7 - Martin Grove study

This is not an official study, it is entirely independent.

York Region Transit (YRT) Route 7 - Martin Grove formerly ran along Highway 27, Martin Grove Road, and Rutherford Road between Woodbine Centre (a dead mall across the street from Woodbine Racetrack) and Al Palladini C.C. at Rutherford and Islington. This study determined the route needed to be truncated, modified, and service increased. YRT considered truncating the route at Humber College in 2024 (archived). They implemented a similar change (nearly the same as Option 3C below, rather than their initial proposal) in April 2025.

With the change now implemented, I returned to the route in September 2025 and found a significant ridership increase following the change. I expect to return again following the completion of Line 6 Finch West, which the route connects to.

Initial Study (January - April 2025)

This study's final report: here. YRT noted 90 trips are impacted on a typical weekday. Hoewver, this does not tell us how this impact compare to the passengers who would benefit from the increased service on the rest of the route once it is truncated, or how much truncation would be best.

For this reason, I collected ridership data on all trips on the route in January 2025. My sample of approximately 1200 passengers (myself excluded from all data) suggests:

-Three and a half percent of passengers travelling on the route to or from Steeles or further south use route 7 to the areas south of Humber College.
-On trips I took to Highway 7, around a fifth exclusively travelled north of Steeles. This suggsts the percentage of riders south of Humber College is a bit below three percent.
-There is never more than three passengers south of Humber College
-Trips are busy, often with 29 or more passengers, during the following periods:

-Mostly northbound between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. and between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
-Both ways between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. and throughout the afternoon peak period.

The high ridership suggests service improvements are warranted (the route presently does not run any more frequently than every 28 minutes at any time). I have not been able to find clear standards from YRT on when they improve service. Looking at the TTC's standard , they note that service improvements are warranted when at the busiest hour in the busiest direction, the bus regularly has more 95% of their crowding standard: 35 passengers on at once off-peak, and 51 during rush hours (Route 7 uses 12-metre buses).

My data indicates that this is the case northbound after 1 p.m.. Assuming a completely uniform timing for when passengers want to ride and no induced demand resulting from better service (both of which will make the bus busier, though to what degree I am not sure), midday service needs to be at least every 44 minutes. Thus, any routing alternative which does not improve service to at least this level will require an additional bus to be alloted. In all cases, ridership should be monitored following any routing change.

Preferred solution (February 14, 2025)

Based on the data I collected, Option 3D is the best alternative for the route, while Options 3C and 2 are good alternative choices. All routes remove the section south of Humber College from the route. This section of the route has very low ridership (only 3.5% of riders south of Steeles, likely 3% south of Highway 7). The positive impact of an improved frequency north of Humber College outweighs the inconvenience for passengers south of Humber College (who would need to walk to Highway 27 to take TTC route 927). Apart from passenger impacts, operations would likely be improved ending at the Humber College bus terminal as the bus will not be holding a lane of traffic and drivers would be more likely to access a washroom at Humber College (and I believe allowing drivers to enter the building for this purpose would be more likely than at Woodbine Centre).

The same can not be said about the section running from Humber College to Martin Grove and Finch, where several times more riders board the bus. For this reason, Option 4 is not a good choice either. This leaves us with options 2 and 3. The choice between them is mainly impacted by the locations of Etobicoke General Hospital and the Purolator warehouse. The Purolator warehouse is served by significantly more buses than the hospital is, causing little impact if service is removed. Thus, I believe option 3D is the best one. However, if demand is low from the hospital then Option 2 (which keeps the routing to the warehouse) or Option 3C (which simplifies the route for a slight frequency boost over Option 2) may be preferable.

The options examined are listed below.

Potential routing options (January 29, 2025)

As part of the study, I examined a few routing options for 7 - Martin Grove. All service frequencies listed below are under the assumption that no new buses are assigned to the route except as noted above and no changes to the scheduled duration of the unchanged sections of the route occur.

Option 1: Simplify routing south of Humber (Not preferred)

Instead of getting rid of service south of Humber College Terminal, this option reverts the routing to its pre-2020 state with a shorter route to Woodbine Centre. If I determine this option is the best, I will look into whether this area should get weekend service.
The service would operate at the following frequencies:

Early morning: Every 26 minutes
Morning rush hour: Every 32 minutes
Midday: Every 37 minutes (one bus added)
Afternoon rush hour: Every 32 or 33 minutes
Evening: Every 50 minutes

Option 2: Remove service south of Humber College (Alternative Option)

This option will remove service south of Humber College Terminal, but will allow for a modest service improvement through the reduced trip duration (YRT's figures are the same as mine, except during midday hours):

Early morning: Every 23 minutes
Morning rush hour: Every 28 minutes
Midday: Every 33 minutes (one bus added)
Afternoon rush hour: Every 28 minutes
Evening: Every 44 minutes

Option 3: Revise route to Humber College Terminal (Preferred / Alternative Options)

This set of options would remove the route diversion to Humber College Blvd. and Finch Ave. in one or both directions. This would potentially result in another minor service improvement and while 3B and 3D would connect with Etobicoke General Hospital but option 3 may reduce ridership west of Highway 27.

Alternative Option 3C service would operate approximately at the following levels:

Early morning: Every 22 minutes
Morning rush hour: Every 27 minutes
Midday: Every 31 or 32 minutes (one bus added)
Afternoon rush hour: Every 27 minutes
Evening: Every 42 minutes


The preferred option Option 3D's service would operate about the same as option 3C service, with headways at most a minute longer.

Option 4: Remove routing to Humber College Terminal (Not preferred)

This option would end the route at Finch Avenue, requiring passengers near Humber College to transfer to or from Line 6 Finch West to complete their journey. I avoided including an option ending at Steeles as a large percentage of riders board along Martin Grove south of Steeles, particularly at Finch and Albion. Option 4 should not be implemented before Line 6 opens and based on the ridership data I have collected I am doubtful it is the best option.

Option 4 service would operate approximately at the following levels:

Weekdays:
Early morning: Every 20 minutes
Morning rush hour: Every 25 minutes
Midday: Every 40 or 41 minutes
Afternoon rush hour: Every 24 or 25 minutes
Evening: Every 38 minutes


Weekends:
Saturday (day): Every 42 minutes
Saturday evening: Every 37 minutes
Sunday (day): Every 42 minutes

Last updated: 04/30/2025