35 Jane

 Hey pals! Today we are looking at one of the busiest bus routes in the city, the 35 Jane! This route operates with two branches:

• 35A Jane: Jane Stn to Pioneer Village Stn
• 35B Jane: Jane Stn to Pioneer Village Stn via Hullmar

In addition, the 35A branch is duplicated entirely by the 935 Jane Express route.

Let's get into it!

The Route

The two branches of the 35 are not all that different: they diverge north of Finch and rejoin at Steeles. 35A buses leave Jane Station via Armadale and Bloor, before heading north on Bloor. For short sections, the route is supplemented by the 26 Dupont and 55 Warren Park routes. Jane is lined with dense, single-family homes until around Woolner, where there are high-rise apartments. A mix of high-rises and single-family homes continue until Lambton Avenue, when the route passes through the Eglinton Flats. The single-family homes resume around Weston. After crossing the railway tracks, Jane becomes much more high-density. There are a number of apartments here on Jane, with the same homes on side-streets. There is also a commercial stretch near Lawrence (with some really good food, I highly recommend). At Wilson is North York Sheridan Mall, with large apartment complexes at Chalkfarm and Exbury further north. North of Sheppard, a large number of townhomes enter the mix of buildings. This continues through the intersection with Finch (overblown stigmatization, by the way). Past the Finch Hydro Corridor, there are many townhomes, as the apartments are further east on Driftwood. The route passes more townhomes and apartments, as well as the Black Creek Community Farm, on its way to Steeles. At Steeles, the route turns east, continuing to Pioneer Village Station, on the York University campus.

The 35B branch is the same as the 35A branch until the second stop north of Finch, York Gate, where it turns left. It turns right onto Hullmar. This is all single-family homes that are a far walk to a bus stop, but at Shoreham there is a walkway to reach the industrial area on Norfinch. Buses turn onto Peter Kaiser, then east on Steeles, resuming the 35A routing to the station.

Sights to See

• Smythe Park
• Topham Pond
• Eglinton Flats
• North York Sheridan Mall
• Downsview Dells Park
• Black Creek Community Farm
• Black Creek Pioneer Village
• York University

Subway Connections

• Jane
• Pioneer Village

Frequency and Ridership

Bearing in mind that the 35 Jane is duplicated by the 935 Jane Express, the schedule is easy to understand. The 35B only operates during peaks. During morning peak, each branch operates every 10', combining to every 5'. Midday service is every 7'40. Afternoon peak service is every 11' on each branch, combing to every 5'30. Early evening headway is 8'30, and late evening is every 9'15.

On Saturdays, service is every 9' during the early morning, every 10' in the morning, every 8' during the afternoon, every 7'30 during the early evening, and every 8'30 during the late evening. On Sundays, service is every 10' during the daytime and late evening, and every 8' during the early evening.

The 35A branch is part of the Ten-Minute network, however, as afternoon peak service on this branch is every 11', it is technically outside of it. Lowe the TTC this time?

Ridership is very high. Weekday ridership is 30,700 passengers, Saturday is 22,000, and Sunday is 15,300. The 35 only accounts for about 70% of ridership on the Jane corridor on a weekday, by the way.

Thoughts

The 35 Jane is one of the most necessary routes in the city. By that, I mean that, during the pandemic, the ridership drop was much less than on other routes, and it has currently jumped back to 75% of pre-pandemic. It serves many low income communities and hard-working individuals. When the TTC cut express routes, and added extras, there were not enough on Jane. Plain and simple. This meant that buses were packed, running through neighbourhoods with high positivity rates, carrying essential workers. This is one of the most extreme examples of transit injustice in the city and is completely unacceptable. Things are better with the 935 back, but that low should have never been reached. 

The TTC also does not manage this line properly. I can't find it right now, but I saw on some random day, the next northbound bus at Eglinton was heading southbound at FINCH. With the best luck, that's a 70-minute gap between buses. Delightful!

I usually take this route on weekdays, but I feel like the Saturday headway is kinda low for the ridership; it needs to be bumped up. Similar feelings for other days of the week, but definitely Saturday the most.

I have another comment, this time concerning southbound 35s at Jane and Steeles. The 35A stops on the south side of Jane, however, the 35B stops on Steeles at Jane before continuing west. For a passenger at Jane and Steeles who just wants a 35, there is no common stop during peaks. I think it would make more sense for 35Bs to also turn onto Jane from Steeles, then direct onto Hullmar, skipping Peter Kaiser. The only change would be the stop on Peter Kaiser at Hullmar losing all service, but the same intersection still being served on Hullmar. Northbound buses are less affected by this, as all buses are headed for Pioneer Village anyways. 

Oh, one last thing. I once saw someone suggest that the 35B operate as its own route from Finch West Station to Pioneer Village Station. While not the worst idea, when Line 6 opens, it makes no sense. So...

Future

There are a few changes coming to this route. When Line 5 opens, the 35 Jane will be cut back in the south to Mt Dennis Station, with a new 27 Jane South route covering the lost portion. I'm mixed on this. Ridership demand is far higher north of Eglinton than south of it, and traffic snarls bad south of Eglinton as well. Passengers will have a shorter route to rapid transit. However, it means that through trips are lost, and there is no direct link to Line 2. Personally, the positives outweigh the negatives. In addition, the 935 will operate through, diverting through Mt Dennis both ways. 

With the opening of Line 6, a new station will open at Jane and Finch, named Jane-and-Finch. Fitting!

In their 2020 Annual Service Plan, the TTC proposed that the 35B operate during additional periods, likely weekday middays and early evenings, and weekend daytimes. This was not implemented because of the pandemic, and it is not in the 2021 ASP (the other changes in the 2020 ASP, on the 119 and 167, are in the 2021 ASP). I'm not sure if TTC route this off entirely, or is just delaying it until 2022. Nevertheless, it should be implemented, as many homes are very far walks to bus stops. I hope the TTC doesn't make it so that buses alternate A/B branches, as I think that may make service too frequent on Hullmar and too infrequent on Jane itself. What I hope is the TTC add the 35B as a net increase, every 30 minutes, using four buses. This way, service on Jane north of York Gate is unchanged, and there is a slight frequency bump for those south of York Gate.

Thanks for reading!