What the heck is happening on Finch?
Finch Avenue West is one of the lingering casualties of Rob Ford’s war on Transit City. One of the busiest bus routes in Toronto, serving three priority neighbourhoods, the existing service was supposed to be replaced by an LRT line, but has been in a state of protracted limbo ever since the mayor declared Transit City dead. This has forced Toronto’s most underserved transit commuters to choke on the ridiculous combination of packed buses and gridlock with no promise of improvement in the near future. The TTC has been asked to look at ways to address the current service—you can read the report they’re considering here—but the options basically range from “slight improvements” to “piecemeal half-measures that won’t help much, if at all.” We look at four such proposals after the jump.
1. Transit City with buses
Curb-separated, dedicated bus lanes in the centre of the street with their own traffic signals would be almost identical to the LRT plan that was scrapped—only cheaper and, of course, with buses (possibly even articulated buses for greater capacity, with a new fare-handling system for greater efficiency).
2. Use the hydro corridor north of Finch
This scenario doesn’t involve taking over any current road space, but it also ignores one of the biggest problems for the corridor’s current commuters. The increased travel time to and from the route could end up cancelling out faster travel. Plus, there are areas where construction could create a nasty snarl.
3. Curbside lanes
The lanes wouldn’t be curb-separated like those proposed in idea number one—just lines painted on asphalt that rely on other motorists not to drive over them (be it through increased law enforcement or the much cheaper honour system).
4. Bypass lanes
Instead of dedicating specific lanes for buses, this option basically gives buses shortcut options to scoot around traffic. It’s cheap and relatively easy to monitor, but in a city that freaks out over cyclists passing gridlocked cars, we can’t imagine motorists accepting this idea.
All of these solutions come up against the brick wall of Toronto’s 2011 transit politics. The mayor made it clear that roads are for cars and that he wasn’t interested in a transit solution that takes lanes away from drivers. The sad thing is that a dedicated busway system (bus rapid transit, or BRT) is actually a well-proven method of expanding transit on the cheap—a BRT system is being built in Mississauga, and Ottawa has had a decent BRT system for years. Also, as the TTC itself notes, the first proposal could later be expanded into an LRT if Toronto rekindles its love affair with rail sometime in the future. But from the outset, the mayor and others have framed the issue in such a way that excludes the most effective solutions.
Sure, it’s easy to dismiss the entire issue as just another example of political football—but what about the people left waiting as overflowing buses continue to pass them by?
• Buses could get exclusive lanes on Finch West [InsideToronto]
• Opportunities for improved bus service on Finch avenue (PDF) [TTC]
The problem isn’t LRT, its getting rid of the centre lane, making it impossible to have dedicated left turn lanes, effectively turning a critical artery of the city into Spadina during rush hour, where no one can turn move in any direction.
Killing the centre lane would likely leave more people trapped on the road than are left in the cold by the current problem.
The problem is that while left turns would have been controlled and somewhat restricted, they would not have been eliminated. People, apparently including the Fords, keep misrepresenting this fact to the general population. The street was supposed to be widened and no traffic lanes would have been lost. I’ll bet if the plan was simply to add a third lane of traffic no one would have had a problem with that.
Yes, the mid-block lefts into the plazas and strip malls would have disappeared but controlled intersections (lights) would have allowed for U-turns so there really isn’t a problem there. Traffic might even flow a little better with such a system in place.
I’m not sure why all the fuss about Finch West??? After all they ARE getting a subway in the next few years (Spadina extension/Finch West Stn) The LRT was only going to run west to this station anyways. I think traffic is more the problem and not transit. Also look at it this way, since the FINCH bus route was started in 1963 there has NEVER even been an EXPRESS branch for this route! East of Yonge express buses sure, but not to the west. It seems to me that people are going out of their way to try and create a huge problem because they don’t like whose in charge! My opinion.
Pete – You obviously have never taken this Finch West route. You should hope that you never have to. This route is not just traffic but poorly managed by the TTC. They simply do not care. I have been using this route for 11 yrs now. The buses never follow the schedule.
How about fixing the simple problems first. As much as the TTC prefers to blame traffic – it is not the main reason.
1) Bus drivers who short turn/go out of service at random.
2) Stop the drivers from driving in groups. Buses almost always in packs of 3s and I have even seen 7. The first couple of buses are full simply because they have been waiting 40 minutes or more in rush hour. The buses behind the full ones, prefer to stay behind so they do not have to pick up passengers.
3) Bus drivers who bypass stops when they are not full. If you are only half empty there is no reason for you to bypass a stop.
4) TTC should start managing this route! They definitely manage and care about the Finch East route who have buses every few minutes even in non-rush hours. Ensure the same care for the Finch West!
Hold the TTC accountable for this joke of a route.
Yeah, what’s the big fuss here? Couple people late for work because the bus was slow? Chill! We’ll get a subway going there in a few years, not to worry! Stop the civil unrest, people! We’ll get it worked out. In the meantime, suck it up, you whiners! Oh, sorry, can’t text any more from my smartphone, the light turned green and my SUV is a target for cops. Gotta go