More express bus routes considered
Fares would double for rush-hour services
Nov 25, 2008 04:30 AM
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter
On the heels of yesterday's system-wide bus improvements, the TTC is considering expanding its roster of premium express buses to provide faster, more expensive rush-hour service in areas where GO isn't available or is operating at capacity.
The TTC already operates two kinds of express service: buses that stop at selected major intersections, and four routes that offer direct rapid service – during rush hours only – at double the regular fare.
Tomorrow, city councillors on the transit commission will consider potentially viable premium express routes, said TTC chair Adam Giambrone. But the possibilities for creating them are limited, he said.
"During peak hours you have to figure out how long it takes to get there, how long it takes to get back, so in most cases you can make three trips in the rush hour. Of course, that's a bus that's not in service for the general population. It's a fine balance," he said.
To make a route viable, people must be willing to pay the double fare and there must be enough of them who want to go to roughly the same area, he said.
In any case, the idea would be to create a temporary service, he said. The hope is that GO Transit will eventually be able to carry those longer-distance riders, eliminating the need for TTC's express routes.
Another report to tomorrow's commission meeting rejects a proposed premium express route on Lake Shore Blvd. W.
Other service improvements along that road, including the expansion this week of the Prince Edward 66 bus and better management of the Queen 501 streetcar, should mitigate demand for an express bus, says the report.
Giambrone said the availability of GO services along the lakeshore and the TTC's unwillingness to feed more traffic to the Queen streetcar also factor into the opposition. But he said it's possible commissioners will vote to try such a service for a year, at a cost of about $96,000.
