There’s some
good news for riders of TTC bus route 191, the “Highway 27 Rocket”.
Last fall Metro readers wrote of serious overcrowding, as well as a
list of problems at Kipling station where the 191 shares a bus bay
with the 192 Airport Rocket.
In September,
one reader described the conditions of the route that travels
Highway 427 to Humber College and north Etobicoke: “Every morning
and evening this bus is overcrowded to the extent that people are
standing in the step-wells. Many mornings I have to wait for three
or four buses till I can finally squeeze onto one. I have waited
over 45 minutes for a bus that is scheduled to run every 10 minutes
at rush hour.”
The 191 is not
the only TTC route with crowding and reliability problems, but bus
operators and riders singled it out as needing a lot of attention.
Some extra buses were occasionally added during the fall -- when
they were available -- but it wasn’t until January that two extra
vehicles were scheduled in the morning, three in midday, and three
during the afternoon peak. That means the morning frequency went
from every 9.5 minutes to every 8 minutes -- an 18% increase in
service according to Scott Haskill of the TTC service planning
department.
Boosting the
afternoon schedule from every 10 minutes to 7 minutes 40 seconds
adds up to a “pretty substantial” improvement, he says. Preliminary
reports show that the Highway 27 Rocket is still crowded, with most
trips carrying around 57 people -- the TTC’s limit for the kind of
bus serving that route.
Haskill adds
that regular monitoring of overcrowded routes also led to more buses
being added to the 196 York University Express and 38 Highland Creek
lines in early January.
Transit staff
warned last month that ridership was growing so fast that over 60
routes would meet or exceed the TTC’s own crowding standards by
autumn 2006. TTC commissioners agreed to gradually put more service
on the streets during the year, although there is an ongoing
shortage of funding, buses and drivers.
Riders heading
to north Etobicoke or the airport have also had difficulties at
Kipling station. The bus bay designated for the 191 and 192 was also
home to a third bus, the 30 Lambton -- which at times caused chaos
for those lining up. As of January, the 30 was shifted to the next
bay.
Patrons also
waited next to an outside storage location for garbage bags,
occasionally having to move while a custodian added more. The TTC
has relocated the station’s refuse pile to another location, closer
to the “Kiss ‘n Ride” passenger pick-up area.
One last bit of
news -- while there was hope that a canopy of some kind could be
built over this neglected bus bay, a contract to build a smaller
shelter is soon to be tendered. Haskill also reports the TTC is to
build new doors to the station, giving those waiting for the 191 and
192 closer access to the platform.