511 Bathurst

511 Bathurst
Streetcar 4199 heading south on Bathurst St.
Overview
Type	Streetcar route
Locale	Toronto, Ontario
Termini	Bathurst (North) Exhibition Loop (South)
Daily ridership	17,394 (2014)[1]
Operation
Operator(s)	Toronto Transit Commission
Depot(s)	Leslie Barns, Russell
Rolling stock	Temporary replacement bus service
Technical
Line length	6.47 km (4.02 mi)[2]
Track gauge	4 ft 10 7⁄8 in (1,495 mm) - TTC gauge
Electrification	600 VDC Overhead
Route number	511
Route map Route: Connection  00  Terminus  00  Bloor–Danforth line Bathurst Station  7  Lennox Street Harbord Street  94  Ulster Street College Street  506  Nassau Street Dundas Street West  505  Robinson Street/Eden Place Wolseley Loop Queen Street West  501  King Street West  504  Wellington Street West CN Oakville sub. & CP MacTier sub. Fort York Boulevard  121  509 to Union Station Fleet & Bathurst Bathurst Street Fleet Street Bastion Street(Lake Shore Boulevard) Fleet Loop Fort York Boulevard Strachan Avenue Fleet Street Private Right-of-Way Exhibition Loop  29   509

A map of the 511 Bathurst route along with connecting services.

The 511 Bathurst is a streetcar route operated by the Toronto Transit Commission in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

As of September 2, 2018, 511 Bathurst will temporarily operate with replacement buses due to an ongoing streetcar shortage.^[3]

Route

The 511 Bathurst streetcar operates between Bathurst station and Exhibition Loop north-south along Bathurst Street in mixed traffic, and east-west along Fleet Street in a dedicated streetcar right-of-way shared with route 509 Harbourfront.^[4]

Late at night, the 511 Bathurst is replaced by the 307 Bathurst Blue Night bus, which also includes the route of the 7 Bathurst bus route, operating from Exhibition Loop to the city limits at Steeles Avenue.

Route 511 is primarily operated with CLRVs. However, during special events at Exhibition Place, such as the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), additional service is provided using ALRVs and, since 2015, Flexity Outlook streetcars.^[5][6]

History

Streetcar service on Bathurst Street started on July 27, 1885 when the Toronto Street Railway opened a horsecar line between Bloor Street and College Street. The line was extended to King Street in December 1889, and to Front Street on September 5, 1892. The Toronto Railway Company electrified the line on April 19, 1894, and extended it north to Dupont Street on July 10, 1894.^[7] The railway corridor south of Front Street remained a barrier until August 25, 1916 when a bridge was installed at a south-west angle over the railway tracks. From the bridge, streetcars ran along the edge of Fort York to provide seasonal service to Exhibition Place.^[8]

On December 21, 1921, the Toronto Transportation Commission extended the line to St. Clair Avenue.^[7] In 1931, the bridge over the railway corridor south of Front Street was realigned in a north-south alignment. On June 22, 1931, streetcar service started on Fleet Street, which became part of the "Fort" route.^[8]

Just prior to the opening of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth on February 25, 1966, Bathurst Street was served by two streetcar routes, Fort and Bathurst. The Fort route ran from Vaughan Loop (behind stores on the south side of St. Clair Avenue) to Exhibition Loop. The Bathurst route ran south from Vaughan Loop to Adelaide Street turning east on that street, then south on Church Street, west on King Street to return north on Bathurst Street.^[9] However, before the city converted Adelaide Street to a one-way, eastbound street in 1960, Bathurst streetcars would loop downtown north from Adelaide Street on Church Street, west on Richmond Street, south on York Street to return westbound on Adelaide Street.^[10][8]

With the Line 2 Bloor–Danforth opening, there were streetcar service cutbacks. Service between the then-new Bathurst station and Vaughan Loop was discontinued, although the tracks there remain in use today to connect the St. Clair streetcar line (512 St. Clair and the Hillcrest Complex to the rest of the streetcar network. Also, Bathurst streetcar service along Adelaide Street was terminated with the tracks being ultimately abandoned with the exception of one track between Victoria and Church streets. The Fort and Bathurst routes were merged, and the "Fort" name was discontinued.^[11][8] With these changes, the Bathurst route resembled today's 511 Bathurst.

In June 1995, the old Exhibition Loop at the site of today's Trade Centre was closed, and a new loop was opened next to Exhibition GO station on June 16, 1996.^[8]

On July 21, 2000, the 509 Harbourfront route shared tracks with 511 Bathurst from Bathurst Street west to Exhibition Loop.^[8]

Between September 2007 and March 2008, the tracks along Fleet Street were rebuilt in a private right-of-way. Also, during this time, the overhead wire was rebuilt to allow for subsequent pantograph operation along Fleet Street, the first location to be so equipped.^[12][13]

Starting in 2015, the TTC introduced summer service using Flexity Outlook streetcars to handle events such as the 2015 Pan American Games at the "CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Park" and the Canadian National Exhibition.^[5][6]

Due to a streetcar shortage caused by late delivery of the Bombardier Flexity Outlook streetcars, the route has been operated using buses rather than streetcars since November 20, 2016.^[14] However TTC streetcar service returned to service on this line from May 7, 2017,^[15] until September 4, 2017,^[16] when the route reverted to replacement bus service due to an ongoing streetcar shortage.

On February 18, 2018, streetcars returned to the route ending temporary bus replacement service; however, on that same date, temporary bus replacement was introduced on routes 505 Dundas and 506 Carlton.^[17] However, on September 2, 2018, bus replacement again went into effect due to the ongoing streetcar shortage.^[3]

See also

• Toronto streetcar system
• Toronto Transit Commission

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 511 Bathurst.

Route map:

• TTC Official Site
• 511 Bathurst (Transit Toronto)
• 511 Bathurst map