This isn't terribly surprising since the TTC was ordered to cut its budget by 10 per cent, and the commission (under public pressure) ruled out cutting any bus lines outright. But still: the TTC has released a list of bus and streetcar lines that will see service reductions after TTCRiders, an group advocating for expanded service, leaked the list. From the Globe and Mail:

Passengers on 56 bus routes can expect less frequent rush hour service starting Jan. 8. Off peak service will be cut on 30 bus routes and six streetcar lines. The money-saving measures will hit already crowded routes such as the Queen and Spadina streetcars and buses on Finch Ave West, Don Mills and Dufferin.

At the same time, service will increase on 20 bus routes and the Bathurst streetcar because of increasing ridership numbers, a spokesman for the TTC said.

All the changes reflect a return to the transit commissions former standards for service and crowding and will be evaluated every six weeks. No changes are planned for subway service.

Each change is theoretically pretty small. For example, the Dufferin bus (one of the city's most crowded bus routes) will go from a bus every 2 minutes and 37 seconds to one every 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Of course, as many bus riders will tell you, the schedule is already pretty theoretical. It's possible these routes will feel more pain than the numbers suggest.

It's also not possible to call these "efficiencies". Previous rounds of cuts that closed down late night service on some lines could at least be justified as saving money as those lines weren't heavily used. Cuts to bus routes such as Dufferin and Finch West, however, are going to be noticed by a lot of people.

Also: along Finch West, this marks another step away from the city's promise to build better transit. The street that was originally promised an LRT under Transit City has been told by Rob Ford to expect "enhanced bus service" (the transit map outside Ford's office lists Finch West as the same priority as Sheppard and Eglinton), but for the foreseeable future it looks like the exact opposite.

Blog photo by Tsar Kasim via Flickr.