Type Streetcar route Stations King
St. Andrew | Locale Toronto, Ontario | |
 | ||
Termini Dufferin Gate Loop (West)
Distillery Loop (East) Opened June 19, 2016 (2016-06-19) Operator(s) Toronto Transit Commission | ||
The 514 Cherry is a streetcar route of the Toronto streetcar system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 514 operates through the financial district and downtown Toronto between Dufferin Gate Loop and the Cherry Street Loop. This route supplements the 504 King service along King Street, specifically to the dense residential areas in Liberty Village, Canary District and Distillery District. The City of Toronto's "King Street Visioning Study" proposes a transit and pedestrian corridor through which this route would operate. Transit congestion had become so bad that UberHop launched a rush-hour service for the corridor in December 2015.
Contents
History
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. It was mainly to increase capacity to conveniently serve the growing ridership along the 504 King corridor, and accessibility concerns. It was also proposed to run all day, everyday, while maintaining 504 King streetcar service.
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. No additional funding was provided in the 2016 budget. The TTC proposed no change in operating costs to operate route 514 as it will reallocate existing service along the 504 King streetcar route.
Service runs every 8 to 9 minutes in the rush hours and every 15 minutes in the off-peak. The line is 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 is between Bathurst Street and John Street which carries 40,000 of the route’s 65,000 daily riders. The new Cherry streetcar line allows the TTC to redeploy some of the 17 morning and nine afternoon buses it has 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.
On March 23, 2016, the TTC approved the new route, and service began on June 19, 2016.
Route
On March 23, 2016, James Bow, writing in Transit Toronto, reprinted several maps, showing earlier proposed alignments. 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 start their trips in Dufferin Gate Loop, then proceed north along Dufferin Street to King Street, then turn east and proceed along King through downtown to Sumach Street where they turn south to the loop on Cherry Street south of Mill Street. Westbound cars start their trips in the Cherry Street Loop, then proceed north along Cherry and Sumach Streets to King Street where they turn west. The cars proceed along King through downtown to Dufferin Street where they go south and loop by way of Springhurst Avenue and Fort Rouille Street to end their trips at Dufferin Gate Loop.
Because the overhead route number and destination roll signs on the TTC's older CLRV streetcars are not available for this route, they often use blank signs, but sometimes they use 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 uses improvised magnetic dashboard route signs (often placed on the short turn flap below the vehicle's windsheild) - "514 Dufferin Gate" and/or "514 Distillery" respectively.