Newly released data from the City of Toronto from May and June confirms that the King Street pilot is working!
The 504 streetcar is the busiest surface transit route in the city, with 72,000 riders per day before the pilot began. But we all know that the street wasn’t working for anyone - traffic congestion made it faster to walk than take transit, and overcrowding and unreliable travel times discouraged people from taking the streetcar to travel along King Street.
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.
This morning, TTCriders and coalition partners launched the King For All Coalition to support the King Street Pilot.
This post will be updated as new information becomes available.
Next Wednesday, the TTC Board will consider a proposal from the TTC Service Planning staff to introduce a new 514 Cherry streetcar. The goal is to provide more streetcar service for the busiest sections of King Street. We are supportive of this proposal, but we continue to advocate that King Street should be re-designed to prioritize streetcars over private automobiles.
The City Planning department has announced more details of its King Street Pilot project.
King Street is an area of high population density and activity; it should have exceptional transit service. We constantly hear from riders that the 504 King is terrible, due to the crowding for people lucky enough to get on, or the being left at the curb for those who are not.