9 Bellamy

 Today's route is the 9 Bellamy! This is our first mainline Scarborough route. The route operates with one branch:

• 9 Bellamy: Warden Stn to Scarborough Centre

Despite being a mainline route, the 9 Bellamy is one of the least busy of these routes.

The Route

    This route operates from Warden Station. It provides supplemental service to the 102 Markham Road bus along this busy stretch of St Clair East. This section is mainly low-density, but there are some higher-density pockets at Birchmount, Kennedy and Brimley. At Linden is Scarborough GO Station. The bus turns left onto Kingston Road, before turning left onto McCowan. To note: the stop at Kingston and Neilson is not served by the 9 during afternoon rush hour. 

    This stretch of McCowan is low-density, and frankly, incredibly quiet. This is because the main busy segment of McCowan does not directly link up. The route passes McCowan District Park, and some towers near Eglinton. The bus head east on Eglinton, and north on Bellamy two blocks later. This stop connects to Eglinton GO Station. To continue north on Bellamy, traffic has to turn right, then left, due to the rail corridor, passing a number of apartment buildings. Bellamy is exclusively low-density on this stretch, with long distances between safe pedestrian crossings, including 1100 metres between Lawrence and Amarillo. Here we pass Tabor Hill, which is an Indigenous burial site that was discovered accidentally in the 1960s. Definitely worth the visit. Buses curve onto Corporate, in order to serve the high-density Lee Centre neighbourhood and Consilium Place, along with the 134 Progress. Towards Scarborough Centre, buses travel via Consilium, Grangeway, Bushby, and McCowan, whereas buses leave via McCowan and Consilium. 

Sights to See

• Warden Woods
• McCowan District Park
• Hague Park/Cedar Brook Park (West Highland Creek)
• Tabor Hill
• The Meadoway
• Consilium Place
• Scarborough Town Centre
• Scarborough Civic Centre

Subway Connections

• Warden
• McCowan
• Scarborough Centre

Commuter Rail Connections

• Scarborough
• Eglinton

Frequency and Ridership

    For a mainline route, the 9 Bellamy is quite infrequent. During morning peak, it operates every 21'15, and it operates every 19'30 during afternoon peak. Midday service is every 26'20, early evening is every 18', and late evening is every 30'. On weekends, frequencies range from 22' to 30'.

    Its ridership makes it the second least popular north-sound mainline in Scarborough, after the 130 Middlefield. Weekday ridership is 4,900 people, Saturday ridership is 3,200 people, and Sunday is 2,600 people.

from James Bow

Thoughts

    The 9 Bellamy serves a lot, but its ridership is quite low. This is because the busiest portions of the route either duplicate other, more frequent routes, or they are within walking distance to other services. This will be explored in depth below.

    The stretch along St Clair has high ridership, but with the 102 Markham Rd coming every 5'18 (how specific) during morning peak during the pandemic, the 102 naturally has more riders. With the 902 Markham Rd Express returning soon, and adjustments to the 102 schedule, most passengers will take this for the faster service. 

    I've find the stop at Kingston Road and Neilson funny. The 9 Bellamy doesn't stop here in afternoon peaks, and it's understandable! Having to cross three lanes of traffic on Kingston Road immediately after must suck. So if you need this stop between 3pm and 7pm, take the 102!

    Continuing on, the section on McCowan almost feels deserted. I've visited friends who live along here and you don't feel as if you are in the city anymore, and there are no safe crossings besides at Halpert. McCowan District Park is pretty cool though. The ice track is great addition. Bellamy South does not have bus service here, and if it did, it would be low ridership. Maybe a GO shuttle route to Eglinton GO would be worthwhile. Now mentioning it, the 9 connections at two GO train stations, plus the GO bus at Scarborough Centre, which is really good. Too bad it's not commonly used. 

    Continuing north, I HATE how Bellamy bends. I'm not even a huge fan of super strict road grids but I wish the grid was here. It doesn't even make traffic that bad, I just personally don't like it. I have friends living along this stretch of Bellamy too. The long distance between Lawrence and Amarillo without a crossing is insane to me, and drivers know this, so they love to speed here. I'm also a huge fan of the Meadoway project, so I cannot wait for it to be finished through this section. It's quieter here than in other areas so it will have more of a 'peaceful meadow' feel. Further north, the 9 duplicates the far more frequent 134 route along Corporate, serving the busy Lee Centre. The 9's headway of 21' cannot compete with the 134's headway of 4'17. Like the 8 Broadview, a large gap in 134 service is when the 9 can pick up ridership. The city has proposed extending Bellamy north over Highway 401 to Milner, and potentially to Sheppard (Havenview, the road it would replace, is narrow). This is a traffic reduction exercise for McCowan, but I'm not sure how successful it will be without going to Sheppard.

    So while there are many destinations here, the 9 is never the primary route people take because it rarely comes! Nevertheless, even with its twisting and turning, it has its place in the broader grid, as without it, there would be a huge gap in service between McCowan/Danforth Rd and Markham, especially closer to Eglinton. 

The Future

    If Bellamy Road is extended to Milner or Sheppard, there may be a case for extending the 9 north to meet it. It would not have a great location to loop, but the connection to the 85 Sheppard East and 985B Sheppard East Express would be great.

The TTC has also proposed a new route, the 178, along Brimorton Drive. Brimorton is a busy stop on the 9, so the 178 may take some ridership away as well. This route used to be on the chopping block a lot; I hope the 178 isn't the reason it's back there (I doubt it will return to the chopping block, though).

Can we please have some more safe crossings on Bellamy and McCowan? I'm begging at this point.