for more noise complains than actually serving any riders. Rathburn barely has any transit by 10pm and definitely don't need night service.

 

[Sandpit]

York Region should pay the TTC to extend some 320 trips to Richmond Hill Centre and some 335 trips to VMC.