TTC modifying 510 Spadina replacement bus amid travel times tripling

The TTC says it will be modifying the 510 Spadina replacement bus amid afternoon gridlock and congestion on the south end of the route.

Starting on Monday, between 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, the buses will not operate on Spadina between Front Street West and Queen’s Quay West, skipping the stops at Spadina and Fort York Boulevard and at Queen’s Quay.

It will instead turn left on Front Street, then right on Blue Jays Way, looping back around to Spadina to return to Spadina station.

The city says the change is the result of ongoing monitoring of the route since the streetcars were removed from the street to accommodate infrastructure work.

In the first week, the TTC saw southbound travel times triple to more than an hour compared to between 20 to 25 minutes at other times of day.

In CityNews’ own Spadina Sprint, it took close to an hour-and-a-half to get from Spadina Station to Queen’s Quay, slower than it took someone walking down the same stretch.

The TTC says the congestion is caused by buses running south of Front St. getting caught in gridlock as drivers try and get on the Gardiner Expressway.

New stops are being placed on the south side of Front, just east of Spadina to offload southbound travelers and on the north side of Blue Jays Way east of Spadina for those wanting to travel north.

“The reality in Toronto this summer is is particularly bad when it comes to traffic congestion and overlapping projects. And it’s just a matter of needing this work to be done. We can’t put it off any longer,” said TTC spokesperson Stuart Green.

Traffic agents have also been deployed at intersections along the 510 route from Monday to Friday between noon and 7 p.m.

Councillor for Spadina-Forth York Ausma Malik tells CityNews she is continuing to look for solutions to keep things moving in a timely manner along the route.

“I’m a TTC rider and I’m looking for some proactive and serious measures to be taken by the TTC to address the experience of riders on Spadina. We need to get that bus line in place, we need to accelerate the construction timelines and we have to make sure we are using measures like traffic wardens to keep things moving,” she said. “This is summer in Toronto and we have to be able to get to where we’re going in a timely way.”

The work along Spadina is expected to last until December.