Item - 2023.EX4.10

The Executive Committee recommends that:

1. City Council authorize the implementation of priority bus lanes on the following roadway sections:

a. northbound Kennedy Road from Eglinton Avenue East to Ellesmere Road;

b. southbound Midland Avenue from Ellesmere Road to Lord Roberts Drive;

c. eastbound Ellesmere Road from Kennedy Road to a point 75 metres east of Midland Avenue;

d. westbound Ellesmere Road from Brimley Road to a point 100 metres west of Midland Avenue; and

e. westbound Eglinton Avenue East from a point 300 metres west of Midland Avenue to Kennedy Station.

2. City Council authorize the alteration of the intersections of Brimley Road at Ellesmere Road, Golden Gate Court/Omni Drive and Triton Road, and City Council:

a. designate the newly created southbound lane at Brimley Road and Ellesmere Road as a right-turn lane with an exception for public transit vehicles only;

b. designate the newly created southbound lane at Brimley Road and Golden Gate Court/Omni Drive as a right-turn lane with an exception for public transit vehicles only; and

c. designate the newly created northbound lane at Brimley Road and Triton Road as a right-turn lane only.

3. City Council authorize the alteration of the intersections of Triton Road at Brimley Road and Borough Drive, and City Council:

a. designate one westbound left-turn lane reserved for public transit vehicles only;

b. designate one westbound left-turn lane for vehicles;

c. designate one westbound right-turn lane for vehicles; and

d. designate one eastbound right-turn lane for vehicles, public transit vehicles excepted.

4. City Council designate the existing eastbound left-turn lane at Ellesmere Road and Brimley Road as a left-turn lane reserved for public transit vehicles only.

5. City Council authorize the installation of traffic control signals at the intersection of Ellesmere Road and Borough Approach West, and City Council:

a. prohibit southbound right turns on a red signal at all times.

6. City Council enact the amendments to traffic and parking regulations associated with Recommendations 1 to 5 above and as described in Attachment 1 to the report (May 1, 2023) from the General Manager, Transportation Services.

7. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to collect traffic and transit data, monitor the performance of the bus replacement service plan, and publish the results on a quarterly basis for the first year of its operation, subject to data availability.

8. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services, in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to report back to City Council at an appropriate time with recommendations to retain the transit priority measures or reinstate to original roadway conditions once the existing Scarborough Rapid Transit right-of-way between Kennedy Station and Ellesmere Station is converted to a dedicated busway or when the Scarborough Subway Extension begins service.

9.  City Council request the Province of Ontario to provide funding in the amount of $2.9 million to proceed with and complete design related work for the Scarborough Rapid Transit busway conversion.

10.  City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services to hold hybrid town hall discussions in Scarborough about the busway to collect community and stakeholder feedback.

The Line 3 Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) has surpassed its life expectancy and is planned to be decommissioned by Q4 2023. The Scarborough Subway Extension (SSE) will ultimately replace the service in 2030. An interim bus replacement plan, to service the SRT's 35,000 daily customers with on street express buses at a combined frequency of up to 70 buses per hour, was developed and subsequently approved by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) board in April 2022, including proposals to install transit priority measures on the road network. Transportation Services is now requesting approval, on behalf of the TTC, to install transit priority measures (TPMs) to support the on-street express bus replacement service.

The approved route connects customers between Kennedy Station and Scarborough Town Centre Station with intermediate stops at Kennedy Road, Ellesmere Road and Midland Avenue.

A suite of transit priority measures are proposed to support the bus replacement service plan: (1) priority bus lanes on Kennedy Road, Ellesmere Road, Midland Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East designed as a one-way loop routing between Kennedy Station and Scarborough Town Centre Station; (2) queue-jump lane on southbound Brimley Road at Ellesmere Road; (3) left-turn lanes exclusive to TTC buses; (4) transit signal priority; and (5) stopping and turning prohibitions.

The City and TTC will collect transit and traffic data to monitor bus operations and make necessary adjustments to improve transit service and to generally reduce impacts on road users. The monitoring program will inform decisions on the viability of retaining the TPMs after the SSE is operational as part of the long-term vision for surface transit in Scarborough envisaged by the emerging RapidTO program.

The bus replacement service will continue operating on-street until either the existing SRT right-of-way between Kennedy Station and Ellesmere Station is converted to a dedicated busway (subject to funding availability) or the SSE begins service, whichever occurs first.

As TTC operates bus service on Kennedy Road, Ellesmere Road, Brimley Road, Triton Road, Midland Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East, City Council approval of this report is required.