TTC Service Pulse
Trust & Transparency

Where The Data Comes From

This page explains the information behind TTC Service Pulse in everyday language: what the model reads, what it keeps, what it leaves out, and what it estimates.

1 Public Information

The model starts with public transit and city information, such as vehicle locations, ward boundaries, stops, route shapes, population, and TTC statistics.

2 Site Files And Live Updates

Some information is stored with the site, like ward boundaries. Other information is fetched live, like current bus and streetcar locations.

3 Keeping The Useful Records

The model ignores old vehicle records and focuses on buses and streetcars that were seen recently.

4 Putting Vehicles Into Wards

The model checks where each visible vehicle is on the map and places it inside a Toronto ward.

5 Showing The Results

The model turns that information into plain signals, such as wards to monitor, equity score, service balance, and Toronto Moves estimates.

Live TTC Vehicle Feed

The model reads the latest public TTC vehicle locations. The update time shown in TTC Service Pulse tells you when that live information was last refreshed.

Map And Reference Files

The model also uses files that do not change as often, such as ward boundaries, stops, route shapes, and population information.

What The Model Does With The Data

  • Keeps recent bus and streetcar records.
  • Leaves out old vehicle records.
  • Places each visible vehicle into a ward.
  • Estimates how much carrying space those vehicles represent.
  • Compares visible service with likely community need.

How Often It Updates

Live pages refresh automatically and can also be refreshed manually. TTC Service Pulse also updates its saved offline files when a new version is released.

Known Limits

Public live feeds can be delayed or incomplete. The model also does not know exact passenger counts, every crowding condition, or official TTC planning decisions.

That is why this page separates what the model can directly see from what it estimates. The goal is to make the signal understandable and honest.