512 St. Clair (TTC)

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

Contents

[edit] 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. 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.

The TTC are now running a pilot project of time-based transfers on the 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.

[edit] Upgrade plans

Like most of Toronto’s streetcar lines, its tracks run almost entirely in lanes shared with motor traffic. There are, however, well-advanced plans to rebuild the tracks within a private right-of-way similar to the 510 Spadina line. But many area residents, stores along St. Clair Avenue, pedestrian activists and three of the four directly affected city councillors have strongly objected to the proposal. Opponents argue 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 suggest 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) have passionately 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 due to 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 begin in 2006, if there are no appeals. Construction, which had begun in 2005, made tracks between the St. Clair and St. Clair West stations unusable, so buses had been forced into service for that portion of the route. As of August 2006 the entire route was being operated by bus, since construction from Vaughan Road east made operating streetcars into St. Clair West station impossible.

There are also plans to extend the 512 west to Runnymede, Jane Street, or possibly even Jane station itself.

[edit] Route (via St. Clair)

[edit] Night Route (via St. Clair as 312 St. Clair bus)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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