A TTC pilot project aimed at reducing bus and streetcar delays is showing early signs of success, with smoother service on some routes, though it still falls short of the commission’s goals, according to TTC.
In March, the TTC launched the Bunching and Gapping Pilot on 11 bus and streetcar routes across the city aimed at reducing delays, improving spacing, and preventing “bunching,” which is when several transit vehicles arrive at the same time.
According to a preliminary report, early results did not show significant performance improvements. To tackle the issue, the TTC targeted and deployed additional resources on five key routes with increased supervision, focused operator management, and enhanced coordination with City of Toronto partners.
ROUTES INCLUDED IN BUNCHING AND GAPPING PILOT
The routes included 7 Bathurst, 24 Victoria Park, 924 Victoria Park Express, 506 Carlton, and 512 St. Clair. In September, two additional routes, 100 Flemingdon Park and 165 Weston Road North, were added to the focused supervision model.
Results show that routes with the focused supervision model showed signs of significant improvement, while routes in the pilot without the focused model, such as the 29 Dufferin, 929 Dufferin Express, and 925 Don Mills Express, did not improve and rather underperformed.
Despite improvements on focus routes, TTC Chair Jamaal Myers tells Now Toronto that they still did not meet targets and points to several reasons.
“That’s where the pilot fell short,” Myers said. “We didn’t add any new funding to pay for the supervisors. So, in the beginning, supervisors were covering multiple routes, which was limiting their ability to control the routes in real time.”
PILOT RESULTS SUFFERED FROM MULTIPLE FACTORS
Myers also says including 11 routes into the project made the pilot “too big” which prevented the commission from adding additional staff.
In addition, he says the pilot was too short, beginning only in March after the budget was passed in February, and ending in October.
“And obviously there were other external factors, such as mixed traffic, congestion, CafeTO, not having transit signal priority on certain routes,” he said.
Myers adds the commission still learned a lot from the pilot, including the importance of having one supervisor per corridor, which helped improve results in spacing and recovery.
“Just having a supervisor on the ground, rather than in the office, really gave them an understanding of the dynamics that the drivers were facing. So, really that helped a lot better in coordination between the City of Toronto, Metrolinx and TTC improve situational responses,” he said.
NEXT STEPS INCLUDE A FORMAL EVALUATION
Myers says the TTC is now conducting a formal evaluation through the strategic planning committee.
“We will report back during budget 2026 on what are the resources needed to actually make this pilot successful,” Myers said.
Myers said the commission will also be looking at ways to maintain full year coverage for the current corridors and expanding supervisors to add key routes.
He adds that AI and predictive tools will also be considered and looked into to help improve service without adding a ton of personnel to routes.
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