Vice-Chair Rob Davis

Commissioner Brian Ashton

Commissioner Blake Kinahan

Commissioner Chris Korwin-Kuczynski

Commissioner Joe Mihevc

Commissioner David Miller

Bayview Station Bus Loop and Commuter Parking

At its meeting of December 16, 1997, the Commission deferred consideration of report # 26, titled 'Sheppard Subway - Bayview Station Commuter Parking Lot', to "permit further consultation between staff, Vice-Chair Moscoe, Councillor Shiner and Councillor King". This report responds to that request.

It is recommended that the Commission:

(1) approve elimination of the construction of a commuter parking lot from the Bayview Station concept;

(2) confirm the requirement for an exclusive off-street bus loop for Bayview Station;

(3) authorize staff to negotiate a permanent exclusive easement for an off-street bus loop (at the north-end of the Dangreen property) now as part of the property settlement with Dangreen, potentially at no cost to the project;

(4) authorize staff to work with the Developer and City staff to investigate alternative off-street bus loop locations that can be integrated with the proposed Dangreen development provided that the new off-street bus loop configuration is acceptable to the TTC with respect to operations and customer convenience, particularly with regard to an exclusive access to/from Bayview Avenue;

(5) confirm that the provision of an off-street bus loop, satisfactory to the TTC, be made a condition of the planning approvals for any development on the Dangreen site; and

(6) forward this report to the City of Toronto.

Sufficient funds for this Sheppard Subway project expenditure are included in the TTC 1998-2002 Capital Program (as set out on pages 695-705 - Sheppard Subway Category) which was approved by the Commission on November 18, 1997.

At the December 16, 1997 Commission meeting, the Commission deferred consideration of the recommended configuration of the Bayview Station bus loop and commuter parking lot to permit further consultation between staff, Vice-Chair Moscoe and Councillors Shiner and King. TTC and City staff met with Councillors King, Shiner and Moscoe on February 4, 1998.

Concern has been expressed from the area City Councillors and the local community about the location of both the recommended bus loop and the commuter parking lot to be located south of the bus loop (see Exhibit 1).

a) Commuter Parking

The commuter parking lot has been seen as a factor in constraining the proposed development of the Dangreen site to the southern half of the property and TTC staff agree that such a small commuter parking lot (65 spaces) should not be a constraint to re-development. Consequently, it is recommended that the commuter parking lot be eliminated from the Bayview Station concept. The elimination of the lot is not expected to result in an appreciable reduction in station ridership and provides more flexibility to re-develop the site. The elimination of the lot, will however, likely be opposed by Orlando Corporation (the owner of Bayview Village Mall located to the east of the Dangreen site) who believe there is a demand for 400 commuter parking spaces at Bayview Station.

b) Bus Loop

Currently, the 11A branch of the 11 Bayview bus route turns back to the south on street via Sheppard Avenue, Hawkesbury Drive, Bayviews Mews and Bayview Avenue (see Exhibit 2). This allows a higher level of service to be provided south of Sheppard Avenue to match customer demand. The current daily ridership on the loop itself is extremely low (10-20 trips per day) and would not meet current TTC standards for providing service on these streets.

With the construction of Bayview Station (including two new entrances on the east and west sides of Bayview Avenue, north of Sheppard Avenue), service plans require that the 11/11A Bayview and 78 St. Andrews bus routes connect with the subway entrances in both directions on Bayview Avenue to provide direct subway/bus transfers as is done at most other stations in the system. Eighty percent of the customers to this station are expected to arrive by bus. This plan would result in the elimination of the on-street loop and the construction of a new off-street bus loop at the north-end of the Dangreen site (see Exhibits 3 and 4) to serve the 11A Bayview and 78 St. Andrew bus services which will turn around at this location when the subway is opened for revenue service. An off-street bus loop is the only acceptable design because only that would allow all passengers transferring from the bus to the subway to do so without crossing either Bayview Avenue or Sheppard Avenue. Locating the off-street bus loop at the north end of the Dangreen site leaves 85% of the site available for development.

There are no acceptable on-street loop options.

If an off-street bus loop is not provided on the Dangreen property, service would have to loop on-street. A clockwise looping (see Exhibit 5) would not allow 11A Bayview or 78 St. Andrews buses to connect to the subway in the southbound direction (with the resulting passenger confusion) and, therefore, would be unacceptable from a customer service perspective. The counter-clockwise looping (see Exhibit 6), would also be unacceptable from a service point of view, as customers would cross Sheppard Avenue (eight lanes) to access the subway. It should also be noted that with a counter-clockwise looping, passengers getting off the bus to access the subway cannot use the YMCA Entrance on the south side of Sheppard Avenue as it is not staffed and currently cannot accept bus transfers.

Any on-street looping would result in unproductive additional round-trip time on the routes, and would result in a lower frequency of bus service south of Sheppard Avenue, inconveniencing approximately 4,100 customer trips per day and, overall, would provide a poorer quality of service than can be provided with the recommended bus loop. The use of an on-street loop would result in additional annual operating costs of $25,000 which can be avoided with a new off-street bus loop. In the long term, the delays to service resulting from on-street looping would result in the need to add a bus to the route earlier with the resulting annual operating cost impact of $150,000 per year and the capital cost of an additional bus ($400,000). Re-design of the station to accommodate either of the on-street loops would significantly delay the construction of Bayview Station and would involve significant re-design costs.

Given the above, the protection for an off-street bus loop should be obtained as follows:

The TTC requires an off-street bus loop at Bayview Station to maximize passenger convenience and minimize future operating costs whether or not a development proceeds on the Dangreen site. Proceeding as recommended ensures property is made available for an off-street bus loop.

Chief General Manager

Attachments: Exhibit 1 - Bayview Station - Surface Transit Facilities

Exhibit 2 - Existing 11A Bayview Routing and Stop Locations

Exhibit 3 - Bus Service with Bayview Station Bus Loop

Exhibit 4 - Recommended Bus Loop at North End of Dangreen Site

Exhibit 5 - Bus Service without Bayview Station Bus Loop (Clockwise Looping)

Exhibit 6 - Bus Service without Bayview Station Bus Loop (Counter-Clockwise Looping)