508 Lake Shore

The 508 Lake Shore is an east–west streetcar route in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The route serves the downtown financial district from the western limit of the city, and operates as a weekday rush hour service only. The route was started as an experiment in 1992, suspended in June 2015 due to a streetcar shortage, and reintroduced in September 2019.

508 Lake Shore
Overview
StatusService temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
LocaleToronto, Ontario
TerminiLong Branch Loop to Parliament St. (a.m.)
Parliament St. to Long Branch Loop (p.m.)
Stations St. Andrew
King
Service
TypeStreetcar Route
Route number508
Operator(s)Toronto Transit Commission
Depot(s)Roncesvalles Carhouse [1]
Rolling stockFlexity Outlook
Technical
Line lengthEastbound: 18.88 km (11.73 mi)
Westbound: 19.95 km (12.40 mi)[1]
Track gauge4 ft 10 78 in (1,495 mm)
Electrification600 V DC overhead
Route map

Transfer stop
Sunday-only stop
Carhouse
Route:Connection  00  Terminus  00 

Long Branch GO Station
Long Branch Loop
 110A/110B   123B/123C   508 
MiWay:  5/5B   23 
Browns Line/39th Street ↑
 110A   123B/C 
37th Street
Long Branch Avenue
↓ 31st Street/30th Street ↑
↓ 28th Street/29th Street ↑
↓ 27th Street/26th Street ↑
22nd Street
Kipling Avenue
 44 
15th Street
13th Street
10th Street
Islington Avenue (7th Street)
 110C 
5th Street
3rd Street
1st Street
Royal York Road
 76A 
↓ Miles Road/Symons Street ↑
Douglas Boulevard
↓ Norris Crescent/Hillside Avenue ↑
Mimico Avenue
 76A 
Superior Avenue
Burlington Street
Louisa Street
Legion Road
↓ Marine Parade Drive/Park Lawn Road ↑
 66B   145 
2155 Lake Shore Boulevard West
2095 Lake Shore Boulevard West
Gardiner Expressway
CN Oakville sub.
Humber Loop
 66A 
The Queensway
South Kingsway
Windermere Avenue
 77 
Ellis Avenue
Colborne Lodge Drive
Parkside Drive
 80A 
Glendale Avenue
Sunnyside Loop
The Queensway
Queen Street West
Roncesvalles Carhouse
Roncesvalles Avenue
 501   504 
Queen Street West: 501 to downtown
Wilson Park Road
Jameson Avenue
Dunn Avenue
Cowan Avenue
Spencer Avenue
Dufferin Street
 29   929 
Fraser Avenue
Joe Shuster Way
Atlantic Avenue
CN Weston sub. & CP MacTier sub.
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
St. Andrew Station
 142 
Bay Street
 6   6A 
King Station
 97B 
Victoria Street
Church Street
Church Street (looping discontinued 2015)
King Street
Adelaide Street
Richmond Street
Queen Street East
 501   502 
Jarvis Street
Sherbourne Street
 75 
Ontario Street
Parliament Street
 65 
King Street
 503   504 

On March 24, 2020, the 508 Lake Shore route was suspended until further notice due to lower ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Route description

The route shares much of its track with the 501 Queen and 504 King routes, following in the path of the 501 from the Long Branch Loop along Lake Shore Boulevard West and The Queensway as far as Roncesvalles Avenue, where it turns from The Queensway onto King Street, served by 504 King. The route passes through the King Street Transit Priority Corridor and terminates at Parliament St in the morning and originates there in the afternoon.[3]

The 508 streetcars have a few unofficial routings. Upon reaching Parliament Street, the morning eastbound streetcars turn north on that street and then west at Gerrard Street to follow and supplement the 506 Carlton route before returning to the Roncesvalles Carhouse. From the Roncesvalles Carhouse, the afternoon 506 streetcars travel east on King Street past Parliament Street to Queen Street East, and loop via Broadview Avenue, Dundas Street East and Parliament Street before starting the published route via King Street, the Queensway and Lake Shore Boulevard West to Long Branch Loop.[4][5]

On weekdays (excluding holidays), five eastbound 508 streetcars are scheduled to leave Long Branch Loop between 6:40 and 8:10 AM, and five westbound streetcars are scheduled to leave Parliament Street between 4:20 pm and 5:40 pm.[4][5]

History

On January 6, 1992, the route began as an experiment to test how attractive it would be to riders. The TTC scheduled 3 runs for each of the morning and afternoon rush hours, signing eastbound streetcars as "504 Parliament" and westbound as "507 Long Branch". By February 1994, the experiment was deemed a success and additional afternoon rush-hour trips were added. On Sunday, March 26, 1995, the same date when route 507 Long Branch was merged into 501 Queen, the route received its 508 number, but rollsigns would not be updated until about 1999.[6]

Due to the streetcar shortage caused by the delayed deliveries of Bombardier Flexity Outlook streetcars, the route ceased operations entirely after the morning rush on June 19, 2015. As a result, streetcar service on Lake Shore Boulevard was operated exclusively by the 501 Queen streetcar, while service on King street was operated by the 504 King streetcar.[7] Before the route was suspended in 2015, the westbound evening runs started at Church Street rather than Parliament Street.[8]

At the time of its cancellation, there were only three eastbound trips during the morning rush hour, and no service in the afternoon. Prior to January 2015, there were also four westbound trips in the afternoon rush hour.

In July 2019, the TTC scheduled the reintroduction of 508 service for September 3, 2019, with five eastbound trips during the morning rush hour and five westbound trips during the afternoon rush hour, using low-floor Flexity streetcars.[4][5][9]

See also

References

  1. "February 16, 2020 to March 28, 2020" (PDF). Toronto Transit Commission.
  2. "Coronavirus update". Toronto Transit Commission. April 20, 2020. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  3. "Detailed description for 508 Lake Shore". Toronto Transit Commission.
  4. Munro, Steve (July 29, 2019). "Streetcar Network Changes Coming in September 2019". Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  5. toronto.com (August 27, 2019). "TTC's 508 Lake Shore streetcar returns Tuesday". Toronto Star. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  6. Bow, James (March 17, 2017). "Route 508 – The Lake Shore Streetcar". Transit Toronto. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  7. "508 Lake Shore – All service removed After June 19, 2015". Toronto Transit Commission. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016.
  8. "508 Lake Shore". Toronto Transit Commission. March 25, 2015. Archived from the original on March 25, 2015. Archived REF from 2015.
  9. "Editorial". The Coupler. Toronto Transit Commission. September 2019. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
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