Transit Toronto

Starting Monday, April 12, the City of Mississauga is closing

• Webb Drive between Redmond Road and Confederation Parkway,

to accommodate City contractors who are installing a storm sewer.

MiWay is detouring buses along these routes, while the street is closed:

• 6 Credit Woodlands; and
• 91 Hillcrest - Cooksville GO.

Storm-sewer construction on Webb Drive and the resulting MiWay detours continue until April 16.

For ten days — from Monday, April 12 until Wednesday, April 21 — the TTC is closing Line 1 Yonge - University subway between St George and St Andrew stations. Line 1 trains operate only between Finch and St Andrew stations and between Vaughan Metropolitan Centre and St George stations those days.

Shuttle buses partly replace subway service. The buses drop off or pick up passengers on the street near stations on this part of the line. The TTC says that buses drop operate every minute or better Mondays to Fridays during morning rush hours “to provide safe travel and physical distancing.”

According to the TTC, passengers can expect frequent, “very consistent” bus service to continue throughout the rest of the week. It’s based service levels on current passenger volumes.

(Or, consider a shuttle-bus alternative.)

Museum, Queen’s Park, St Patrick and Osgoode stations are closed. The TTC is closing all entrances / exits at these stations, including connections to hospitals.

Although all shuttle buses are accessible, Wheel-Trans service is also available from all stations. Ask TTC staff in each station for information about Wheel-Trans.

The TTC says it’s “continuing to capitalize on reduced ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic and identifying opportunities to carry out vital state-of-good-repair work with minimal inconvenience to [passengers].”

During the closure between St George and St Andrews, crews are:

• removing asbestos;
• repairing electrical cables; and
• rehabilitating the structure.

Crews are working “around-the-clock” — 24 hours a day, every day.

The transit agency says that this ten-day closure eliminates several years’ worth of early access, weekend and platform closures. The TTC successfully used similar closures

• between Finch and Sheppard - Yonge stations in December and
• between St George and St Andrew station in March

to complete more than the equivalent of two years of work in just ten days.

Starting 2 a.m. Saturday, April 10, City of Toronto Water crews block part of the streetcar right-of-way, while the clean sewers

• on Dundas Street West between Roncesvalles and Howard Park Avenues.

The TTC is detouring streetcars along these routes, to accommodate, while the tracks are blocked:

• 306 Carlton overnight; and
• 505 Dundas.

Sewer-cleaning on Dundas Street West and the resulting TTC detours continue until April 12 (4:30 a.m.)

Starting 6 a.m. Friday, April 12, the City of Toronto is closing

• Calvington Drive between the west and east branches of Forthbridge Crescent and
• Forthbridge Crescent between Chesham and Calvington Drives

to accommodate City contractors who are installing a new water main.

The TTC is detouring buses along this route, while the streets are closed:

• 120 Calvington.

Water-main construction on Calvington Drive and Forthbridge Crescent and the resulting TTC detour continue until May 7.

From 1 a.m. Saturday, April 10 until 1 p.m., Sunday, April 11, the City of Toronto is closing

• Wellesley Street West between Queen’s Park Crescent East and Bay Street,

to accommodate contractors who are lifting a crane at a construction site.

The TTC is detouring buses along this route, while the street is closed:

• 94A Wellesley.

Last week we posted photos by reader Stuart Mullin, which showed old streetcar tracks, curves and “setts” (cobblestones) at the intersection of Church Street with Bloor Street East. City of Toronto contractors had exposed the old streetcar infrastructure during a project to resurface Church between Park Road and Gloucester Street.

By April 5, the contractors had completely removed all the tracks, curves and setts. Stuart sent us a new photo documenting this phase of the work.

^ Image, Stuart Mullin

The TTC operated streetcars along the Church route until May 15, 1954.

The TTC operated streetcars along this part of the Bloor route until February 26, 1966, when it opened the Line 2 Bloor - Danforth subway.

You can read Transit Toronto’s history of streetcars on Church Street by James Bow, here.

You can read Transit Toronto’s history of streetcars on Bloor Street by James Bow, here.

The TTC is delaying the start of service along Line 2 Bloor - Danforth between Broadview and St George stations this Sunday, April 11. All Line 2 trains operate only between Kennedy and Broadview stations and between Kipling and St George stations before noon that day.

Shuttle buses partially replace subway service between the two stations, stopping on the street near stations on the closed section of the line.

(Or, consider a shuttle bus alternative.)

Most stations on the closed section of Line 2 remain open so you can pay for fares or connect with buses, streetcars and Line 1 Yonge - University subway trains. However, Sherbourne and Bay stations are closed before noon.

Although shuttle buses are accessible, Wheel-Trans service is also available between Broadview and St George stations. Ask staff at these stations for in information about Wheel-Trans service.

While this section of Line 2 is closed, City of Toronto contractors work under the Prince Edward Viaduct to replace beams. TTC crews also take advantage of the closure to maintain the tracks.

All day Saturday, April 10 and Sunday, April 11, the TTC is closing Line 1 Yonge - University subway between Finch and St Clair stations. Line 1 trains operate only between St Clair and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre stations those days.

Shuttle buses partly replace subway service. The buses start and end their trips in the bus terminals at Finch and St Clair stations, but also drop off or pick up passengers on the street near the other stations on this part of the line.

(Or, consider a shuttle-bus alternative.)

Most stations on the closed section of Line 1 remain open so you can pay fares or connect with TTC buses, streetcars and Line 4 Sheppard trains or GO Transit and York Region Transit buses. However, North York Centre Station is closed.

Note also that the TTC is closing exits / entrances at other stations:

• at Sheppard - Yonge Station, the automatic exits / entrances at Yonge Street and Poyntz Avenue and at Yonge Street and Anndale Drive are closed. Use other station entrances.
• at York Mills Station, the Old York Mills Road exit / entrance is closed. Use the other station entrances in the York Mills Centre and the Yonge Corporate Centre or at the corner of Yonge Street and Wilson Avenue.
• at Lawrence Station, the automatic entrances / exits at Ranleigh Avenue and Bedford Park Avenue are closed. Use the entrances at Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue.

Although all shuttle buses are accessible, Wheel-Trans service is also available from all stations. Ask TTC staff in each station for information about Wheel-Trans.

While this section of Line 1 is closed, Metrolinx contractors work on the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line. TTC crews will take advantage of the closure to install the automatic train control (ATC) signalling system in the subway corridor.

The TTC says that “The existing signals, relays, wiring and cabling equipment, much of which is over 60 years old, need replacing as their failure significantly impacts service. Once Automatic Train Control is fully installed and operational, [passengers] will see improved frequency of subway service, less crowding and greater reliability of the signal system.”

According to a TTC news release, “While the TTC does most subway maintenance at the conclusion of service each night, it continues to require weekend and early weeknight closures to complete critical infrastructure and state of good repair work as well as ATC signal upgrades.”

Starting Saturday, April 10, GO Transit is revising the path for its buses operating through downtown Kitchener to avoid several upcoming construction projects.

Generally, starting Saturday, buses operate along Weber Street, instead of Victoria, Charles and King Streets.

Buses along these routes operate along the new path:

• 25 Waterloo / Mississauga; and
• 30 Kitchener / Brampton express.

Starting Thursday, April 9, GO Transit crews are repairing the stairs connecting the east tunnel to the island (south) platform.

Use the west tunnel to get to the south platform, while the work zone blocks the stairs.

Crews continue repairing the stairs at Bronte GO Station until April 20.

Starting Wednesday, April 21, when crews have finished repairing the east stairwell, they’ll start repairing the west stairwell. Repairs on the west tunnel continue until “the beginning of May”, meaning as late as until May 7.