College street buses

College Street is completely different without streetcars

It's been just about two months now since the TTC removed all streetcars from both the 505 Dundas and 506 Carlton routes, and the people of Toronto have some thoughts.

The transit agency announced earlier this year that it would be moving the streetcars from Dundas and Carlton down to busier routes, like King Street's, to make up for a lack of newer, more reliable vehicles.

Buses will be running along both routes instead until "at least 2019," officials say, or until Bombardier finally sends Toronto the streetcars it owes us.

College Street has been noticeably quieter since February 19, when the replacement program went into effect, and some local residents are loving it.

"Have you taken transit on College recently?" tweeted one fan. "It's superfast since they sent all the streetcars to #kingstreetpilot and replaced them with buses."

Others – especially those who commute by transit every day – are desperate for the College streetcars to return.

"Research suggests the Bombardier buses running along College and Dundas - replacements for the looooooong delayed new Bombardier streetcars - are deliberately designed to antagonize riders," joked one Twitter user this week.

"It's another francophone plot to stealthily undermine the morale of a majority anglo city."

"Really not thrilled about the buses that have now replaced streetcars on Dundas St. for the next year because of aging fleet / delayed delivery of new streetcars," wrote another. "Buses + tracks + parked cars on a busy x-town bike route with no bike lane is bad news."

One thing everybody can agree on is that Bombardier needs to step its game up – and that we've all been saying that for way too long.

Lead photo by

Haley Kemp


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