Improving Wayfinding in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Part 1: Names, Numbers, and Letters

 This is the first of a three-part series.

I am someone who regularly travels the Greater Golden Horseshoe on my adventures, and as such, I use a number of agencies that present information in different ways. Usually, it's pretty straight-forward to figure out information, but from time-to-time, I find myself having to pull out my phone to confirm I'm going the right way, or got on the right vehicle.

This three-part series was inspired by two things. First, I have recently used a transit agency that presents information in a very peculiar, non-intuitive way, which will dominate the entire third part of this series. Secondly, recent discussions about wayfinding on the subway have brought up points about general issues with finding out that you're going to the right place.

Line 1's Perpetual Problem

Relatively recently, TTC replaced signs saying cardinal directions with ones that say the terminus. I think this works okay on Lines 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, but definitely not on Line 1. The Line's 'U' shape means that the direction signs are not intuitive. If I want to get on the train at York Mills and wish to go south to Queen, I need to follow signs for 'Vaughan,' which is north of me. When visualizing the map, it can be difficult to map this trip if the end goal is Vaughan. Especially considering how few people ride around the loop outside of downtown, this has little impact overall.

Line 1's 'U' shape makes identifying directions of travel a bit difficult.

That said, the directional signs also have issues. At St Andrew, a sign saying southbound is true only for a single station, and then the line curves north for the rest of the trip. 

This is the big issue with wayfinding on Line 1 in particular: neither system is intuitive. To be honest, the best suggestion would be to split the line. For example, Line 1 runs north to Finch and south to Union, whereas Line 7 runs north to Vaughan and south to Union. Both lines become the other (interline) at Union. This has its own share of issues, but it makes both lines entirely north-south, with clear and obvious destinations to follow.

This is does not even consider the inconsistency of signage, where sometimes you follow signs for the 'Sheppard Subway' and other times for Line 4. For the sake of accessibility, aiming for numbers is always key.

Directions on Buses

The 'N' means north.

The above continues onto buses. MiWay is different that other agencies, as the from rollsign will list the direction in addition to route name and destination. An eastbound bus on the 3 Bloor will have a sign that reads 3 E Bloor, and the other direction will read 3 W Bloor. While this works well, the issue is that many routes do not follow a key cardinal direction.

Take TTC's 116 Morningside. The route's busiest portion, on Eglinton and Guildwood, is east-west, but the route namesake of Morningside runs north-south. So which is more correct? The TTC says the former, but, again, that is only intuitive on Eglinton. This doesn't even consider routes that operate in 'U' shapes, where a route runs three of four cardinal directions. 

While not publicly available, Oakville Transit effectively lists their routes as 'inbound' when heading towards the GO Train, and 'outbound' away from them. While this technically works, I am hesitant to further entrench downtown-centrism in wayfinding. Many trips in Toronto, Mississauga, and Brampton, would be considered 'outbound', and many trips use multiple routes. Telling someone to take an inbound 30 Airport Road, then switch to an outbound 42 Derry, before getting on an inbound 45 Winston Churchill can be confusing and makes visualizing trips difficult again.

The Numbers

Each agency has a way of organizing route numbers. This helps customers figure out what time of service is picking them up. However, these patterns are not consistent agency-to-agency, and it can become difficult to figure out service type across municipal boundaries. For example, let's take a look at express services in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

• TTC: 900-series
• DRT: 900-series (kinda)
• MiWay: 100-series, plus the 70 and 71
• Brampton Transit: 100-series, and 500-series for ZUM
• YRT: 300-series for Finch Terminal expresses, 600-series for VIVA (internal)
• Oakville Transit: 190-series
• Burlington Transit: 100-series
• HSR: 10 and 20
• Barrie Transit: 100-series
• GRT: 200-series, plus 302 ION Bus

As can be seen, while there is some consistency in the 100 series, it is not universal. Additionally, the TTC uses the 100-series for local routes, and DRT for their Pickering-based routes. As is the case with YRT and Brampton Transit, different express types qualify for different numbering schema (I think this actually makes sense for YRT). While making everything consistent across agencies isn't mandatory, it helps customers figure out services instinctively without having to ask or search it up.

Does the number alone read 'Express'?

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Some agencies have sub-series used to identify some routes. For example, Brampton's routes in the 50s operate from Gateway. GRT's routes under 50 are in Kitchener and Waterloo, and those in the 50s and 60s are in Cambridge. I think this should be maintained, as is quite helpful, but won't make or break wayfinding. If someone knows they need to take the 53 Ray Lawson, I highly doubt the first instinct is to go to Gateway. That said, HSR's mountain services being numbered in order is quite helpful: the furthest east route being the 21, then the 22 as you move west, followed by 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 35... 33... oh well, at least they tried.

Route Names

Route names are not very widespread world-wide. Even within Canada, it's really just Toronto and Montreal that do it, but slowly Vancouver is adding them as well. Route names are helpful because they give some immediate knowledge about not where the route ends, but how it will travel. I think it's a safe bet that if you're trying to go somewhere on Warden, the 68 Warden will bring you there. Obviously names aren't perfect, especially when routes twist and turn through a large number of areas (I'm looking at you, 107 York University Heights), but overall it is a good idea.

Some agencies, however, do route names badly. Durham Region Transit is actually ditching route names in favour of numbers. This is done in order to simplify services. However, this brings up another problem. The 216 and 224 both run from Ajax GO to Taunton, the same for the 410 and 423 between Oshawa Centre and Harmony Terminal. Without route names, it is totally unclear which way each route runs. It creates a fair bit of confusion for infrequent users of the system. What was wrong with saying the 216 runs on Harwood?

Just because they can I suppose.

Guelph is a whole different breed when it comes to route names. Some of them make sense: The 4 York runs on York. The 1 Edinburgh College runs in a loop, using Edinburgh first, whereas the 2 College Edinburgh runs the opposite way, via College first. You then have the 8 Stone Road Mall... which does go there in one direction, and the 12 General Hospital... which definitely passes the hospital. There a bit of inconsistency with what the goal of the route names are. Is it to show the area the route runs through, or where it ends, or a major destination? This is compounded by the fact that sometimes the route destinations aren't posted properly. You either get no destination, or just the destination!  I get Guelph routes tend to be twisty, but having the 12 say '12 Waverley towards Woodlawn via General Hospital' provides a whole lot more info.

Letters and Branching

Letters are useful for identifying variants of routes. I think TTC does this the best in the region. Northbound, the 45A runs to Steeles, and the 45B to Carlingview via Belfield. Southbound, all buses show just '45 to Kipling Stn' as there is no need to distinguish services if they runs the same route once combining. I know there was upheaval when this first happened because it was not communicated properly, but I think it works well. The one issue is that because the TTC didn't want to reletter anything, the 'main' branches are not lettered as 'A'. On the 129 McCowan North, the B is the main branch, and on the 85 Sheppard East, the C is.

That said, TTC has an issue with internal branching. I will explore two routes that are particular issues. The first is the 85 Sheppard East. It runs with four branches, but only two at a time (A/D run one or the other, and the same for the B/C).

• 85A Don Mills Stn to Rouge Hill GO
• 85B Don Mills Stn to Toronto Zoo
• 85C Don Mills Stn to Meadowvale
• 85D Don Mills Stn to Rouge Hill GO via Toronto Zoo

While this seems clear, the first issue is that, despite it being listed online, you will never actually see a bus with 85D on it: it will simply read 85A via Toronto Zoo. This disconnect is not helpful. Additionally, all westbound signs read 85A, which is annoying for two reasons. One: the 85A, 85B, and 85C have no difference heading westbound, so it should read 85 to Don Mills Stn. The 85D should still read that heading westbound, but, again, you don't see it on any actual vehicles.

There is actually a fifth branch. Internally known as the 85J, this branch runs from Sheppard-Yonge Stn to Don Mills Stn, and is totally separate from the other branches. While making it its own route, or at the very least, publicly posting 85J, would make the most sense, this is not what the TTC does. Westbound buses read '85' and eastbound '85A'. Why??? While it means all branches heading to Don Mills Station read '85A', does this really matter for most people? Definitely not. TTC has said the weird system allows them to simplify signage for the early morning trips that run along Sheppard the whole way to Sheppard-Yonge Station, but I feel a weird signage system for, what, two daily trips, is odd.

Although the sign says 85A, this could be an 85D!

The other route is the 36 Finch West. During most hours, service is split at Finch West Station. However, this is where the signage is peculiar. Like the 85, all branches running to Finch West Station say 36A. Buses heading to Finch say 36, whereas buses running to Humberwood reading 36B. Internally, through trips are 36J, but this is not posted anywhere. Why can't all service east of Finch West be the 36A, all service west of Finch West be the 36B, and when there are through trips, it be the 85C or something? It's quite odd.

No one does branching worse than YRT, however. YRT has a number of variants of their branches, but never marks any down as different. You must wait for the rollsign to cycle through to be sure you have the right bus. Take the 82 Valleymede. Below, I have listed all five service patterns.

• Elgin Mills--Commerce Valley
• Elgin Mills--Commerce Valley via Richmond Hill GO
• Commerce Valley--Elgin Mills via Richmond Green HS
• St Robert's to Elgin Mills
• Elgin Mills to St Robert's via Richmond Hill GO

Despite five distinct services being offered, there are no branches. YRT chooses to make information more difficult for customers to understand. While different letters could be used to distinguish services, YRT does not do this. In fact, the following YRT routes presently have at least one variant that is not properly signed:

• 2, 7, 14, 24, 26, 32, 50, 52, 77, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 88, 96, 105

This doesn't even consider that many services are still suspended due to the pandemic. This is absurd! Sure, there may only be a few trips daily that divert on some of these routes, but the public deserves clarity about routings. I want to add that I had no idea about the 83A Trench (a branch itself) having five daily trips via Dunlop. 

(An aside, but Ottawa and Montreal are far worse for this. Montreal has around twenty routes with branches, but only one has a distinct branch letter on the sign: 48X Perras via Ozias-Leduc).

Communication!

The last point about wayfinding is that when there are detours or service changes, these need to be properly communicated. Most agencies are good with service changes, but the TTC is not. The service changes coming October 9 were first posted about by a blogger on October 2! 

TTC also struggles with communicating about detours. Particularly downtown, there are often overlapping detours, and quickly changing conditions, but signage is not updated to match. The same blogger posted about this, showing what he calls 'notice pollution' at Broadview Station.

An example of TTC notice pollution. Broadview Station right beside the collector's booth. (1) pic.twitter.com/3HsqFG7qSc

— Steve Munro (@SwanBoatSteve) September 13, 2022

Steve has also written about the lack of clear information on the TTC website, which you can read here. It has gotten to the point where even veteran riders like myself have a tough time understanding current diversions. I find now I never take downtown routes, it's much easier and faster to grab a bike from Bike Share and be on my way, or just walk. I now work downtown once a week, and I bike to grab lunch, then walk to Queen's Park Station to catch the train to school.

Conclusion

Clearly, there are a number of outstanding issues to be resolved when it comes to wayfinding. All transit agencies in the Greater Toronto Area have their issues, and this isn't a specific call-out for any agency (I take pleasure in criticizing YRT, however). I hope that some of these issues get resolved as we push for regional transit.

Now, this is just the first part of three. Next part, coming next week hopefully, will look at issues with knowing where to actually get off.