The 514 Cherry was a streetcar route of the Toronto streetcar system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that operated from June 19, 2016,[1][2] until October 7, 2018.[3] The 514 operated through the financial district and downtown Toronto between Dufferin Gate Loop and the Distillery Loop.[1] It used to supplement with the 504 King service along King Street, specifically to the dense residential areas in Liberty Village,[4] the Canary District and the Distillery District. The City of Toronto's "King Street Visioning Study" proposed a transit and pedestrian corridor through which this route would operate.[5]

514 Cherry
Overview
LocaleToronto, Ontario
Termini
Stations
Service
TypeStreetcar route
SystemToronto streetcar system
Operator(s)Toronto Transit Commission
Depot(s)Leslie Barns, Roncesvalles, Russell
Rolling stockFlexity Outlook
History
OpenedJune 19, 2016 (2016-06-19)
ClosedOctober 7, 2018 (2018-10-07)
Technical
Line length7.0 km (4.35 mi)
Track gauge4 ft 10+78 in (1,495 mm)
Electrification600 V DC overhead
Route map

Dufferin Gate Loop
 29 
Liberty Street
 63 
King Street
 29 
Fraser Avenue
Joe Shuster Way
Atlantic Avenue
Metrolinx
Galt Subdivision &
Weston Subdivision
Sudbury Street
Shaw Street
 63 
Strachan Avenue
 63 
Niagara Street
Tecumseth Street
Bathurst Street
 145   511 
Portland Street
Spadina Avenue
 510 
Blue Jays Way/Peter Street ↑
John Street
University Avenue
 142 
Bay Street
 6 
Yonge Street
 97 
Church Street
Jarvis Street
 141 
Sherbourne Street
 75 
Ontario Street
Parliament Street
 65 
Sackville Street
Sumach Street
Front Street East
 121 
Mill Street
Distillery Loop
Port Lands Extension
Port Lands Extension
Queens Quay
Keating Channel
Commissioners Street
Polson Street Loop

The 514 Cherry route was replaced by two overlapping branches of the 504 King route, one (504A) serving the Distillery District, and the other (504B) serving Dufferin Gate at Exhibition Place.[3]

History

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In November 2015, as part of a proposal to revise service in the areas of Cherry Street and Queens Quay East, the TTC proposed a new 514 streetcar route that would run from the Distillery streetcar loop on Cherry Street via King Street to the Dufferin Gate Loop.[6] It was mainly to increase capacity to conveniently serve the growing ridership along the 504 King corridor, and accessibility concerns.[7] It was also proposed to run all day, everyday, while maintaining 504 King streetcar service.[7] Transit congestion had become so bad that Uber launched a rush-hour service for the corridor in December 2015.[8]

Service initiatives in the Preliminary 2016 TTC Operating Budget called for dedicated resources to implement a new service at an operating cost in 2016 of $0.8 million and $2.1 million annually thereafter.[9] No additional funding was provided in the 2016 budget.[10] The TTC proposed no change in operating costs to operate route 514 as it will reallocate existing service along the 504 King streetcar route.[11]

On March 23, 2016, the TTC approved the new route, and service began on June 19, 2016. This coincided with the conversion of the 2015 Pan American Games Athletes' Village to apartments[12] and the opening of a George Brown College student residence.[13][2][14]

Effective October 7, 2018, the 514 Cherry route was discontinued and was replaced by the 504 King route which was split into two overlapping routes, one of which (504A) serves the Distillery District, and the other (504B) serves Dufferin Gate at Exhibition Place.[3][15]

Route

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Westbound displays "504 Dufferin" with additional card showing that it is actually "514 Dufferin Gate"

On March 23, 2016, James Bow, writing in Transit Toronto, reprinted several maps, showing earlier proposed alignments.[16] An alignment under consideration in 2008 had the 514's western terminus at Spadina Avenue, had it briefly turn south at Parliament, where it would turn east on Front Street, to Cherry. But instead of terminating at the railway embankment, the route tunneled through the embankment, crossed the Keating Channel, and turned east on Commissioners Street, terminating at Commissioners and Leslie.

Eastbound cars started their trips in Dufferin Gate Loop, then proceeded north along Dufferin Street to King Street, then turned east and proceeded along King through downtown to Sumach Street where they turned south to Distillery Loop on Cherry Street south of Mill Street.[1][17] Westbound cars started their trips at Distillery Loop, then proceeded north along Cherry and Sumach Streets to King Street where they turned west. The cars proceeded along King through downtown to Dufferin Street where they went south and looped by way of Springhurst Avenue and Fort Rouille Street to end their trips at Dufferin Gate Loop.[1]

Because the overhead route number and destination roll signs on the TTC's older CLRV streetcars were not available for this route, they often used blank signs, but sometimes they used signs supplemented from the 504 King streetcar line such as, "504 Dufferin" for cars heading westbound to Dufferin Gate Loop and "504 Parliament" for cars heading eastbound to the Distillery Loop respectively. As such, the TTC used improvised magnetic dashboard route signs (often placed on the short turn flap below the vehicle's windshield) – "514 Dufferin Gate" and/or "514 Distillery" respectively.[18][19]

Service

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Service ran every 8 to 9 minutes in the rush hours and every 15 minutes in the off-peak.[14] The line was projected to attract 51,000 new riders annually and could provide up to 15 per cent more capacity along King Street where the 504 and 514 routes would overlap. The busiest section of the 504 King route was between Bathurst Street and John Street which carried 40,000 of the route's 65,000 daily riders. The new Cherry streetcar line allowed the TTC to redeploy some of the 17 morning and nine afternoon buses it had been using to accommodate 504 King crowds during rush hours. The 514 service opened with a mix of old high-floor CLRV and new low-floor Flexity Outlook streetcars.[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Mackenzie, Robert (November 15, 2015). "New streetcar route 514". TTC surveying passengers: 72 Pape / 172 Cherry St route changes. Transit Toronto. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "TTC approves new 514 Cherry streetcar to run alongside 504 King route". CBC News. March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "The current section is Service Advisories 504 King and 514 Cherry route changes". Toronto Transit Commission. October 7, 2018. Archived from the original on September 25, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  4. ^ Johal, Sunil (December 16, 2015). "Uber ups the ante. So what's the TTC going to do about it?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 22, 2016. Overburdened transit lines downtown can barely keep up with demand in dense new residential areas like Liberty Village.
  5. ^ Keenan, Edward (January 18, 2016). "Plan in the works to redesign King Street — and quickly: Keenan". Toronto Star. Retrieved January 22, 2016. Picture King, just one year from now, from Liberty Village to the Distillery District, as a transit and pedestrian corridor
  6. ^ Munro, Steve (November 23, 2015). "TTC Proposes Cherry Street Service Revision / Surveys Riders". Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Improved_Transit_Service_in_EastCentral_Downtown_514_Cherry_.pdf" (PDF). TTC. March 23, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  8. ^ Munro, Steve (December 14, 2015). "UberHop symptom of Toronto's transit woes". Toronto Sun. Retrieved January 22, 2016. This week, Uber launched a rush-hour service between the financial district downtown and four nearby neighbourhoods: The Distillery District, City Place, Fort York, and Liberty Village.
  9. ^ "Proposed Service Improvements for the 2016 Operating Budget" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. November 9, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2016. This service initiative would benefit approximately 11 million customer-trips each year, requires operating resources only, and could be implemented in 2016
  10. ^ "2016 TTC and Wheel-Trans Operating Budgets" (PDF). STAFF REPORT: Impact of TTC Budget Committee Recommendations. Toronto Transit Commission. November 23, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2016. New Streetcar Service on Cherry Street
  11. ^ "Improved Transit Service in East/Central Downtown: 514 CHERRY – Streetcar Service on King Street" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission. March 23, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  12. ^ Kalinowski, Tess (October 1, 2014). "TTC won't run streetcars on Cherry until at least 2016". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on October 3, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2016. A planned extension of the King streetcar service down Cherry will wait until after the Pan Am Games and the conversion of the Athletes Village to condos.
  13. ^ "Student Residence". Student Life. George Brown College. Retrieved January 1, 2016. TTC Streetcar stop right at the residence
  14. ^ a b "TTC 514 Cherry – New service". ttc.ca. Archived from the original on June 19, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
  15. ^ Munro, Steve (September 28, 2018). "Goodbye to 514 Cherry". Steve Munro. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  16. ^ Bow, James (March 23, 2016). "Route 514 – The Cherry streetcar". Transit Toronto. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016. Suggestions included extending streetcar tracks south of King via Parliament to the rail corridor, via Cherry to the rail corridor, or via Parliament, Front and Cherry to the rail corridor. Cherry was selected as the preferred corridor because it was closer to new development, and it avoided potential delays by having streetcars negotiating turns at Parliament and Front.
  17. ^ "Relief could be coming to King streetcar in June". CBC News. March 16, 2016. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2016. A report made public Wednesday recommends that the new route begin service on June 19. It would operate between the Distillery Loop in the east and the Dufferin Gates loop in the west via Cherry, King and Dufferin streets.
  18. ^ Bow, James (June 18, 2016). "ROUTE 514 – THE CHERRY STREETCAR". Transit Toronto. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  19. ^ http://transittoronto.ca/photos/images/ttc-4113-dufferin-loop-driver-20160619.jpg TTC CLRV #4113 was the first scheduled vehicle to depart Dufferin loop in 514 Cherry service, at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, June 19, 2016. The driver posed for this shot. Rollsigns were not ready for the route, so the TTC used 504 KING exposures and special cards fastened to the SHORT TURN flap instead.
  20. ^ Kalinowski, Tess (March 17, 2016). "TTC touts Cherry trolley as 'creative and ingenious solution' to crowding on King St". Toronto Star. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
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