Dufferin Gate Loop

Dufferin Gate Loop
Location Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Coordinates 43°38′04″N 79°25′33″W / 43.63444°N 79.42583°W / 43.63444; -79.42583Coordinates: 43°38′04″N 79°25′33″W / 43.63444°N 79.42583°W / 43.63444; -79.42583
Owned by Toronto Transit Commission
Line(s)  514 
Tracks 1
Connections TTC buses
Construction
Structure type terminal building with dispatcher's tower; staff facility added at west entrance in 2013
Parking buses only
History
Opened 1922
Rebuilt 1960-1961, 2013, 2016 (poles replacement)

Dufferin Gate Loop[1] is a Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) bus station and turning loop for streetcars near the southern end of Dufferin Street in Toronto. During the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) this becomes a primary access point for visitors entering Exhibition Place via the Dufferin Gates.[2] This west entrance to the CNE can be reached by the Dufferin Street bridges across the Lakeshore West railway corridor and Gardiner Expressway.

Southbound streetcars on Dufferin Street run anticlockwise through the loop; west on Springhurst Avenue; south on Fort Rouille Street; enter the station eastbound; and exit back onto Dufferin Street northbound. Buses on layover park at the west end of the station, south of the tracks.

History

old dispatch tower c. 1920

The loop was constructed in 1922 by the newly created Toronto Transportation Commission, which had taken over and amalgamated existing ageing streetcar systems within the city limits.[3] The original wood frame structure has been rebuilt and renovated after 1960.[4] The current structure has a small semi enclosed waiting area, gates and office space with a dispatcher tower. The most recent renewal of the streetcar tracks was in 2013.[5]

It was proposed that a new loop be built at Dufferin on an extension of the Harbourfront LRT from Exhibition Loop, as part of the Waterfront West Light Rail Transit project,[6] which was cancelled in 2013.[7]

Services

To process the large number of people at the time of the CNE the loading platform is operated as a fare-paid area and the ticket booths, turnstiles and dispatcher control tower come into use, allowing passengers to board streetcars and buses by any door.

29 Dufferin and 193 Exhibition Rocket buses northbound

29 Dufferin from Wilson station via Dufferin station is the only regular TTC bus route,[8] which has additional frequent service terminating here during the CNE.

The loop is used to short turn streetcar service on the 504 King and 501 Queen routes. Formerly it was the terminus of the seasonal 522 Exhibition West streetcar which operated during the CNE from Dundas West station via Roncesvalles Avenue, King Street and Dufferin Street,[9] which has been replaced by the 193 Exhibition Rocket nonstop express bus.[10]

In 2016 the TTC announced it would introduce a new route, 514 Cherry, which would run from the Dufferin Loop, north on Dufferin, to King, then along King Street, to Sumach, where it would turn south to its eastern terminus at the Distillery Loop.[11] The route's western terminus, at the Dufferin Loop, and its eastern terminus, at the Distillery Loop, are both quite near new residential neighbourhoods constructed on real estate that had previously been zoned for light industry. TTC riders in Liberty Village, near the Dufferin Loop, had experienced years of frustration because, during rush hour, they would regularly find that the vehicles they wanted to board were already too full, and they could not get on board. The nearby loops would ensure that riders from Liberty Village, in the west, or from the Canary District and the Distillery District, in the east could count on being able to board empty vehicles. The TTC announced that they planned to use the new, low-floor Flexity vehicles on the route. Those vehicles are twice as long as the TTC's older vehicles.

References

  1. ↑ "TTC schedule for Route 29, DUFFERIN GATE LOOP". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved August 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  2. ↑ "CNE / Getting Here / Public Transit / TTC". Canadian National Exhibition. Retrieved August 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  3. ↑ "Looking Back". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved August 2014. In 1920, a Provincial Act created the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC) and, in 1921, the Commission took over and amalgamated nine existing fare systems within the city limits. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  4. ↑ http://transit.toronto.on.ca/photos/images/ttc-dufferin-loop-196008.jpg
  5. ↑ Robert Mackenzie (April 14, 2013). "TTC repairs tracks in Dufferin Gate Loop". Transit Toronto. Retrieved August 2014. The TTC is upgrading the streetcar tracks in Dufferin Gate Loop, just north of Exhibition Place. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  6. ↑ "WATERFRONT WEST STREETCARS EXTENSION, CNE TO DUFFERIN – EA MODIFICATION" (PDF). TTC Report. City of Toronto. May 21, 2008. Retrieved August 2014. An extension to the Harbourfront LRT line from Spadina Avenue via Queens Quay, Lake Shore, Ontario Place and Dufferin Street to a new loop on the east side of Dufferin Street north of the CN Rail corridor Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  7. ↑ Tamara Shephard (Jan 10, 2013). "Residents share wishlist for Toronto budget". Etobicoke Guardian. Retrieved August 2014. An LRT planned for 2015 to run along Lake Shore Boulevard West has now been shelved by city officials, along with other planned LRT routes. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  8. ↑ "TTC description of 29 Dufferin". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved August 2014. The 29 Dufferin bus route operates between Wilson Station on Line 1 Yonge-University-Spadina and Exhibition Place, generally in a north-south direction. It also serves Dufferin Station on Line 2 Bloor-Danforth. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  9. ↑ James Bow. "Streetcars to the Exhibition (Routes 521, 522 and More)". Transit Toronto. Retrieved August 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  10. ↑ "TTC description of 193 Exhibition Rocket". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved August 2014. The 193 Exhibition Rocket bus route operates between Dundas West Station on the Bloor-Danforth Subway and the Dufferin Gates (West Entrance) of Exhibition Place Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  11. ↑ "Relief could be coming to King streetcar in June". CBC News. 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2016-03-16. A report made public Wednesday recommends that the new route begin service on June 19. It would operate between the Distillery Loop in the east and the Dufferin Gates loop in the west via Cherry, King and Dufferin streets.

Media related to Dufferin Gate Loop at Wikimedia Commons


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