22 Coxwell

 Hey pals! Today's route is the 22 Coxwell, which operates with two branches:

• 22A Coxwell: Coxwell Stn to Victoria Park via Kingston Rd
• 22B Coxwell: Coxwell Stn to Queen

This route is a rare one on the TTC: a route that's more reliable during rush hours then outside of it. Let's get into it!

The Route

The 22 bus exits Coxwell Station via Strathmore, and heads south on Coxwell. The route is a mix of low and medium-density housing, with a number of businesses situated near Gerrard in the Little India neighbourhood. The B branch covers just the length of Coxwell, looping clockwise via Queen, Eastern and Coxwell. The A branch travels via Queen and up Kingston Rd. This stretch, similar to the the rest of Coxwell, is a mix of densities, with a bit of commercial business along the stretch, including a number of restaurants. At Victoria Park, the buses loop counter-clockwise through Bingham Loop.

Sights to See

• Monarch Park Stadium
• Small's Creek
• Woodbine Park
• Glen Stewart Ravine

Subway Connections

• Coxwell

Frequency and Ridership

Weekday daytime service is operated by the 22B only, with Kingston Rd service operated by the 503 streetcar. Weekday morning peak and midday headway is every 8'20, and afternoon peak service is every 10'. Weekday early evening service (on the 22A) is every 11', and late evening is every 10'. All weekend service is on the 22A, ranging between every 7'45 and every 10' on Saturdays, and every 10' at all hours on Sundays. Besides the 11' headway on weekday early evenings, this route is part of the Ten-Minute Network.

This route gets very good ridership despite its short length: being 5,600 on weekdays, 5,600 on Saturdays, and 4,200 on Sundays. It is worth noting that weekday ridership does not include Kingston Rd ridership during the day on weekdays, but does so during the evening and on weekends. If the add ridership on the 503 (and former 502), we get a total of 13,700 riders per day, but this also includes riders along King and Queen. Basically, what I'm saying is that we have no solid ridership statistics for this route.

Thoughts

As mentioned in the introduction, this route is more reliable during the peaks than it is outside of them. This is because of consistent traffic on Kingston Rd that the 22B does not have to contend with. As a result, I think, if it was feasible, that this route should be split in order to protect service on Coxwell. One nice thing about the 22A service is that it provides passengers a direct link to Line 2 that it otherwise does not have.

Future

Related to the thoughts, I wonder what the plan is for the 503. It's the lowest ridership streetcar route, and is oriented for downtown-bound traffic, which is less relevant now due to the pandemic. In fact, for a bit throughout the pandemic, the 22A ran at all times! Part of this makes me think that the 22A may end up running full time, always, but I would rather that the 503 ran full time so that the Coxwell service could be protected. There's been long discussion of converting the 22 to a streetcar route, but that's not something I think would be helpful.

There have also been discussions of extending the streetcar tracks to Birchmount, as mentioned in the 12 Kingston Rd article. I disagree with this as it complicates travel patterns throughout southwest Scarborough. I have preference for extending the streetcar tracks to Victoria Park Station, so that Kingston Rd always has a connection to the Line 2 subway, and people transferring from the 24 Victoria Park and 67 Pharmacy routes can get a service direct to Queen right from Victoria Park Station.