Tag: Bayview Ave Dead Zone

28 Bayview bus ends isolation of south-end residents

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28 bus 550

The much-anticipated all-day 28 Bayview bus service will begin operation this week. The new service will be operated from Monday to Friday, and during the evenings on Saturday, Sunday, and holidays. It brings an end the transit isolation of south-end neighbourhoods like South Leaside, Bennington Heights and Moore Park from the South Bayview commercial district. The bus runs from the Davisville subway station directly along Davisville and Bayview to the Evergreen Brick Works. One of the stops is at Bayview and Moore where an easy transfer can be made to the 88 Leaside. The service will operate every 20 minutes in the peak periods and midday from Monday to Friday, and every 30 minutes at all other times.

BULLDOG IN FOREFRONT

The South Bayview Bulldog was in the forefront of efforts to close the gap in Bayview Ave transit and has made many submissions to the TTC and others about a solution. Credit must be given to Jon Burnside (Ward 26) for his continuing interest and efforts in this effort. And Lorna Krawchuk recalls the work of Carol Fripp on behalf of the LPOA. Success! 28 Bayview bus will run 7 days a week in 2016

Success! 28 Bayview bus will run 7 days a week in 2016

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28 bayview

Weekend service will run 7-days-a-week by mid-2016

The TTC meeting scheduled for Monday, June 22, 2015, will address a report from Mitch Stambler, head of strategy and service planning. It calls for the adoption of an enlargement of the 28 Bayview South bus service into a seven-day-a-week route which would effectively end the absence of service on Bayview Ave between Moore Ave and the business district at Bayview and Millwood. The so-called “TTC dead zone” on Bayview has been a source of complaint by south-end residents for many years. The proposed 28 Bayview South service will be the first full-time buses to be seen on that portion of Bayview since the construction of the Yonge Street subway in the 1950s. The 88 Leaside heads east on Sutherland on its outbound route to South Leaside and Thorncliffe Park.

SERVICE WILL START IN MID-2016

The new 28 bus route cannot be started until mid-2016 because an additional delivery of buses is needed. But when that is in place, it will permit residents of Moore Park, Bennington Heights and the Crestview apartments bus access to the business district. All neighbours on adjoining streets like Southvale, Leacrest, Astor, Bessborough and Rolph will be well placed to use this service. On the Davisville Village side of Bayview, shoppers heading north and south (say to Loblaws) will find the 7-day-a-week service of use.  The TTC stop outside Hasty Market and Gymboree at Bayview and Moore will be a busy transfer point between the 88 Leaside and the 28 Bayview  At the north end riders will be able to shop and visit medical and dental services or they may transfer to the 11 Bayview for destinations further north like Leaside High School and Sunnybrook Hospital. The South Bayview Bulldog has communicated with many families, including seniors, who wanted to be able to go to their preferred business district by TTC. The work of Ward 26 Councillor Jon Burnside has helped to get this matter focused at the TTC and it was under his auspices that the TTC decided to review service on Bayview Ave.  There is a clear benefit for the merchants of South Bayview and their BIA.  Members might wish to get their name on lighted bus signboards (it only makes sense).

TTC meets June 22 to address “Bayview Ave. dead zone”

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Jon  Burnside (Ward 26) has written to constituents reporting that TTC will again study the absence of service from areas of south Leaside and other south end neighbourhoods. These include Bennington Heights, Moore Park and places such as the Crestview apartments on Leacrest Road as well as residential streets such as Bessborough, Southlea, Astor and Rolph, to name a few. The Councillor says that during a planning meeting with the TTC it was discovered that it had been applying “incorrect data.” This resulted in a decision to review the matter and report back at the meeting of June 22, 2015. As readers of the South Bayview Bulldog will know, it has been an abiding issue that there is no service from the south end because buses turn east at Sutherland. This routing has a purpose perhaps but it leaves residents unable to travel by transit for shopping, medical service or go to school in the business district and beyond. This is a matter as well for the merchants of South Bayview and their new Business Improvement Area.

What John and Andy did with the TTC today

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John Tory seems to like making it up as he goes along in his new job. Of course, he has had to produce reasons for doing the things he said he wouldn’t do. In the case of increasing TTC fares its that Andy Byford made him do it. Really. The Chief Magistrate (Tory) and the Chief General Manager (Byford) sat down and, says the mayor, Mr. Byford convinced him that things were far worse at the TTC than he had thought. Apparently Byford did not dust off the Bulldog’s idea of a bus for South Bayview, but let’s not complain. In coming weeks children under 12 will ride the TTC for free and the city will make “an investment” of some $95 million in the TTC.  And a single fare (except cash) will go up 10 cents. TTC Chair Josh Colle added that the cash ride stays the same because it is the poorer rider who uses cash.  There is no way of testing that conclusion but let it go. It’s probably very few people in total at the top and bottom of the economic ladder. It will take a smart accountant to figure out the transit agency’s books although the TTC did give us a number ($7 million annually) for letting the kids ride free. We can’t help wondering why it is necessary for all kids to ride free. But so be. There will be absolute free entry onto the streetcars. This is the one they call proof-of-payment (presumably with a transfer or something) but there will be many free rides and everyone knows it. What that will cost is unknown. There was a lot of encouraging talk about buying new buses. Reliable and versatile buses are so much better than the streetcar circus which confounds the City year in and year out.

Can new mayor fix TTC “dead zone” on Bayview?

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John Tory spoke Thursday (November 27, 2014) promising to restore service to certain bus lines which were reduced during the time of Rob Ford. Two of the lines to lose vehicles in 2011 were the 11 Bayview and the 81 Thorncliffe. The mayor-elect did not list the lines that will be restored. He was flanked at City Hall for “state-of-the-City” remarks by Andy Byford, chief general manager of the TTC and City Manager Joe Pennachetti. Mr Tory talked about how the city is coping under “severe fiscal pressures” and the challenges he faces as mayor in the next four years. He touched on growing poverty and unemployment, as well as rising demand for housing and shelter solutions. He mentioned the deteriorating infrastructure and how it’s leading to more basement flooding. “It’s a big problem affecting thousands of people,” Tory said. The new mayor seemed intent on casting the issues as crisis-like. As to transit,  Mr. Tory said the TTC is still “reeling” from the cuts made by the Ford administration. In South Bayview neighborhoods like South Leaside, Bennington Heights, Moore Park and Deer Park many may feel renewed hope from the remarks. They seek a bus service to provide access to the Bayview Ave. shopping neighborhood. The absence of service from residential areas south of the stores and businesses around Bayview and Millwood Rd. has been a long-time source of dissatisfatrion. Such a service would benefit merchants and seem to be an important matter for the as-yet unformed Business Improvement Association.  South Bayview bus routes hit by cuts  A fix for the TTC dead zone on Bayview Ave.

Fixing the Bayview Ave dead zone (Part 3)

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Regular commentator Susan J. has kindly offered an opinion on the lack of bus service between the south end of South Bayview and the shopping district at Bayview and Millwood. She asks whether it might be possible to run the 28 Bayview rush hour bus down to Moore Ave. There is reason to think about this, even though the 28 is at present merely a Monday to Friday rush hour service. It comes from Davisville Station and turns north at Cleveland Street and then east on Belsize Dr. where it typically waits for passengers beside the Royal Bank at Belsize and Bayview. It then turns back down Bayview to return to Davisville Station. We wish there were handy statistics on just how many passengers the 28 carries because it does seem from a casual observation to be a very heavily used route. All of which is to say that if there is any potential excess in TTC facilities and personnel it would be ideal to add a limited service route out of St. Clair Station and have it short turn as does the 28. The easy part of fixing the dead zone is that it does not require a service which runs very frequently. There is no rush hour element nor does it have to run more than eight or ten hours a day. Most residents of Moore Park, Bennington Heights and the neightborhoods of south Leaside might find that a service which ran on a one hour headway from 10 am to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday would be ideal. The new GPS driven service known as NextBus.com permits passengers to organize their time in a way which was never previously possible and thus work around bus times in a very effective way. Thanks to Susan J. for prompting these thoughts and we invite all readers to add  their ideas by writing to us at news@bayview-news.com   

Let’s fix the TTC dead zone on Bayview (Part 2)

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We wrote about the TTC “dead zone” on Bayview Ave early in January and now Carol Burtin-Fripp of the Leaside homeowners association has written elsewhere outlining a proposed solution for the absence of bus service between Bayview/Moore and South Bayview’s downtown shopping district to the north. Ms Burton-Fripp says her plan is to move the Yonge Street base for the 11 Bayview bus from the Davisville station to St. Clair station. The 11 (and sister route 11C) would then travel a similar route to the 88 South Leaside bus but continue on up Bayview past Sutherland. This is an inventive idea and no doubt one that many in the south end of South Bayview would applaud. It might be not so welcome to many riders who make their homes along and off of Davisville Ave. (including the apartments south of June Rowlands Park). Ms Burton Fripp recalls that in the 1990s there was discussion of possibly altering the route of the 88 bus to pass through the South Bayview business district. This was an idea published in January by The South Bayview Bulldog. The South Leaside bus could then turn east at Millwood Ave. or Parkhurst Ave. and find its way back to the present route ultimately servicing Wicksteed Ave. Ms Burtin Fripp says she has asked John Parker (Ward 26) to consult the TTC about it. This is a public service and brings credit on her. Previous post. 

A fix for the TTC dead zone on Bayview Ave.

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Reader Michael Bell has raised the long-standing issue of the TTC “dead zone” on Bayview Ave between Sutherland Dr. and the “downtown” intersection of South Bayview at Bayview and Davisville Ave. Vast numbers of residents in Moore Park, Bennington Heights and surrounding streets have no direct bus connection to the shops and services of the business district which is their preferred destination. The dead zone strikes when the 88 South Leaside buses heading eastbound to Thorncliffe Park turn at Sutherland Dr. In fact there are alternate lines, 88 South Leaside and 88A South Leaside. They both follow Sutherland but they split at Millwood. The 88A route goes east to Overlea Blvd and 88 goes back to McRae Drive and heads out to Wicksteed Ave.  These are useful routes, but we wonder why the 88 route can’t be adjusted to serve the shoppers of  Moore Park and Bennington.Heights. If, for example, the 88 continued up Bayview past Sutherland, it could stop at South Bayview’s downtown and then turn right on Millwood and resume its route along McRae at Trace Manes Park. This solution seems feasible to we laypersons at the South Bayview Bulldog, but if it’s not  there must be a fix of some kind to the dead zone. The only way south end residents can now take The Better Way to South Bayview is to ride the westbound  88 South Leaside bus to the St. Clair station, transfer to the northbound subway and then catch the 11 Bayview bus at Davisville Station.