Here's how much time people are saving with new TTC bus-only lane

Commuters are finally feeling some relief from outrageous commute times amid a long-term TTC repair project that has seen one of the city's busiest streetcar routes replaced with buses.

The TTC's 510 Spadina streetcar was replaced by shuttle buses on June 23 to allow electrical upgrades along the route's designated right-of-way.

Since buses are limited by their width and cannot use the same designated right of way as streetcars, TTC vehicles were forced to mingle with traffic, effectively tripling travel times for commuters.

Public blowback over gridlock on Spadina placed pressure on city council to forge a solution, with a fix approved in late July when councillors voted in favour of designating a temporary express bus-only lane along the most congested stretch of the thoroughfare.

Despite some major issues from the start, with cars treating the bus lane as their own personal express pass through traffic, the TTC is touting the council's move as a win this Friday.

The transit agency posted on X, noting that travel times have been shortened by an average of 13 to 36 minutes since the priority bus lane was introduced.

Small changes make big improvements when it comes to #TTC priority on busy city streets.
Case in point...
Trip times on the most congested part of Spadina southbound have been shortened by 13-36 mins in the week since we worked with the @cityoftoronto to create a bus/bike lane. pic.twitter.com/BJ5Suksggl

— TTC Media Relations 📰🚌🚋🚈 (@TTCNewsroom) August 9, 2024

Observations from the first week of the lane's implementation show travel times of 11 to 20 minutes between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., a vast improvement over the 24- to 56-minute travel times recorded before the bus lane was put into place.

The More Transit Southern Ontario X account quoted the TTC's post, writing, "Bus lanes cost practically nothing (compared to other transit infrastructure), can be rolled out in around a month and significantly improve bus service," and adding, "Let's speed up RapidTO and get bus lanes on all major corridors."