The Scarborough RT (Line 3) is shutting down this fall, and for the next 7+ years, Scarborough will be stuck on the bus. The TTC will be running up to 70 buses per hour — that's a bus every 50 seconds — on the roads between Kennedy & Scarborough Town Centre.
Commutes for drivers and transit riders will become much longer, unreliable, and frustrating — unless we ask City Council for a better solution. Could you please fill in the form on this page to automatically send an email to City Council asking for a better solution? Read on for more details.
What's happening to the Scarborough RT?
- The Scarborough RT (Line 3) will shut down forever in November 2023
- SRT riders would see round-trip commutes nearly 1 hour longer when switching to current TTC bus routes
- To lessen the impact, the TTC is adding new direct bus services between Kennedy and Scarborough Town Centre, running for the next 7+ years
What's the problem?
- This SRT replacement bus service will require up to 70 buses per hour — that's a bus every 50 seconds — needed for 7+ years until the Scarborough subway opens
- Running that many buses in mixed traffic will be a disaster:
- transit will be slow and totally unreliable
- driving will be brutal with so many buses stopping in the curb lane
- This could lead to 1000s of additional cars on the road as thousands of former SRT riders abandon a slow, unreliable replacement bus in favour of driving
Running SRT replacement buses in mixed traffic for 7+ years is not a solution that Scarborough can tolerate.
What's the fix?
The solution: ensure the SRT replacement bus service is fast and reliable!
- In the medium-term, the best way to do this is to convert the SRT guideway into an off-road busway and run SRT replacement buses there. Unfortunately, this option will take 2 years of construction and is currently unfunded.
- In fact, this off-road busway would save the most time for transit riders and drivers.
- But City Council is pointing to the Province to fund the few million dollars it will take to convert the SRT tracks into a busway.
- So in the short-term, the City of Toronto & TTC have proposed to install temporary dedicated on-road bus lanes (see map below):
- Kennedy (northbound)
- Ellesmere (eastbound & westbound)
- Midland (southbound)
- This short-term on-road bus lane proposal will have a big benefit for transit reliability and speed (nearly 30 minutes saved round-trip) while ensuring drivers are not stuck behind buses
What can we do?
- City Council is voting on the interim on-road bus lane proposal on Tuesday May 2 and Wednesday May 10
- While this proposal isn't perfect, it's MUCH better than the do-nothing alternative for transit riders and drivers
- City Council needs to hear your support for this proposal
- I've put together a sample email for you: just fill in the form on this page and hit send!
- Every email will make a difference
Map
