504 King

On July 1, 1923, as part of a reorganization of streetcar routes, the King streetcar route acquired its current U-shape. The west end of the line was at the Vincent Loop, located near the northeast corner of Dundas Street West and Bloor Street West, across the street from today's Dundas West station. The east end of the line was at the Erindale Loop, located at the northeast corner of Broadview Avenue and Erindale Avenue, on the north side of today's Broadview station.[6]

From July 1, 1923, to July 13, 1951, some King streetcars provided rush-hour service along Bloor Street West between Dundas Street West and Jane Loop. The TTC ended this service due to declining ridership. Starting July 16, 1951, all King service turned back at Vincent Loop.[7]^:52,73–74

On January 8, 1939, PCC streetcars were introduced on the King route on Sundays, displacing Peter Witt streetcars.[7]^:42 On September 24, 1940, PCCs replaced Peter Witt cars in base service.[7]^:43

On February 25, 1966, the Bloor–Danforth subway (today Line 2 Bloor–Danforth) opened, and Dundas West station replaced the Vincent Loop, and Broadview station replaced the Erindale Loop. Both new subway stations had, and still have, a streetcar loop within the fare-paid zone. Otherwise, the King streetcar route had changed little since 1923.[6]

In 2006, the TTC briefly considered adding couplers to streetcars to enable operation of streetcars in two or three units, a common practice until the opening of the Bloor–Danforth subway; the expectation was that this would keep them from bunching and becoming stuck in traffic. This plan was rejected[8] in favour of ordering brand-new, longer Flexity Outlook vehicles.

Starting June 19, 2016, a new route – 514 Cherry – was created to supplement 504 King service on King Street between Dufferin and Sumach streets. The 514 route increased capacity along the King Street corridor to address the growing downtown ridership. It also addressed accessibility concerns through its use of the low-floor Flexity Outlook streetcars.[9]

From December 2, 2017, the TTC assigned a minimum of two low-floor accessible Flexity Outlook streetcars on 504 King to handle weekday overcrowding, as the King Street Pilot Project improved service performance and made the service more popular.[4]

On October 7, 2018, 504 King was divided into two overlapping branches with two new termini (Dufferin Gate Loop and Distillery Loop) replacing the 514 Cherry route, which was permanently cancelled on the same date. The 304 King Blue Night service remained unchanged.[10]

By January 6, 2019, the 504 King route was fully served by Flexity Outlook streetcars. Thus, the TTC designated the route as accessible except along Roncesvalles Avenue where the platform height still needed to be adjusted to allow deployment of the Flexity ramp.[11]

Roncesvalles Avenue

Bumpout on Roncesvalles Avenue serving as both a streetcar loading platform as well as a bicycle lane

On December 19, 2010, 504 streetcar service returned to Roncesvalles Avenue after service was suspended for track replacement work. As part of the construction work, the street was rebuilt to a new design, including bike lanes and a widened sidewalk "bumpout" at stops to allow riders to board streetcars directly from the curb. In these sections, the bike lane gently rises from the main road to run on top of the bumpout; when a streetcar is stopped at a bumpout, cyclists are required to stop and allow riders to board or alight from the vehicle.[13][14]

Since January 2, 2018, accessible low-floor Flexity Outlook streetcars on the 504 King route have regularly served Roncesvalles Avenue. However, stops along Roncesvalles Avenue between Queen Street and Dundas West station are not yet accessible due to platform height issues preventing the loading ramp on the Flexity streetcars from being deployed. The TTC expects this problem to be corrected in 2020.[15][16]

The 504 King route operates as two overlapping branches:

• 504A King streetcars operate from Dundas West station to Distillery Loop, travelling south on Dundas Street West and Roncesvalles Avenue, east on King Street West and East, and south on Cherry Street to Distillery Loop.
• 504B King streetcars operate from Dufferin Gate Loop to Broadview station, travelling north on Dufferin Street, east on King Street West and East, east on Queen Street East, and north on Broadview Avenue to Broadview station.

In the west, routes 504C King and 505 Dundas start at Dundas West station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth. From there, both routes go a short distance south of Bloor Street along Dundas Street West to Roncesvalles Avenue, where route 505 Dundas route splits off to continue eastbound on Dundas Street. Route 504A King continues further south on Roncesvalles Avenue, crossing Howard Park Avenue and route 506 Carlton. 504C King passes the Roncesvalles Carhouse as it approaches Queen Street West and the Queensway, where it crosses route 501 Queen.[17]

South of Queen Street West and the Queensway, the route turns east along King Street. At Dufferin Street, 504B streetcars from Dufferin Gate Loop merge with 504A streetcars to provide a combined service along King Street to Sumach Street. Continuing further east to Bathurst Street, and after crossing the 511 Bathurst route, the 504 enters a transit mall where automobiles have restrictions so as not to impede streetcar service. Continuing eastward past Spadina Avenue, crossing route 510 Spadina, the 504 route passes St. Andrew station at University Avenue and King station at Yonge Street, both on Line 1 Yonge–University. At York Street, rush-hour route 503 Kingston Rd merges eastwards with route 504. At Jarvis Street, the transit mall ends and routes 503, 504A and 504B continue to Sumach Street, where route 504A turns south on Cherry Street to proceed to Distillery Loop. Routes 503 and 504B continue on King Street, as the street bends northeast to merge with Queen Street East, route 501 Queen and workday route 502 Downtowner. Routes 501, 502, 503 and 504B all cross the Queen Street Viaduct and the Don River to arrive at Broadview Avenue.[17]

While routes 501, 502 and 503 continue further east on Queen Street, route 504B turns north on Broadview Avenue. At Dundas Street East, route 505 Dundas merges with route 504B to continue north. At Gerrard Street East, routes 504B and 505 cross the 506 Carlton route. Continuing on Broadview Avenue, routes 504B and 505 eventually cross Danforth Avenue arriving at Broadview station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth.[17]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 504 King.

• Toronto Transit Commission official site
• 504 King (Transit Toronto)
• 504 King map