Author: Stephanie Gomez

Streetcar passengers on the 501 Queen route have been getting rough ride lately, and it’s not going to end any time soon.

Shuttle buses have replaced streetcars on the 501 Queen route west of Roncesvalles Avenue on the Queensway and Lake Shore Boulevard West.

The Toronto Transit Commission said the service change began on Jan. 8 and is expected to last until the end of 2017.

Detour of 501 Queen streetcar to continue into December due to water main work

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said Monday the city will be doing bridge repairs on the Queensway and the TTC will use the closure to repair tracks and overhead wires.

Ross said buses will also bypass the Humber Loop while improvements are being made there.

“We are going to rebuild that … new track, upgrade the building, make the loop itself accessible for the new streetcar,” he said.

Ross acknowledged that streetcars were also diverted on Queen Street between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue from May until December for water main work.

“We do everything we can to minimize the disruption and the inconvenience but this is critical work that the city needs to do,” he said.

The following changes are in effect:

• 501/301 Queen streetcars are running between Roncesvalles Avenue, downtown, and Neville Park Loop.
• 501L/301L Queen buses are running between Dufferin Street (Dufferin Gate Loop) and Long Branch Loop, via Queen Street, The Queensway, Windermere Avenue, and Lake Shore Boulevard.
• 501M Queen is running a clockwise service linking The Queensway with Lake Shore Boulevard, Marine Parade Drive, and Park Lawn Road.

The TTC says the diversion will mean improvements along the 501 route, including equipping the Humber Loop for the new streetcars. (TTC)

The TTC says the diversion will mean improvements along the 501 route, including equipping the Humber Loop for the new streetcars. (TTC)

Customers can board streetcars between Dufferin Street and Roncesvalles Avenue.

The TTC said passengers using PRESTO, when transferring between buses and streetcars, should not tap onto the next vehicle when boarding.

The TTC is considering putting cameras on streetcars to catch drivers illegally whizzing by open doors.

“TTC customers or pedestrians who are either boarding or exiting have been hit, and over the decades, people have lost their lives,” TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said. “It only takes one car to kill somebody or to hurt somebody seriously.”

Similar to red light cameras, the cameras would capture licence plates, allowing vehicle owners to be issued a fine for violating the Highway Traffic Act — $110 and three demerit points.

“It would act as a further deterrent and consequence, frankly, for this dangerous behaviour,” Ross said.

Glenn De Baeremaeker, city councillor for Ward 38, sits on the TTC board and put forward a motion in June 2015 asking “that TTC staff report back to the Commission on the feasibility of undertaking a pilot project that would assess and quantify the frequency of traffic violations by motorists who improperly pass streetcars while TTC streetcars are stopped.”

Ross said the TTC is in the preliminary stages of looking into available technologies and considering logistics.

“We have to sort out how those tickets are issued and how that information is collected,” Ross said.

A ‘significant’ safety issue

Before moving forward, the province would have to approve a pilot project and make necessary regulatory changes.

Ward 19 councillor Mike Layton sees the problem firsthand while riding the streetcar to work.

“One of the things that is most frightening is when those doors open and you’re getting off and you don’t know if the cars have stopped,” he said.

He thinks the camera idea is worth pursuing.

“The reality is, we don’t have an effective way of enforcing this very significant safety issue with respect to our roads.”

Red light cameras ‘really effective’

In August 2004, the Ontario government passed legislation that allows municipalities to operate red light cameras.

As part of a pilot project, 77 cameras were installed at high-risk intersections in Toronto.

Roger Browne, manager of traffic safety with the city of Toronto, calls the cameras “really effective” and said that according to the latest data, the cameras have decreased the number of T-bone collisions by 60 per cent.

An intersection needs seven or more collisions over a five-year period in order to warrant a camera. Browne said most of the cameras from the pilot project are being de-commissioned because they no longer meet those requirements.

“The numbers have dropped so significantly,” Browne said. “The purpose has been served.”

A new five-year red light camera program launched in Toronto on January 1. Over the next five to ten years, 75 new cameras will be installed at the intersections Toronto police have identified as having the highest number of collisions.

The TTC hopes to have a feasibility report on traffic cameras completed by the end of the year.

The TTC has provoked the ire of its largest union by announcing that it will begin randomly testing its employees for drug and alcohol use starting on March 1.

In a news release on Thursday, the transit agency said that it had given formal notice to its workers that it was moving ahead with the plan, which has been in the works for five years.

Under the plan, 20 per cent of employees occupied in “safety sensitive” positions — including some management and executives — would be subject to the tests for drugs and alcohol. Those who would be tested include vehicle operators, maintenance workers, and supervisors.

The release said that the program would only detect “likely impairment” at the time of the test. In response to the news, the union representing 10,000 TTC employees declared it intends to file a court injunction against the testing scheme.

Bob Kinnear, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, claimed that the Supreme Court has ruled that random drug testing is unlawful unless the employer can show justification.

“It’s clear the TTC does not have the justification for it,” Kinnear said in an interview. “Our members are furious.”

The TTC has said it has legal advice confirming that its plans are legal. Kinnear said that the union planned to file an injunction within a week.

Under a 2010 “fitness for duty” policy, the TTC already tests employees for impairment if management has “reasonable cause” or if the employee is involved in a safety-related incident, has violated the policy, or has returned from addiction treatment.

The agency says that it has seen a sharp increase in positive tests or refusals to be tested in recent years. There were nine in 2011, 16 in 2013, and 27 in 2015.

“This is not acceptable and the TTC cannot wait any longer to act,” the news release said.

Kinnear said he doubted whether the TTC’s numbers could be trusted, but that even if they were taken at face value, they didn’t justify subjecting the bulk of the agency’s workforce to tests that could ruin their livelihood, “because you’ve got half a per cent that may not be able to meet the standard that the TTC is applying.”

A third party would run the testing, the TTC said. Alcohol tests would be done via breathalyzer, while an oral swab would be used for drugs.

It’s not clear how the TTC will pay for the tests. Last week the agency’s board approved $1.3 million in funding for it next year, but that money was not included in a preliminary 2017 budget prepared by city staff this week.

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross signalled that the agency intends to move ahead with the plan regardless.