512 St. Clair (TTC)

The 512 St. Clair streetcar is an east-west streetcar route in Toronto, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission.

History

The streetcar route along St. Clair Avenue was created by the Toronto Civic Railways in 1911 in a successful attempt to promote development in a newly annexed section of the city. The route was transferred to the Toronto Transportation Commission upon its creation in 1921. It is the northernmost streetcar route still in operation, and was the first to make an underground connection with the subway's St. Clair West Station. It also once ran past St. Clair station up Mount Pleasant to Eglinton Avenue, but this portion was later made a separate Mount Pleasant route that was subsequently converted to bus operation in the 1970s.

In 1954 TTC brought a second route to the line, this route was known as 512L Earlscourt. It ran from a loop at Eglinton Avenue East and Mount Pleasant Road (later cut back to St. Clair station after the opening of the Mount Pleasant streetcar route) to the Earlscourt loop at Lansdowne and St. Clair Avenues. The Earlscourt route itself disappeared in 1976, along with other streetcar routes operating north of Bloor Street. The remnants of the route operate during the morning rush hour routed as 512 LANSDOWNE.

When first built, the St. Clair streetcar operated in a private right-of-way, similar to the modern 510 Spadina route. A private right-of-way is a lane generally in the centre of the street, reserved for transit vehicles. However, it was removed between 1928 and 1935 and replaced with paved trackage open to mixed traffic. The TTC later came to regret this decision, and in 2005 it began rebuilding a private streetcar right-of-way.

The TTC is now running a pilot project of [http://www.toronto.ca/ttc/fares.htm#timebasedtransfers time-based transfers] on portions of the 512 St. Clair, under which passengers who take a transfer (see Toronto Transit Commission Fares) may disembark and then board another streetcar from the same route, even one going in the opposite direction, as long as they do so within a certain amount of time after their original boarding. This means that one can stop part-way through a journey and then continue, or even make a round trip, without paying multiple fares.

The line is usually operated with Toronto’s single-length CLRV streetcars.

Roncesvalles Carhouse serves the St. Clair streetcar route. When a 512 St. Clair streetcar begins service, it travels from the yard at Roncesvalles and the Queensway, then along Queen Street, then on Bathurst Street, which connects to St. Clair Avenue. However, when a 512 streetcar finishes services, as shown on the roller sign as "512 RONCESVALLES", it travels on Vaughan Road to Bathurst Street, then along Queen Street, then back to Roncesvalles Yard.

Upgrade to private right-of-way

Following the success of the new 510 Spadina route along private right-of-ways on Spadina and Queen's Quay, the TTC decided to upgrade the St. Clair streetcar to a private right-of-way. The tracks along the route needed replacement, and the TTC estimated that building a private right-of-way would cost only $7 million more than simply replacing the tracks. Furthermore, St. Clair Avenue is one of the few streets in Toronto wide enough to accommodate a private right-of-way without significantly reducing the width of traffic lanes.

This plan was controversial. Opposition was led by the activist group Save Our St. Clair (SOS). Many area residents, stores along St. Clair Avenue, pedestrian activists and three of the four directly affected city councillors objected strongly to the proposal, arguing that parking spaces and business would be lost, that traffic on residential streets would increase, sidewalks would be narrowed and drivers would be left with no space to get around stopped vehicles because of high curbs protecting the tracks. They suggested instead that the TTC provide dedicated lanes, but only during rush hours, while returning service to levels the route had until cutbacks of the early 1990s. Meanwhile, other community groups and many of the city’s transit activists (with some significant exceptions) supported the right-of-way project, as did a majority on city council (the vote was 36-7). Early attempts to block the plan failed, and the provincial Ministry of the Environment approved the project in June 2005. But in October 2005, work was halted when a three-judge panel sided with the opponents, agreeing with their argument that the proposal did not adhere to the existing official plan. The judges’ reasons were never released because of a motion by the city and TTC, arguing that one of the judges had a conflict of interest, which led the original panel to recuse themselves.

The new panel ruled on February 21, 2006, rejecting the opponents’ motion, clearing the way for construction to resume in 2006. Construction of the first phase, from Yonge Street to Vaughan Road, was completed on February 18, 2007. Phase 2 from Westmount to Caledonia is ongoing, and should be completed soon.

The project itself is locally ridiculed as an example of poor coordination of construction; although the Yonge to Vaughan stretch was completed in early 2007, long-awaited shelters were only constructed at the end of that year; freshly laid sod was not watered in an unusually dry summer and thus died. Streetcars were briefly operated on the partially completed line in spring 2007, but were removed a few months later so that the streetcar loop at St Clair West station (which lies within the "Phase 1" boundaries) could be replaced (a project that has itself run far longer than initially scheduled due to unmapped electrical cables), rather than doing all the construction all at once and minimizing the disruption to residents. Although the replacement buses had driven on the completed right-of-way previously, the later replacement service operated "beside" the (operationally useful) right of way in congested mixed traffic lanes. Phase 2 itself has been delayed so that it is not being started until late in the construction season. Replacement of the tracks on Bathurst Street is scheduled for 2009; this will take the then-complete 512 streetcars (which depends on these tracks for yard access) out of commission for another year. Additionally, frustration is found in the three-year (five year, given various delays) timetable for the project, especially given that other projects, such as the 2007 Dundas track replacement, generally take less than a single year to complete. The daytime replacement bus service serves the curb beside the streetcar stops, which are "near-side" on old segments and "far-side" on new segments, a tactic designed to take advantage of transit priority signals, as "far side" stops (where the vehicle serves the intersection after passing through it) allow passenger loading independent of traffic-signal sequences. However, the Blue Night bus that operates late at night retains "near-side" stops, causing confusion about where to wait for a bus that runs infrequently. However, the bus's operators are usually accommodating either way.

Possible Extensions

Two major plans have been proposed and examined in the past. The first plan would see Route 512 extended west along St. Clair Avenue West to Runnymede Road, and south underneath a Canadian Pacific Railway line to a bus loop at Runnymede Road and Dundas Street West, replacing a portion of Route 71 Runnymede. Streetcar tracks would then be extended southeast along Dundas Street West to Dundas West Station where the 504 King and 505 Dundas streetcar routes currently terminate. The tracks on Dundas would be served by a new route replacing the current 40 Junction bus route. While this scheme is not warranted by potential ridership, it would cut down the amount of deadhead (not-in-service) time required by St. Clair streetcars to get to St. Clair Avenue.

The other plan comes as part of Transit City, the Light Rail expansion proposal. It would see route 512 extended west on St. Clair all the way to Jane Street, replacing portions of routes 71 and 79, where it would connect with the planned Jane Street LRT. This plan is not viable unless the LRT is constructed, because the segment of St. Clair that both proposals serve, the old slaughterhouse lands west of Gunns Road (Keele Street), is sparsely populated and largely big-box stores and industrial land uses.

Both plans however have to deal with an at-grade rail spur on St. Clair east of Runnymede Road. To solve that problem, the rail spur either has to be removed or grade separated.

Existing LRT stops (St. Clair Station to Vaughan Road)

From east to west:
*St. Clair Subway Station
*Deer Park Crescent
*Avenue Road
*Dunvegan Road
*Russell Hill Road
*Spadina Road
*Tweedsmuir Avenue
*St. Clair West Station
*Bathurst Street "not currently served by streetcars"
*Vaughan Road "not currently served by streetcars"

Planned LRT stops (Vaughan Road to Gunns Road)

-Stops in italics are adjacent to short-turn loops
*Wychwood
*Christie Street
*Arlington Avenue
*Winona
*"Oakwood Avenue"
*Glenholme
*Northcliffe
*Dufferin Street
*Earlscourt
*"Lansdowne Avenue"
*Caledonia Road
*Laughton
*Hounslow
*Old Weston Road "nearby Townsley loop has streetcar tracks, but was recently disconnected from the rest of the system"
*Keele Street
*Gunns Road Loop

Current status

Streetcars run from St. Clair station (upper level terminal) to St. Clair West station every day until midnight. Buses run from St. Clair West station to Keele Street (Gunns Loop) until midnight, and from St. Clair station (lower level terminal) to Keele overnight. Once construction on Bathurst Street finishes, streetcars will once again run until approximately 1:30 A.M. every day.

Route (transfer points on St. Clair)

* St. Clair station (transfer with the Yonge subway)
* Avenue Road
* St. Clair West station (underground connection with the Spadina subway)
* Bathurst Street
* Vaughan Road
* Christie Street
* Oakwood Avenue
* Dufferin Street (Corso Italia)
* Lansdowne Avenue
* Keele Street
* Gunns Loop

Night route (transfer points on St. Clair and Jane, "312 St. Clair" bus)

Unlike the 512 route, the 312 Blue Night buses stop at the curb (sidewalk), not the streetcar islands. Recently, the TTC placed several signs along the route to indicate this, likely due to passenger confusion over new, "far-side" streetcar stops while the curb bus stops remain "near-side" (stopping before crossing the intersection)
* St. Clair station
* Avenue Road
* Bathurst Street
* Vaughan Road
* Christie Street
* Oakwood Avenue
* Dufferin Street (Corso Italia)
* Lansdowne Avenue
* Keele Street
* Jane Street (southbound)
* Jane Station (at Bloor Street)

ee also

*Toronto streetcar system
*Toronto Transit Commission

External links

* [http://www.toronto.ca/ttc/schedules/512map.gifRoute Map] (TTC official site)
* [http://www.transittoronto.org/streetcar/4110.shtml Route 512 - The St Clair Streetcar] (Transit Toronto)
* [http://www.saveourstclair.ca/ Save Our St. Clair] (a group opposing the construction of reserved lanes)