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www.thestar.com

Toronto to consider new transit-priority measures on long stretches of King and Queen Streets

A new city report targets eight kilometres of King Street from Roncesvalles to the Don Valley Parkway, and the section of Queen running about 14 kilom...
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com


Transit-priority measures like those installed for the King Street pilot project could be coming to a longer section of King and be applied to Queen Street as well under the city’s 10-year plan to improve service on busy bus and streetcar routes.

In a report headed to Mayor John Tory’s executive committee next Wednesday, city transportation staff lay out plans to boost TTC service on 20 corridors across Toronto using initiatives like signal priority, reserved or dedicated transit lanes, and the removal or restriction of on-street parking.

The first half of the Surface Transit Network Plan, scheduled for 2021 to 2024, is estimated to cost $62 million.

According to the report, the city’s primary goal is to use Toronto’s road network to move the most people possible during busy periods. It notes that because transit vehicles carry more people than cars, giving priority to buses and streetcars “contributes significantly to achieving the most efficient utilization of available roadway space.”

The city has already begun installing dedicated bus lanes on the first corridor, Eglinton Avenue East, between Brimley Road and the campus of the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Jane Street, Steeles Avenue West, Finch Avenue East, and Dufferin Street are next in line to get bus lanes in the coming years.

In later stages, the city intends to explore transit-boosting measures on King and Queen that could mirror the traffic restrictions installed on a 2.6-kilometre stretch of King between Bathurst and Jarvis Streets in 2017.

That project started as a $1.5-million pilot and despite opposition from some local business owners council voted in 2019 to make it permanent after staff reported it had increased transit ridership on King by 17 per cent.

In the new report, transportation staff write that given the success of that project, the city should explore “further extensions of transit priority along King” and examine “similar applications of transit priority on other streetcar corridors such as Queen.”

The section of King staff are targeting for new measures stretches nearly eight kilometres from Roncesvalles Avenue to the Don Valley Parkway, and the section of Queen runs about 14 kilometres from Roncesvalles to Victoria Park Avenue.

Exactly which measures would be installed on Queen, King, and other streets would be determined through further study. Detailed design for both Queen and King is scheduled for 2027, and installation for 2028.

Corridors scheduled to receive transit priority measures before then include Lawrence Avenue East, Finch Avenue West, Sheppard Avenue, Don Mills Road-Don Mills Boulevard-Pape Avenue, Victoria Park, and Keele Street.

David Cooper, a Toronto-based transit consultant with the firm Leading Mobility, praised the plan. “The city is so reliant on surface transit and it needs to start being an area of focus for investment,” he said.

The pandemic has caused a huge drop in TTC demand but ridership on bus and streetcar routes has remained closer to pre-COVID levels than that of the subway network.

Cooper said not only would surface transit improvements be relatively cheap to implement, but they would save the TTC money by allowing the agency to run service more efficiently. That will be important because as TTC is expected to face long-term revenue struggles as a result of COVID-19.

Improving surface routes is “one of the most cost-effective ways of building out transit in the city,” Cooper said.

Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of transit advocacy group TTCriders, said the city should move faster. She noted that while the TTC board voted in July to target 2021 for the implementation of bus lanes on Steeles, Finch, and Dufferin, the city report has them scheduled for 2023 or later.

“Transit priority lanes are supposed to be part of an urgent pandemic response. TTCriders is calling on city council to do everything possible to increase transit capacity and improve rider safety,” she said.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said the agency supports the city proposal, which builds on the TTC’s own service plans. “Anything that allows us to improve service to our customers is welcome,” he said.

Projects like the King pilot have faced opposition because they restrict car movement. Matt Davis, manager of capital projects for the transportation department, said the city will study each corridor to ensure any changes “consider the safe and efficient movement needs of all modes of transportation.”
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When they moved the stops they left the trash behind. It's still there today several months later.
IMG_20201229_134846.jpg

Can this City do any job at all not half-assed?
 
Jonny5 said:
When they moved the stops they left the trash behind. It's still there today several months later. View attachment 291511
Can this City do any job at all not half-assed?
Click to expand...

They're the same powers-that-be who clean up the weeds growing out of the sidewalks. They let nature take care of it.
 
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Is there a timeline for the implementation of the transit priority to the full length of King?
 
Towered said:
Is there a timeline for the implementation of the transit priority to the full length of King?
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I don't think there are plans for expanding the 'transit mall' to all of King, most of the other sections do not have nearby alternatives. I have only heard that the 'transit mall' area might be extended a block or two east to Sherbourne. Transit priority is something that will possibly be expanded further east and west but maybe not until those sections see replacement track laid - i.e. not before 2023-2025. Others may have more definite info.
 
DSC said:
I don't think there are plans for expanding the 'transit mall' to all of King, most of the other sections do not have nearby alternatives. I have only heard that the 'transit mall' area might be extended a block or two east to Sherbourne. Transit priority is something that will possibly be expanded further east and west but maybe not until those sections see replacement track laid - i.e. not before 2023-2025. Others may have more definite info.
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I don't know about west of Bathurst, but east of Jarvis there was a dramatic drop in traffic because of the ROW. It's at a point where really no further east extension is needed since all the through traffic moved to Richmond and Front/Wellington to go in to downtown from the east. The realignment of the Bayview Extenstion terminus a few blocks south helped with this too.
 
Jonny5 said:
I don't know about west of Bathurst, but east of Jarvis there was a dramatic drop in traffic because of the ROW. It's at a point where really no further east extension is needed since all the through traffic moved to Richmond and Front/Wellington to go in to downtown from the east. The realignment of the Bayview Extenstion terminus helped with this.
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True, so why not formalise it?
 
Jonny5 said:
When they moved the stops they left the trash behind. It's still there today several months later. View attachment 291511
Can this City do any job at all not half-assed?
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Have you called or tweeted 311 about this? Just curious? If not, I will.
 
JasonParis said:
Have you called or tweeted 311 about this? Just curious? If not, I will.
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I was thinking about it next time I am in the area to see if it's still there, but that won't be until late next week. If you want to take care of it now, go for it! I have no idea if it has since been cleaned up, but I doubt it since it's been months.
 
Jonny5 said:
When they moved the stops they left the trash behind. It's still there today several months later. View attachment 291511
Can this City do any job at all not half-assed?
Click to expand...
So this has been "cleaned up"...
Someone picked up all the loose yellow strips off the road and dropped them off to the side in a pile on top of the barrier, where they are still sitting, and probably going to fall off on the first big gust of wind. The remainder of them are still there affixed to the road. I wonder if by 2021 will end with them all still there?
 
Jonny5 said:
So this has been "cleaned up"...
Someone picked up all the loose yellow strips off the road and dropped them off to the side in a pile on top of the barrier, where they are still sitting, and probably going to fall off on the first big gust of wind. The remainder of them are still there affixed to the road. I wonder if by 2021 will end with them all still there?
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Just throw them in the middle of University. The city will be by to pick em up within the half hour.
 
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