Toronto Transit Commission route 39 'Finch East'

39 Finch East and 139 Finch-Don Mills are two routes operated by the Toronto Transit Commission in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The two are grouped together for accounting purposes because they share a significant portion of their route.

Route Details
39 Finch East services Finch Avenue East. There is one western terminal, which is Finch Station. Eastern terminals include Seneca College for 39 and 39F, McCowan Road for 39A and 39C, Birchmount Road for 39B, and Neilson Road for 39D and 39E. Branches 39, 39A, 39B, and express branches 39C, 39E and 39F only operate during rush hours on weekdays.

With 44,600 daily passengers using this route, it is the busiest bus route in Toronto. This is backed up by the fact that 59 buses provide rush hour service, the most of any route.

History

 * March 30, 1974 - Coincident with the opening of the Yonge subway extension to Finch, route 39 Finch East established, replacing the portion of the 36 Finch bus operating east of Yonge Street. Buses run from Finch station via Finch to the existing loop at Seneca College, seven days a week, eighteen hours a day. Operated by Eglinton Division.
 * November 23, 1975 - Service extended east of Seneca College along Finch to McCowan Avenue, looping north an east on Sandhurst Circle West and south on McCowan. Additional trips continue to run to Seneca College during the daytime, weekdays only.
 * November 26, 1979 - Rush hour service extended from Seneca College to Birchmount, looping via north on Bridletown Circle, east on L’Amoreaux and south on Birchmount. Additional midday service continues to turn back at Seneca College.
 * February 25, 1980 - Express service established between Finch station and McCowan. Buses on the express branch operate local both ways between Warden and McCowan and operate express between Finch station and Warden, stopping only at Seneca College. Although shown as 39C here, this branch designation was not initially used, and was introduced in the fall of 1980 (no later than November 24). Until then, the 39A sign was displayed with a dash card saying “FINCH EAST EXPRESS”. In addition, a metal pennant over the front door notified passengers that their bus was not a local. Express buses run every 20 minutes during Monday-Friday rush hours leaving Finch Station between 6:20 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. and between 3:00 p.m. and 5:20 p.m. From McCowan buses leave every 20 minutes from 6:50 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 3:10 p.m. to 5:50 p.m.
 * May 12, 1980 - 39C Express buses now stop both ways at Don Mills.
 * August 31, 1980 - McCowan loop revised, with buses looping via north on McCowan and then east and south on Sandhurst Circle. Morning rush hour short turn service added to Seneca College branch.
 * January 5, 1981 (Or earlier) - Afternoon rush hour short turn service added to Seneca College.
 * July 4, 1981 (Or earlier) - Additional Saturday service added to Seneca College.
 * January 4, 1982 - Additional Monday-to-Friday daytime service extended east of McCowan via Finch to Neilson, looping via south on Neilson, east on Crow Trail and north on Baldoon.
 * February 7, 1982 - Saturday short turn service to Seneca College discontinued. All buses run through to McCowan.
 * January 3, 1983 - Afternoon rush hour service to Seneca College discontinued.
 * July 21, 1983 - Moved to the newly-opened Malvern Division.
 * March 17, 1984 - Saturday daytime service extended to Neilson.
 * September 1, 1985 - Midday short turn service extended from Seneca College to Birchmount. Saturday service to Neilson discontinued.
 * November 30, 1985 - Saturday service to Neilson reinstated.
 * November 23, 1987 - Evening and Sunday service to Neilson introduced.
 * September 4, 1988 -On or about this date, Orion III/Ikarus 286 articulated buses begin operation on this route. It is difficult to determine how much service was initially provided by these higher capacity buses, but by February 17, 1991, they operated on all off-peak trips and on the 39C and 39E branches during peak periods.
 * September 1989 (Or as early as June 1989) - Morning rush hour trips to Seneca College discontinued. Monday through Friday midday trips to Birchmount and McCowan discontinued, with all trips operating to Neilson. Monday through Friday evening trips to McCowan discontinued, with all trips running through to Neilson.
 * February 18, 1990 - A new rush hour express service introduced between Finch station and the existing loop at Neilson. Buses operate express both ways between Finch station and Warden, stopping only at Don Mills an Victoria Park. It is not known when 39C “McCowan Express” buses stopped using the stop at Seneca College, or started using the stop at Victoria Park instead. By this date, however, no express buses are stopping at Seneca College.
 * March 29, 1992 - “Several weeks” before this date, additional morning peak trips are operating between Seneca College and Finch station again. Buses operate local on westbound trips and express on eastbound trips. Articulated buses are now operating on all off-peak trips, with a mix of articulated buses and regular buses used during peak periods.
 * March 29, 1992 - Midday short turn service to McCowan added.
 * February 13, 1994 - Sunday late evening trips to McCowan discontinued, with all buses running through to Neilson.
 * September 3, 1995 - Articulated buses withdrawn during off-peak hours and replaced with regular 40-foot buses. Articulate buses continue to operate on the 39C and 39E peak period express branches.
 * February 19, 1996 (Or, as early as October 1995) - Morning rush hour service to Birchmount discontinued.
 * July 28, 1996 - Became an accessible route, with most off-peak trips and most local peak trips operated by new lift-equipped Orion V buses. Orion Ikarus articulated buses continue to operate on the 39C and 39E branches during peak periods, while older, non-accessible buses are still operated on some peak trips, Monday through Friday.
 * June 15, 1997 - Saturday trips to McCowan between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. are run through to Neilson.
 * January 5, 1998 - All eastbound morning rush-hour 39A trips are run as 39C Express buses
 * February 15, 1998 - During the afternoon rush hours, express buses make an additional westbound stop at Seneca College.
 * January 4, 1999 - During the peak periods, all trips to Neilson operated as 39E Express, using articulated buses. As 39D “Neilson local” buses no longer operate during peak periods, this means there is no accessible service between McCowan and Neilson during rush hours. During the midday hours, Monday through Friday, service on the McCowan short turn branch is cancelled with all buses operating to Neilson. Eastbound express buses now make a stop at Seneca College during the morning rush hours. Within a couple of years, Seneca College was served by express buses in both directions, during both morning and afternoon peak periods.
 * September 3, 2000 - Articulated buses retired. These high-capacity vehicles that operated on the 39E express branch are replaced by a greater number of regular sized non-accessible buses. Accessible lift-equipped buses continue to provide most other service Mondays through Fridays and all service on weekends.
 * February 18, 2002 - Alternate peak period express buses run eastbound to McCowan only, reintroducing the 39C “McCowan Express” branch.
 * November 24, 2002 - Service on the 139 Finch East (later became 139 Finch-Don Mills) express route begins, connecting Finch Avenue east of the Don Valley Parkway with the Sheppard subway at Don Mills station. Rush hour service levels on 39 Finch East are reduced to compensate.
 * January 5, 2003 - A mix of accessible lift-equipped buses and older non-accessible buses are use on all branches, Monday through Friday. This restores accessible service to the section of the route east of McCowan Avenue, that was withdrawn January 1999.
 * August 31, 2003 - All trips at all times are now scheduled to use accessible lift-equipped buses.
 * September 3, 2006 - All weekend trips that had operated to McCowan (Saturday early morning and Sundays until 9 p.m.) are now extended through to Neilson, leaving only rush hour buses to operate on the 39A McCowan branch.
 * May 26, 2008 - Became a bike rack route.
 * January 4, 2009 - Extended to Old Finch as the 39G branch.

Branches
This route has eight branches:
 * 39 Finch Station - Seneca College
 * 39A Finch Station - McCowan
 * 39B Finch Station - Birchmount
 * 39C Finch Station - McCowan Express
 * 39D Finch Station - Neilson
 * 39E Finch Station - Neilson Express
 * 39F Finch Station - Seneca College Express
 * 39G Finch Station - Old Finch Express

Overnight Service
Overnight service is provided by 308 Finch East.

Vehicles
Buses that can appear on 39 Finch East include Orion V, Orion VII NG and Orion VII. Rarely, GM New Look may provide service.