502-Downtowner

The 502-Downtowner route starts at Bingham Loop at Victoria Park and Kingston Road, travels south and west along Kingston Rd. to Queen, and along Queen to McCaul St. downtown. It loops in an offstreet loop on McCaul St. a few hundred feet north of Queen. The facade of a Chicago trolley is part of the diner that faces the street from the loop. Mainly the Downtowner car is used to boost service on the Eastern part of the 501-Queen route as well as providing service to the residential neighborhood along Kingston Rd.

Unfortunately, the service is generally very poor. Cars run every 12-15 minutes in rush hour and 20 minutes middays. There is no evening or weekend service. The Kingston Rd. part of the route is served by buses at other times, while the 501 cars pick up the slack on Queen. When the cars do run, the route is subject to delays and bunching that occurs on Queen St.

From a railfan perspective, McCaul and Bingham loops are quite nice and there are some nice spots on Queen street. See the 501-Queen page for a description of the Queen-Coxwell loop.