Toronto streetcar system loops
The single-ended streetcars require track loops in order to reverse direction.
[4] Some loops consist only of a single track and are blocked when occupied by a stopped streetcar.
They can exit the loop onto Roncesvalles Avenue northbound or southbound, with the latter leading onto the Queensway westbound or King or Queen eastbound.
Bingham is an anticlockwise loop northwest of Kingston Road and Victoria Park Avenue.
With the junction, the Distillery Loop can turn cars coming from either direction along King Street.
Northbound 47A Lansdowne buses use the loop as a regularly scheduled turnback point.
Exhibition is an anticlockwise loop northeast of Manitoba Drive and Nova Scotia Avenue.
There is a private right-of-way that runs along the north side of Manitoba from Fleet Street at Strachan Avenue to the loop.
From Fleet westbound, all streetcars continue west along the private right-of-way to the loop, where they cross north under the elevated Gardiner Expressway, run west, and cross back south under the expressway before returning eastbound to Fleet.
Fleet is anticlockwise loop on the south side of Fleet Street west of Bathurst Street, in the angle with Lake Shore Boulevard, and surrounding the Queen's Wharf Lighthouse.
Humber consists of two separate anticlockwise loops: one loop turns cars coming from the east via the Queensway; the other turns cars coming from the west via Lake Shore Boulevard.
There is also a double-track through-route that connects the Queensway to Lake Shore Boulevard, bypassing the two loops.
It is also a through stop for 501 Queen streetcars operating in late evening to Long Branch Loop and peak-period 508 Lake Shore streetcars operating between Long Branch Loop and Broadview Station.
Streetcars can turn from Lake Shore either eastbound or westbound onto Kipling northbound to enter the loop, and exit onto Kipling southbound, leading to Lake Shore eastbound.
Long Branch is an anticlockwise loop northwest of Lake Shore Boulevard West and Brown's Line.
The loop was originally in the open air, but was covered when the Village by the Grange mixed-use development was built over it in 1976.
Streetcars southbound on Spadina can turn eastbound on Queens Quay to reach the loop; streetcars eastbound or westbound on Queens Quay can turn northbound into the loop.
The loop was demolished in 2013 and finished rebuilt in 2015 as part of the Queens Quay Revitalization Project.
Streetcars enter the clockwise loop from Kingston Road East in either direction and exit eastbound only onto Queen Street.
There are on-street loops where a streetcar runs entirely in the street around one or two city blocks to reverse.
It is adjacent to the grand union at King Street and Spadina Avenue that complements Charlotte Loop in that one curve of the grand union is needed to reverse direction at the loop.
Any streetcar on King Street or Spadina Avenue approaching the grand union can reverse direction via the loop.
Streetcars need to turn east from York to Church Street to complete the loop.
[13] The loop was temporarily closed to streetcar service between early 2017 and late 2023 in order to accommodate utility work, track replacement and streetscape improvements.
In addition to the above on-street loops, there are other places in the system where a longer loop around city streets is possible because of the grid of streetcar lines in downtown Toronto supplemented by short sections of non-revenue trackage.
Switches at junctions allow streetcars to go around multiple blocks in order to reverse direction.
Route 503 Kingston Rd would then be extended west to serve Dufferin Gate Loop.
[22]: 55 In 2021, a new bridge was installed on a relocated Cherry Street to cross the Keating Channel onto Ookwemin Minising; it would be capable of carrying streetcars to a future Polson Loop.
[24] In 2019, the TTC proposed the construction of Riverside Loop on the east side of Broadview Avenue just north of Queen Street East, on lands owned by the TTC but used as a municipal Green-P parking lot.
An off-street loop was rejected as that would reduce the amount of land available for new residential development.
