Some Transit Toronto readers — especially students attending classes this fall at York University’s Keele Campus — have e-mailed us to ask the status of the York University busway project. (‘Way back in a post on April 26, we described how the TTC planned to revise bus services when it opened the busway, which it then had scheduled to open at the end of August.)
Other Transit Toronto readers — for example, David Fisher — have reported on the status of construction of the project, particularly that section of new roadway along the hydro corridor north of Finch Avenue West between Keele and Dufferin Streets. David and others told us not to expect the roadway to open soon.
So, we decided to ask our colleagues at the TTC to tell us what was up with the busway. This is what they told us.
First the good news. Parts of the roadway will, indeed, open in time for the fall session at York:
- the bus-only lanes along William R. Allen Road between the hydro corridor and Downsview Station; and
- the bus-only roadway through the Keele Campus between York Boulevard and Murray Ross Parkway.
The TTC will reroute some buses to the new roadways, including parts of the 117 Alness, 105 Dufferin North and the 196 York University Rocket routes, when it introduces its next set of service changes on Sunday, September 6.
Now the not-so-good news… the TTC is delaying opening the main part of the busway — the new road parallel to Finch Avenue West through the hydro corridor between Keele and Dufferin — until November.
Apparently contractors discovered that some underground pipelines were closer to the surface than they originally expected, so they had to redesign the roadway to accommodate the pipes and that made the project late.
We’ll continue to update readers on when the busway opens and how it affects passengers.
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