Close Yonge Stations During Rush Hour

Toronto’s plan for improved transit service relies mostly on extending existing lines with new subways and LRTs. But this approach has an inherent flaw – the more stops you add to a line, the more time it takes to travel from one end to the other. Hence, it is less likely that commuters will choose to take the TTC from its new outer limits to destinations downtown. While Toronto cannot create express lines within the current system, it can implement service changes to make the system more efficient. To start, the TTC should consider closing certain subway stations during rush hour. Downtown, the stations are very close to one another and it is clear which stations are used less frequently. On the Yonge line, consider if subways did not pick up or drop off passengers at Summerhill, Rosedale, Wellesley or Dundas stations. Of these, Dundas sees the most passengers pass through but how far is Dundas from Queen Street, really? To replace service to the closed stations, buses could shuttle between them along Yonge Street making more frequent stops than the subways do now. This two-tier system is akin to elevator systems in high rise buildings whereby express elevators bring riders to separate elevator lobbies at different floors. In the case of the TTC, the subway would carry passengers between popular stations quickly and buses would disperse a minority of riders to locations in between. The efficiencies of such a system have been proven but does the TTC have the courage to implement it?