A Facebook group has been started by Mike Olivier to promote the Lakeshore Planning Council's unanimous recommendation to run the former 507 Lakeshore streetcar between Long Branch loop and Dundas West Station.
The following is the motion approved by the Commission at the May 6th 2010 meeting:
“That the Commission request the Chief General Manager to report to the June meeting of the Commission on reinstating the 507 Long Branch Streetcar route in consideration of general service options, including the feasibility of an extension of the route through to Dundas West Station as a pilot, to determine if streetcar service to Ward 6 improves”.
The wheels are turning to provide south Etobicoke residents with improved streetcar service.
Toronto Transit Commission chief general manager Gary Webster was directed to report next month on restoring a separate 507 Long Branch route to run from the west up Roncesvalles Ave. to Dundas West subway station.
If city councillors on the commission approve a pilot project, it would begin in September. The westbound 501Queen streetcar would stop at the Humber loop, where riders would pick up the 507 to Long Branch.
After more than a year of tinkering with the management of Toronto’s iconic Queen streetcar line, the TTC is still stranding some west-end riders up to three-quarters of an hour even during rush periods, according to residents along the Queensway and Lake Shore Blvd.
They want the TTC to restore a separate 507 Long Branch route that would run from the west, then up Roncesvalles to Dundas West.
As Transit City pushes forward — the Finch LRT was approved yesterday at city council — with the goal of providing reliable public transport to the forgotten reaches of the inner suburbs, it will be a challenge to ensure that areas of existing coverage aren’t forgotten in the process. The residents of the southwestern communities of Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch have become a vocal and organized group, claiming they have already been forgotten.
Historically the Long Branch streetcar has been the link that tied together the villages of Mimico, New Toronto, and Long Branch.
However the increasingly erratic 501 streetcar line service is adversely affecting this link, driving many existing and potential customers to take a bus to the subway or to buy a car.
In December 2008, The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) held an information session to solicit input from local Lakeshore residents about a plan to replace the existing streetcar route with a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system.
The proposed changes would have a significant impact on the commercial strip along Lake Shore Boulevard especially in Mimico and New Toronto. A total of 100 stores would need to be demolished.