Route 77 Spadina Route History

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77 SPADINA Route History
*Last updated May 2nd, 2003*	by Jeffrey Kay, from TRANSFER POINTS Vol. XXVI, No. 4, April 2000 with additional information from Peter Coulman

This page outlines the diesel bus service provided on Spadina Avenue and Spadina Road from 1948 until replaced by route 510 SPADINA streetcars in 1997. For details on the earlier streetcar service on Spadina (1879-1948), please refer to John Bromley's three-part article in TRANSFER POINTS Volume XXIII, numbers 3, 5 and 6 (March, May, and June-July, 1997).

October 10th, 1948

Diesel buses replace streetcars, operating from a new loop at the southeast corner of Fleet Street (now Lake Shore Boulevard) and Spadina Avenue, via Spadina to Bloor Street, looping via Bloor, Huron and Washington.

SPADINA	B L O O R F L E E T
Daily, 24 hours/day

October 10th to November 26th, 1948

Due to pavement widening between College and Bloor, buses temporarily routed via east on College Street, north on Huron Street, west on Bloor Street, south on Robert Street and east on College.

Mack Trucks photo

The Toronto Transportation Commission owned only ten Mack "Old Looks", but what could have been obscure rarities were actually well-known. The C-50s were the TTC's first 40-foot long ´ 102" wide buses, and these crowd-movers were always assigned to the busy Spadina route. The upper photo shows numbers 1192, 1191 & 1190 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, just before delivery from Mack, while below number 1194 was photographed shortly after delivery, on Wednesday August 1st, 1951.

TTC photo 18027

December 4th, 1949

Extended north on Spadina to Dupont Street, now looping via Dupont, Madison and Bernard. Rush hour short turn buses operate between Wellington (looping counter clockwise at Clarence Square) and Bloor.

SPADINA	D U P O N T F L E E T
Daily, 24 hours/day
SPADINA	B L O O R WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours

1956

Assigned route number 77.

SPADINA	77	D U P O N T F L E E T
Daily, 24 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	B L O O R WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours

July 25th, 1962

A new loop opened on the east side of Spadina, under the Gardiner Expressway, replacing Fleet loop.

SPADINA	77	D U P O N T LAKESHORE
Daily, 24 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	B L O O R WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours

mid-1960s (February, 1966?)

Rush hour short turn service extended north from Bloor to Dupont. (This change may have been introduced in February, 1966, coincident with the opening of the Bloor Subway.)

SPADINA	77	D U P O N T LAKESHORE
Daily, 24 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	D U P O N T WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours

September 2nd, 1973

Extended north on Spadina to loop via Davenport, Kendall and MacPherson.

SPADINA	77	D U P O N T LAKESHORE
Nightly, 1:00 a.m.-5:00 a.m.
SPADINA	77A	D U P O N T WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours
SPADINA	77B	DAVENPORT LAKESHORE
Daily, 18 hours/day
SPADINA	77C	DAVENPORT WELLINGTON
no scheduled trips

June 23rd, 1974

Extended at the south end via Queens Quay and Bay Street, looping via Front, Yonge and Wellington. On weekdays service from Bay Street runs west on Lakeshore and south on York, then west on Queens Quay, but on weekends and holiday buses run south down Bay to the end, then west on Queens Quay.

SPADINA	77	D U P O N T LAKESHORE
Daily, 24 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	D U P O N T WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77D	DAVENPORT BAY ST.
Daily, 18 hours/day

This report assumes that short turn trips operated at all times, but only south as far as Lakeshore Loop. There may be periods, especially late in the evening, when all southbound trips ran to Bay Street. Any additional information would be appreciated.

January 28th, 1978

Buses now terminate at the north end in the new Spadina Station bus loop. Service between Spadina Station and Davenport is now operated by the new 103 SPADINA NORTH route.

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. LAKESHORE
Monday through Saturday, 24 hours/day Sunday, 18 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Daily, 18 hours/day

August 21st, 1978

Bay Street loop is revised to operate east on Front, north on Scott and west on Wellington.

date unknown

Sunday short turn service added between Wellington Street and Spadina Station.

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. LAKESHORE
Monday through Saturday, 24 hours/day Sunday, 18 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours Sunday, 6 hours/day (approx. 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.)
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Daily, 18 hours/day

February 8th, 1987

Overnight service renamed route 317 SPADINA as part of the new BLUE NIGHT NETWORK. To be perfectly correct, the new route first operated just after 1:00 a.m. on February 9th, but overnight trips are part of the previous day's schedule. (Early Monday trips on route 317 are shown on the Sunday schedule, which is why surface transfers are issued until 5:00 a.m. the next morning.)

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. LAKESHORE
Monday through Saturday, 20 hours/day Sunday, 18 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours Sunday, 6 hours/day (approx. 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.)
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Daily, 18 hours/day
SPADINA	317	SPADINA STN. QUEENS QUAY
Nightly, 1:00 a.m.-5:00 a.m.

June 23rd, 1990

Service on Queens Quay is replaced by the new 510 HARBOURFRONT streetcar route. Spadina buses are extended over route 604 only early on Sunday mornings.

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. QUEENS QUAY
Daily, 20 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Sunday, 6:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.
SPADINA	317	SPADINA STN. QUEENS QUAY
Nightly, 1:00 a.m.-5:00 a.m.

February 16th, 1992

Overnight service on route 317 is discontinued.

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. QUEENS QUAY
Daily, 20 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, rush hours
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Sunday, 6:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.

June 20th, 1994

Mid-day Monday through Friday short turn service added.

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. QUEENS QUAY
Daily, 20 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, 12 hours/day
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Sunday, 6:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.

September 10th, 1994

Saturday short turn service added.

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. QUEENS QUAY
Daily, 20 hours/day
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, 12 hours/day Saturday, 6 hours/day (approx. 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.)
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Sunday, 6:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.

date unknown

To increase the frequency of southbound buses during the morning rush hour, 77A WELLINGTON buses operate in revenue service southbound only, running "express" northbound, out of service.

March 30th to May 4th, 1997

Due to track work in the Spadina/Queens Quay area in preparation for the opening of the 510 SPADINA streetcar route, Queens Quay loop is closed to all transit vehicles. 77B buses service the combined 77 SPADINA and 510 HARBOURFRONT route, running from Spadina Station via Spadina, Queens Quay and Bay to Union Station; looping via Front, Scott Wellington, and Bay, then returning westbound via Queens Quay, Rees and Bremner.

SPADINA	77	SPADINA STN. QUEENS QUAY
Daily, early morning & late evening
SPADINA	77A	SPADINA STN. WELLINGTON
Monday through Friday, 12 hours/day Saturday, 6 hours/day (approx. 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.)
SPADINA VIA QUEENS QUAY	77B	SPADINA STN. BAY ST.
Daily, 18 hours/day

July 26th, 1997

Last day of bus service; route 510 SPADINA streetcars return to Spadina Avenue the following day.

Route histories are based on a variety of publications in the author's collection, including route maps, pocket timetables, TTC Headlights and newspaper clippings. Any additional information, clarifications or corrections can be sent to the author, care of this web site.

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