25 Don Mills

 Hey pals! It's been a while; school has been insane as of late. Anyways, we are now working on the 25 Don Mills route, which operates with three branches:

• 25A Don Mills: Pape Stn to Steeles via Don Mills Stn
• 25B Don Mills: Pape Stn to Don Mills Stn
• 25C Don Mills: Don Mills Stn to Steeles

The entire route is duplicated by the 925 Don Mills Express, which operates during daytimes serving limited stops. It is currently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is scheduled to return on January 3rd, 2021.

This route's branches operate similar to the 21 Brimley, but this split is supposedly temporary.

The Route

Northbound 25A and 25B Don Mills buses depart Pape Station via Lipton, and travel north on Pape. This stretch is supplemented by the 81 Thorncliffe Park route. Pape is mainly single-family homes and commercial space. On Cosburn, both east and west of Pape, there are neighbourhoods of high-rise towers. The route then crosses the Don Valley using the Leaside Viaduct, before heading east on Overlea. The 25 serves mainly the commercial area, with major big box stores and the East York Town Centre, alongside the 100 Flemingdon Park, whereas the 81 serves the apartments south directly. Buses then turn north onto Don Mills, serving Flemingdon Park, with its high-rise towers, and the Ontario Science Centre. North of Eglinton, there are commercial and office spaces, with a short stretch of single-family homes north of Barber Greene, before the apartments resume on the east side. At Lawrence is the Shops at Don Mills. A mix of single-family homes, townhomes, and high-rises exist until the railway tracks, when Don Mills becomes industrial on the west side, and low-density on the east. The intersection with York Mills is devoid of development, besides one office tower. The route then passes through much open space, with a high-density center at Graydon Hall. North of the 401, the east side is high-rise apartments and condominiums, while the west side includes large, single-family homes. Buses enter Don Mills Station, located below Fairview Mall. The 25B branch ends here.

Buses on the 25A and 25C continue north, serving the Peanut, a high-speed roadway segment with apartments, townhomes, single-family homes, open space, and a small commercial plaza. This section is duplicated by the 10 Van Horne during peaks and the 169 Huntingwood off-peak. Don Mills is mainly apartments until McNicoll. It also passes Seneca College at Premier Davis Blvd. The rest of the route is single-family homes and townhomes, with buses looping clockwise at Steeles via Don Mills, Steeles, Townsend, and Freshmeadow, ending trips at Freshmeadow and Don Mills.

Sights to See

• Greektown
• Don Valley
• East York Town Centre
  
• ET Seton Park
• Ontario Science Centre
• Shops at Don Mills
• Duncan Mill Greenbelt
• Fairview Mall
• Oriole Park
• Seneca College Newnham

Subway Connections

• Pape
• Don Mills

Frequency and Ridership

During weekday daytime, service is split at Don Mills Station, meaning the 25B and 25C operate, with the 25A providing through service at all other times. This is due to Crosstown construction at Eglinton that plagues the 25B on weekdays.

During morning peak, the 25B operates every 7'30, and the 25C operates every 7'. Midday service on the 25B is every 10', while it is every 9' on the 25C. The headway is every 7'30 on the 25B, while 25C headway is every 6'45 during the afternoon peak. Early evening headway on the combined 25A is every 10'48, while late evening is every 11'53. Saturday headways range from every 7'30 to every 10', with Sundays ranging from every 9' to every 10'. This route is technically part of the Ten-Minute Network, but weekday evening is outside of it (temporarily?). 

Note that ridership counts do not include the 925 Express. As a general note, 925 ridership is about half of the local service, so the 25 only accounts for two-third the ridership of the entire Don Mills corridor. In addition, some stretches of the route are duplicated by the 10, 81, 100 and 169 routes. Nevertheless, ridership is very high on weekdays, carrying 28,900 people. Saturday ridership is 19,600, while Sunday's is 14,900 people.

Thoughts

This is a notorious route for traffic and being busy. It serves a lot: looking at a satellite map would make one think otherwise. There are a few changes to suggest. 

Firstly, concerning the split at weekday daytime. This really helps service north of Don Mills stay (somewhat) reliable. With experience of having taken the route on Saturdays, I feel the split on weekend daytimes would help with reliability. Having different branches travelling north and south at Don Mills Station helps for wayfinding, in addition.

This route has two awful turns. The first is northbound buses when they turn off Overlea onto Don Mills. This double-left always gets backed up, and it delays buses significantly. I wish there was a way for the right-turn to be converted to a transit lane, so that buses could make the left from there. Again, this is Toronto, so would drivers understand? Absolutely not. (I am writing this as a week where a large number of people have been killed by drivers in the GTHA.) The second turn is for southbound buses, from Freshmeadow onto Don Mills. This is an easier solve, just install a traffic light. 

In terms of scheduling, the route feels way to infrequent? Obviously the 925 is gone and extras are being added, but midday headways of every 10' is a joke. I think the schedule during daytimes for local service should never be lower than every 8', with the weekday evening service being bumped to 10' so the route stays, properly, within the Ten-Minute Network.

Living nearby, I knew of the bridge just north of the Donway north branch that crosses rail tracks. What I did not know was that this is GO Transit's Richmond Hill Line. A station here would be at least somewhat convenient. Get on that Metrolinx!

Lastly, I have a complaint about built form. The Peanut is like, awful. People who live on the east side and wish to catch a bus must travel across Oriole Park. In addition, there are two schools in the Peanut! The plaza is equally inaccessible. Obviously, this is peak suburbanism, but with a high amount of pedestrians, it is an accident waiting to happen. I think they should widen the east side of Don Mills and make it bidirectional, while allowing the western half to be closed and made into more parkland. This would be beneficial for people on the east side, but the west side passengers would have to walk across for both directions of service. Fuck it, just rebuild the road entirely.

Future

A new station on Line 5 is being built at Don Mills and Eglinton, aptly named 'Science Centre'. There will be an off-street bus terminal that the 25 may be routed through. 

The new Ontario Line plan has that subway duplicating the 25 from Pape to Science Centre, with three stops: Cosburn, Thorncliffe Park, and Flemingdon Park. If built, the 25 will undoubtedly have service reduced south of Eglinton, which will likely require a branch reworking.