Surface vehicles
Platform updates
Current data status, recent improvements and important limits affecting the public civic evidence.
Last reviewedOctober 5, 2026Updated when something meaningful changes.
Current data status
Can the platform support its public stories right now?
Checking public sources...
Subway movement
Checking...
Reviewing station-level trip reports.Maps and named places
Available
Route, stop and OpenStreetMap context is available.Civic record
Checking...
Reviewing stored public observations.A source can be available while one measure is withheld. When a TTC batch is missing most route assignments, the platform shows Unavailable rather than presenting a low number as a service condition.
Recent improvements
What has changed
These notes describe changes people may notice while using the public civic product.
Transit equity is now presented as a screening approach
The public ward view now leads with one civic question, a citywide screening map and a focused ward selector. Numerical ratios and the full ward table have moved out of the public story, while a supporting guide explains five questions about who may be affected, barriers, access, possible burdens and the evidence still needed. The approach is adapted for transit from the City of Toronto’s Transportation Equity Lens for the 2021 Cycling Network Plan. The live ward comparison is labelled as one service-distribution signal, not an equity score or an official City or TTC assessment.
More reliable surface-vehicle reporting
Bus and streetcar views now account for TTC’s batched position updates. Pages refresh each minute and suppress route-level counts when the current batch is missing most route assignments.
Clearer evidence and methodology
The public guidance now separates observed information, estimates and community context using shorter explanations tied to the questions each civic story answers.
Stronger route and access stories
Route profiles, the last-24-hours route view and transit access screening now explain what the evidence can show without treating nearby places or population context as proof of service quality.
Known limitations
What to keep in mind
Public feeds can arrive in batches
A temporary source gap may make route assignments unavailable even while vehicle records continue to arrive.
Subway movement is estimated
Subway views use station-level trip reports. They are not precise train GPS locations or a physical fleet count.
Occupancy coverage varies
TTC’s published categories apply to buses, and not every bus supplies a usable occupancy report.
Named places may be incomplete
OpenStreetMap provides useful civic context, but a missing mapped place does not mean the place does not exist.
Upcoming work
What is being strengthened next
- Build a deeper historical record for route and service comparisons.
- Make data availability and evidence labels more consistent across civic stories.
- Improve how we explain temporary data source gaps.
Report a problem
Something does not look right?
Share the page, route or measure you were viewing and what you expected to see.