The 510 Spadina bus replacements are less than one week in action and have already proven to be a disaster for many Torontonians.
TTC announced earlier this month that the 510 Spadina streetcars would be suspended and replaced with buses due to infrastructure upgrades. The transit agency said the construction would last until the end of the year.
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The rerouting officially began on Sunday and Toronto residents are already fed up with the delays. Spadina, a road infamously known for its congestion, has only gotten heavier with traffic since the bus replacement and many commuters are getting online to express their annoyance at the longer wait times.
Photos and videos circulating on social media show long lines of stalled buses amid traffic.
“The buses were piled up, taking up the entire lane leading up to the Gardiner. Just sitting there, not moving, with no one inside,” a Reddit user said.
Because of the lack of a central streetcar lane, buses are forced to drive amongst mixed traffic, which includes all vehicles and cyclists, to board and drop-off passengers curbside.
One cyclist who rides his bike on Spadina to get to work daily says because of the lack of separation between the buses and bike lanes, he experienced a bus nearly veering him off of the road.
“I almost got taken out by a bus squeezing me off the road,” the user posted on Reddit.
“I’m not mad at the operators. I depend on the 510 and I am glad the TTC is trying to give a substitute. But if Toronto is going to encourage more people out of their cars and into their bikes, making an important thoroughfare even harder for cycling than it already is is frustrating.”
With the daily pile-ups beginning to overwhelm the roads, some users are suggesting for the city to implement a bus lane to help.
“Shared infrastructure never works,” said another user. “Metros, buses, street cars, passenger vehicles, micro-mobility, and pedestrians all need their own infrastructure on major arteries.”
Advocate group More Transit Southern Ontario says 510 Spadina route became “completely unusable” overnight.
“We should have temporary bus lanes put in ASAP until the streetcar work is done,” the group posted.
In a statement to Now Toronto, the TTC says they understand the public’s frustrations and are monitoring the delays in real-time and will proceed to make adjustments when and where possible.
“We are three days into this work and we know from experience with other large projects, the first week is always the most challenging when it comes to adapting to the road conditions,” TTC said.
TTC says it has provided additional service available on Bathurst and Line 1 for customers to get north or southbound, and recommends using College, Dundas, King or Queen to move east and westbound.
The agency assures the track work being done is essential for the long-term reliability of the 510 route. TTC also said it is in active discussions with the city transportation group and the local city councillor regarding interim changes to improve the road network in the best way possible to ensure safety and smoothness of traffic.
