TTC closures and festivals will make getting around Toronto a nightmare this weekend
Travelling around Toronto may prove quite the headache for transit users and motorists this weekend due to a handful of TTC closures, diversions, and late summer street festivals.
Anyone hoping to enjoy what the city has to offer this weekend will want to take note of the various transportation hurdles that may interfere with trips to and from destinations.
Subway closures
Two subway lines will be affected by closures this weekend, including a full-weekend closure of a portion of the Line 2 – Bloor-Danforth subway at Warden and Kennedy stations.
From 11 pm on Friday, September 15, until 6 am on Monday, September 18, subway service on this stretch will halt to accommodate track work.
Throughout the closure, shuttle buses will run in either direction, stopping at both affected stations and extending to Scarborough Centre station. Though the stations will not be served by subway trains, Presto users will be able to purchase and reload fare cards, while connections to surface routes will remain available.
The temporary closure comes amid a particularly frustrating period for Scarborough transit users, who have endured the untimely permanent closure of the Line 3 Scarborough RT and will have to wait the better part of a decade for the new Scarborough Subway Extension to enter service.
Service on the Line 4 – Sheppard subway will also be interrupted this weekend, with a late opening planned for Sunday, September 17.
Subway service on Line 4 will commence at 11 am on Sunday — three hours later than the usual 8 am Sunday opening — to accommodate an early morning subway emergency simulation.
During this simulation, the TTC will test the effectiveness of its emergency response and evacuation procedures.
Line 4 traffic will be redirected to shuttle buses during the late opening, and TTC users looking to purchase or reload Presto cards, or connect to surface routes, should make note of several changes while the simulation takes place.
Bessarion Station will be closed entirely, while select station entrances will be closed at Bayview Station (Kenaston Gardens automated entrance), Leslie Station (east automated entrance), and Don Mills Station (north and south station entrances off Sheppard Avenue E).
Subway interruptions are set to continue into the work week, with Line 1 Yonge-University to experience early weekday closures from Monday, September 18 through Thursday, September 21, between St Clair West and Sheppard West stations, when trains will halt nightly at 11 pm to allow track work.
Passengers relying on this stretch will be accommodated by shuttle buses stopping at each station along the route. Yorkdale and Glencairn stations will be closed during this time, while all others will remain open for Presto card purchase/reload and connections to surface routes.
Weekend events
Several end-of-summer events are on tap for Toronto this weekend that will hand streets over to pedestrians, which will come with associated road closures and transit diversions.
The Toronto Ukrainian Festival will take over Bloor Street West this weekend, and is best accessed via the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway to Runnymede or Jane Station.
A handful of TTC routes will be forced to divert around the festival’s road closures from 9 am on Friday, September 15, until midnight on Sunday, September 17, including the 26 Dupont, 35 Jane, 55 Warren Park, 935 Jane Express, and the 300 Bloor-Danforth Night Bus.
A few subway stops to the east, the Roncesvalles Polish Festival will shut down Roncesvalles Avenue from Dundas Street to Queen Street between 5 am Saturday, September 16, and midnight Sunday, September 17.
Attendees can take the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, to Dundas West Station, or the 504 King B streetcar to Roncesvalles Avenue; however, several other routes in the area will be forced to divert during the closure, including the 504A King streetcar, 504 King replacement bus, and 304 King replacement night bus.
The Pape Avenue Block Party will shut down Pape Avenue between Mortimer and Gamble avenues on Saturday, and the TTC is recommending attendees take the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway to Pape Station and transfer to any northbound bus.
Motorists and TTC surface routes will be forced to divert around the closure from 6 am – 10 pm, on Saturday, September 16, including the 25 Don Mills, 81 Thorncliffe Park, 87 Cosburn, 100 Flemingdon Park, and 925 Don Mills Express.
Other service interruptions to be aware of
The TTC’s sudden announcement that the 512 St. Clair streetcar would no longer be operating between St. Clair Station and Gunns Loop as of Sunday, September 3, and wouldn’t return until Summer 2024, is still proving an unwelcome surprise for transit users passing through the area.
The 91 Woodbine and 122 Graydon Hall routes are diverting this month, with temporary route changes that will stretch into late September to accommodate the City’s Basement Flood Protection Program.
501 Queen streetcars have been diverted both ways, via King Street and Shaw Street, since Wednesday, and the route change will remain in effect until September 22.
The TTC will provide updates via the @TTCNotices X (formerly Twitter) account as the situation evolves.
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