Long Branch Loop

Long Branch Loop is the westernmost streetcar stop within the Toronto streetcar system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).^[1] It is located in the Long Branch neighbourhood in southwestern Toronto, close to the boundary with Mississauga. Long Branch Loop is the western terminus for four streetcar routes but is principally served by the 507 Long Branch route.^[2] Several TTC and MiWay bus routes terminate at the loop.

Long Branch Loop
General information
Location	Lake Shore Boulevard West, Toronto, Ontario Canada
Coordinates	43°35′30″N 79°32′40″W
Owned by	Toronto Transit Commission
Line(s)	501   507   508
Connections	TTC buses MiWay buses Long Branch GO Station
History
Opened	December 28, 1928
Rebuilt	1950s

Westbound streetcars enter the turning loop from Lake Shore Boulevard and turn counter-clockwise to face east on the north side of the platform. Bus bays are on the opposite south side of the platform with a shelter building in the centre, which once provided washrooms and a waiting room for the public.

History

The loop in 1935, showing the last radial car to go west to Port Credit

The Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company operated radial railway service along Lake Shore Boulevard originally as a single track line, with sidings to allow vehicles going in opposite directions to pass each other.^[3] The TTC double-tracked the route, and first operated a loop at Long Branch on December 28, 1928.^[4]

The TTC has used the loop as an interchange point with buses since at least 1935, when the widening of Lakeshore Road west of Etobicoke Creek required the removal of the single-track service to Port Credit. The TTC replaced the streetcar route with the 74 Port Credit bus route, which ran until 1976, when the service was taken over by the newly created Mississauga Transit.^[5] Other historic TTC bus routes that terminated at the Long Branch loop included 69 Queensway^[6] and 87 West Mall.

In 1967, Long Branch GO Station was opened on the adjacent Lakeshore West railway line; service is available as far west as Hamilton or east to the downtown Union Station hub.

On January 6, 1992, the TTC started the 508 Lake Shore rush-hour route running from Long Branch Loop to downtown Toronto via Lake Shore Boulevard, the Queensway and King Street.^[7]

The TTC operated a separate Long Branch line (which became route 507 Long Branch), running between Long Branch Loop and Humber Loop, until 1996, when that route was merged with the 501 Queen route.^[8] A 2012 National Post article described the extended 501 Queen as the longest streetcar line in North America.^[9]

In 2011, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a 14-minute semi-autobiographical short film entitled Long Branch.^[10] The film shows two strangers, who were about to share a one-night stand, have their plans fall apart as the distance to the Long Branch loop was too far, and they had too much time to talk to each other first. The filmmakers were a couple, and one member of the film-making couple lived at the Long Branch loop and said his partner routinely declined to come home with him because of the distance.

In early 2016, the 501 Queen route was split at Humber Loop requiring through-riders to change streetcars there. The section between Humber and Long Branch Loops was still branded as 501 Queen even though the section operated like the former 507 Long Branch. In late 2023, after a closure for construction, the section west of Humber Loop was reopened as 507 Long Branch.^[8]

Services

As of November 19, 2023^[update], the TTC streetcar and bus routes serving Long Branch Loop are:^[11][2]

Route	Destinations		Notes
501 Queen	EB	To Neville Park Loop	Late evening service only
507 Long Branch	EB	To Humber Loop	No late evening service
508 Lake Shore	EB	To Broadview station	Rush hours only
301 Queen	EB	To Neville Park Loop	Blue Night service replacing 501 streetcar
110A Islington South	NB	To Islington station	Bus via 30th Street and Horner Avenue
110B Islington South	NB	To Islington station	Bus via Brown's Line and Horner Avenue (rush hour service)
123B Sherway	NB	To Kipling station	Bus via Browns Line, Sherway Gardens, the East Mall and Shorncliffe
123C Sherway	NB	To Kipling station	Bus via Sherway Gardens and North Queen Street

MiWay (Mississauga) bus routes serving Long Branch Loop are:^[12]

Route	Destinations		Notes
5 Dixie	NB	To Lorimar Drive/Cardiff Boulevard	Near Derry Road, northwest of Toronto Pearson International Airport
23 Lakeshore	WB	To Clarkson GO Station

References

1. Bow, James (November 10, 2006). "Westerly Long Branch Loop". Transit Toronto. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2013. It is only important to note that tracks reached Etobicoke Creek and the present site of today's Long Branch Loop in 1895. It would be another thirty-three years before the loop would come into being. Long Branch Loop came into being in on December 8, 1928, when the TTC extended 'city' tracks from the Humber River along Lake Shore Boulevard to this site.
2. "Streetcar service returns on Lake Shore Boulevard West". Toronto Transit Commission. November 19, 2023. Archived from the original on November 14, 2023.
3. Filey, Mike (2008). "Toronto: The Way We Were". Dundurn Press. p. 194. ISBN 9781770703506. Retrieved July 14, 2013. In 1920 Toronto purchased this and other privately owned electric radial lines operating outside the city and turned their operations over to Ontario Hydro. Eventually, these lines became part of the recently organized Toronto Transportation Commission. The Commission's streetcar route along Lakeshore Road was soon double-tracked all the way west to the site of the present Long Branch loop, while the roadway itself was widened considerably.
4. "Wheels of Progress: A Story of the Development of Toronto and Its Public Transportation Services". Toronto Transit Commission. 1942. p. 115. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
5. Coulman, Pete (May 16, 2011). "74 Port Credit (1935–1976)". Transit Toronto. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2013. Due to highway widening, the PORT CREDIT radial car line was discontinued after the last trip on February 9. New PORT CREDIT bus route starts operating between Long Branch Loop via Lakeshore Road to Mississauga Road, wyeing and returning.
6. Coulman, Peter; Gryfe, Alan; Kay, Jeffrey (May 16, 2011). "69 Queensway (1947–1963)". Transit Toronto. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Service extended west on the Queensway and then south on Brown's Line to Long Branch loop.
7. Bow, James (October 29, 2023). "Route 508 – The Lake Shore Streetcar". Transit Toronto. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
8. Bow, James (October 29, 2023). "Route 507 - The Long Branch Streetcar (Resurrected)". Transit Toronto.
9. Farquharson, Vanessa (March 24, 2012). "Riding the 501: The longest streetcar route in North America". National Post. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. The loop here is slightly more interesting than its Neville and Humber counterparts — there's a colourful streetcar mural on a wall, a proper TTC sign that says Long Branch, washrooms and a Legion Hall nearby.
10. Kupferman, Steve (November 13, 2012). "Filmmakers Turn TTC Inconvenience into Fodder for Romance: A short film explores the bright side of a long, cold commute". The Torontoist. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2013. It's the story of Lynn, a young woman who tries to go home with a guy for a one-night stand, only to find out, after she's already hopped transit with him, that he lives in Long Branch, where subways fear to tread. The pair have no choice but to talk to each other during the agonizingly long ride. And talking, as Lynn points out repeatedly, is not what one-night stands are about.
11. "Routes". Toronto Transit Commission. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
12. "Route maps". Toronto Transit Commission. January 29, 2020. Retrieved November 22, 2023.

External links

• Media related to Long Branch Loop at Wikimedia Commons