The King Street Transit Pilot between Bathurst Street and Jarvis Street aims to improve transit reliability, speed, and capacity. The two routes that run along King moved a combined 71,000 riders per day prior to the pilot. This is more riders than any other surface route, the Sheppard Subway, and the Scarborough RT.
King Street Pilot has great results for low costs. Let's keep it and make it better.
King Street Pilot has great results for low costs. Let's keep it and make it better.
The King Street Pilot launched on Sunday, November 12, 2017. So far, the pilot has shown great results: all-day weekday ridership has risen by 16%, with afternoon peak ridership up by as much as 27%, and morning peak by 25%, with streetcars so full they are bursting at the seams.
At a cost of only $1.5 million for the year, it is a very low cost transit initiative. The improved service from the transit priority is adding significant ridership to the system while making life easier for the growing number of downtown residents who take transit.
The City is considering expanding transit priority to other surface routes based on the results of the pilot. If the King Street Pilot is successful, it will prove that expanding transit priority to other parts of the city will provide a low cost, effective way of improving the 538 million TTC trips made each year.
Based on the massively positive results for such low costs seen so far, TTCriders demands that council:
- Keep the Pilot Alive: The pilot must stay in place with no exemptions for the full year to have a clear, honest picture of the benefits and impacts with proper data.
- Make the King Street pilot permanent: Continue with the King Street Pilot, with no new exemptions, into the permanent future.
- Remove taxi exemption: Eliminate the taxi exemption in the late night period to maintain full transit priority throughout the day.
- Extend route length: Provide transit priority on King well beyond the downtown core to the full length of the King 504 to further improve the reliability and travel times and better serve more riders, and include neighbourhoods like Liberty Village, Corktown Commons, St. Lawrence, and Parkdale.
- Expand transit surface priority: Expand transit priority to all high capacity / high use bus and streetcar routes throughout the city.
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Read analysis from TTCriders about what's being proposed in the TTC budget in 2026 and how to get involved! Members of the public can speak directly to City Councillors during budget hearings on January 20 and 21 at locations across Toronto.