TTC says improvements coming for Queen Street commuters
Last Updated: Thursday, January 24, 2008 | 9:45 AM ET
CBC News
The TTC says improvements are coming for the much-beleaguered Queen streetcar over the next few months.
Complaints about the route have been mounting, along with allegations the TTC has been slow to respond.
The Queen route, officially the 501, was recently declared to be one of the 10 best streetcar journeys in the world by National Geographic.
Regular riders point out that might be fine for tourists who have hours to kill, but for commuters, the Queen car has become a nightmare of delays and unreliability.
Transit advocate Steve Munro calls it "a textbook example of how to discourage transit use." He says a lot of riders have simply given up and now drive their own cars.
"We're not talking about five minutes. Gaps of 20 minutes in the rush hour are common," said Munro.
Then there are the short-turns, when a streetcar turns around in the middle of the route, forcing everyone to get off and wait for the next one.
The TTC says it is now fixing this by hiring more drivers and keeping extra streetcars available for when there are big gaps.
"Riders will see fewer gaps between streetcars. They'll see more frequent service. So that's really what this is, dealing with the issues we can deal with today," said TTC chair Adam Giambrone.
But Giambrone warns this will only make things somewhat better.
In the long term, he says, dramatic improvements to the service can only come with dramatic changes, such as a dedicated lane for streetcars along the entire route.
