Tag: Bayview TTC

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.

Stalled 88 Leaside bus snarls cars at Moore and Welland

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Stalled bus on Moore at Welland at 6 p.m. Ugh!

Inbound traffic between 5 and 6 p.m. was stalled at Moore Ave at Welland Ave. Friday (May 29, 2015). Traffic was backed up both ways as an 88 Leaside bus was worked on by a mechanic. Inset top, a lady scurries east on Moore to get back inside that silver Audi. Maybe she was out directing traffic. Lower inset, grim drivers head east, freed from the knotted intersection. Bus is gone now

Rudy has chat while bus sits out delay at Wicksteed crossing

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Loyal reader, naturalist and Leaside gadfly Rudy Limeback is saying tonight that he waited a while for the 88 South Leaside on Overlea Blvd to take him back to Bayview Ave. but he spent the first 45 minutes talking to the driver because of another disruption at the CP Rail mainline crossing on Wicksteed Ave. So the bus was delayed. Those gates can be cranky. Seems we have a diversion of the 88 at least once a month. Tonight it was closed from about 8 to 9 p.m.

Sunnybrook-bound rider waits 30 minutes for 11 Bayview

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Yszi Hawkings was on Twitter Wednesday morning complaining about the slow motion of the 11 Bayview bus again today. She picks it up at Davisvile station to get to Sunnybrook Hospital and today the wait during rush hour was more than 30 minutes. Yzsi got off the train at 8.13 so a wait of half an hour would make her very late for work. Service is supposed to be every five minutes She tweeted @TTCnotices about this “abysmal” service and got an apology. Not worth much if the boss is cranky.

Bayview Ave is under repair at Millwood, Moore

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Our beloved South Bayview is singing the winter blues. At the “downtown” intersection of Millwood and Bayview (above) Hydro is up to its old tricks. Nothing to do with the weather, they say. But it’s cold all the same. There’s enough cable on that reel to stretch to Muskoka. It is even slower down at Bayview and Moore  Ave as once again Father Frigid Finger has broken the traffic lights. With no lights and parked trucks it is very tricky getting in and out of any of the businesses there. Police are on duty. 

Cash fare on 1943 South Leaside bus was a whole 5 cents

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The amateur historical site on Twitter known as Toronto Transportation @transittoronto has published an enjoyable bit of printed material which it says records the first time buses ran along the South Leaside route. Take a look. It was not really the South Leaside route as it’s been known since the subway was built but it may have been the first time the TTC used the name. In fact, many other buses ventured into Leaside during WWII to get workers to their jobs. The routing is fairly sensible but the printer may have missed a turn since he leaps from the “southbound Laird” to  “south-west on Sutherland.” There was probably a brief block on McRae Dr. and then a left onto Sutherland. The buses ran every 15 minutes so the schedule was fairly leisurely. The TTC could probably do it with just two buses. It is interesting that a rider could get a transfer to take the Broadview bus, which we’re guessing ran south on Laird and across the valley by whatever kind of bridge was there before turning south on Pape and east on O’Connor to find Broadview.

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.

Sutherland-Bayview shelter “useless” says woman

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Old bus shelter 
South Bayview resident Shirley Bush was critical recently in a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star about the usefulness of the new bus shelters created by Bell Media’s Astral division. She says the new shelter at Sutherland Drive and Bayview Ave. simply leaves people out in the rain and snow. That apparently has to do with sidewalk accessibility for those requiring it. For this reason, it seems, the bus shelter was trimmed back to leave the sidewalk clear, says Ms Bush.  She calls for “a little common sense” in the application of accessibility rules. She says the old shelter (inset) was “suddenly gone” and an inadequate shallow replacement in its place. “I asked my councillor and city hall why?  The same absurd answer was given. The street is narrow. It would be quite simple to use the sidewalk on the other side and cross the street when past the shelter. As it is now, the darn thing is useless except as a giant advertising vehicle. Rigid observance of the law sometimes defeats the purpose the law was designed for and makes it difficult for everyone,” said Ms. Bush,   New shelter at Bayview and Millwood

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.

3-D bus shelter for Downtown South Bayview

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A crew from Bell Media’s Astral Out-of-Home Division was on the northwest corner of Bayview Avenue and Millwood Road this morning. When they were done, the neighborhood had a useful new bus shelter. It is described as three-dimensional which seems to mean that waiting passengers can get out of the weather on all sides. Some Astral shelters hardly deserve the name. They are canopy models and usually shoehorn onto narrow sidewalks. They have no sides or front and barely any top.