87 WESTMOUNT Route History |
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Last updated February 20th, 2001 |
By Peter Coulman |
December 14th, 1937
WESTMOUNT service inaugurated as the West York & District Bus Service from Vine Avenue and Keele Street
(just north of the Junction crossover) via north on Keele, west on St. Clair Avenue, north on Runnymede Road, west on Henrietta Street,
north on Castleton, west on Pritchard Avenue, north on Jane Street, west on Florence Crescent and Eileen Avenue to Scarlett Road then
north, wyeing in the intersection at Lawrence Avenue.
June 21st, 1942
Route cut back to Maria and Runnymede, instead of Dundas and Vine, on orders from Transit Controller.
November 1st, 1944
Souther terminus restored to Dundas and Keele.
Spring, 1946
"West York & District Bus Service" becomes "West York Coach Lines Ltd." Buses
operate out of a garage owned by West York Motors Ltd. at 444 Pacific Avenue, on the southwest corner of Vine. All maintenance work is
contracted out, other than paint touchups and minor repairs.
May 1st, 1952
Routing extended at both ends: starts two block south at Annette Street; and continues north on Scarlett Road and west on Malton (Dixon)
Road to Royal York Road. During rush hours, some trips operate via St. Clair and Scarlett Road between Runnymede and Eileen, instead
of Pritchard and Jane.
Service provided Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., and Sunday between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. One bus in
base service and two buses during rush hours give wide headways ranging from 30:00 to 120:00 minutes. Seven of West York's buses
(fleet numbers 10/26/32/40/50/460 & 492) are normally used on the route.
July 1st, 1954
West York's operations assumed by the new Toronto Transit Commission, and route transferred to Parkdale garage. South terminus
returned to Runnymede & Dundas, with buses following a clockwise loop from Jane & Pritchard via east on Pritchard, south on
Castleton, east on Henrietta, south on Runnymede, west on Dundas and north on Jane. Rerouted between Jane and Scarlett Road along
Foxwell Street instead of Florence and Eileen. Extended
in the north along Dixon Road and Islington Avenue, looping counterclockwise via east on Allenby Avenue, north on Burrard Road and
west on Hadrian Drive to the intersection of Islington Avenue and Rexdale Road.
WESTMOUNT | REXDALE DUNDAS |
Daily, 18 hours/day |
December 12th, 1955
In conjunction with the inauguration of the new REXDALE bus, north end of route cut back to run east from Scarlett
Road on Lawrence Avenue, terminating in the Weston business district at Lawrence and Main Street (now Weston Road). During rush
hours buses run every 30:00 minutes over a round trip distance of 9.10 miles.
WESTMOUNT | LAWRENCE DUNDAS |
Daily, 18 hours/day |
November 26th, 1956
Half hour headway during rush hours. At all other times the route is combined with the MALTON bus
(Weston-Airport), providing a 2:00 hour service.
March 31st, 1957
Assigned route number 87.
WESTMOUNT | 87 | WESTON DUNDAS |
Daily, 18 hours/day |
April 1st, 1957
New "multiple-route" transfers in use. 87 WESTMOUNT becomes a sub-route of 50
KINGSWAY.
January 4th, 1958
Last day of operation: 87 WESTMOUNT name and number discontinued. Route replaced by an extended
93 WOODBRIDGE service on January 5th for a faster, more convenient through
service between the town of Woodbridge and the Junction (Runnymemde loop). At the same time, 58 MALTON
headways are reduced from every 2:00 hours to every 30 minutes.