Toronto’s Infrastructure and Environment Committee will consider a report at its May 2, 2024 meeting which updates Council on the status of the King Street corridor.
A notable shortcoming in the report is the absence of a map showing locations of proposed or completed works, and how King Street relates to other nearby sites where roads have limited capacity or are completely blocked.
As previously reported, the City implemented new measures late in 2023 to resolve traffic gridlock at several intersections along the corridor between Bathurst and Jarvis streets. Many overlapping construction projects reduced road capacity and caused severe backlogs on King Street rendering transit service, especially eastbound, almost worthless. Charts later in this article update my previous reports on the situation and how travel times on King have returned to preconstruction levels.
Recently, new traffic signals have been installed at the King/Yonge and King/Church intersections where through movements by most traffic is prohibited. A constant red signal with green arrows for permitted turns is intended to make through movements a “red light running” offense, although the arrangement and signage confuse motorists. The intent is that the arrangement, together with red light traffic cameras, will deter motorists from driving straight through, although it remains to be seen how well this will work.
A complication is that “authorized vehicles” (i.e. licensed taxis) are allowed through between 10pm and 5am, but to the casual observer a car is a car is a car, especially when it is operating for a service like Uber as opposed to a branded taxi with company colours. When traffic agents are present to manage the intersections, motorists go where they are told, but at other times the signals are often ignored. Driving through a full red signal is not a behaviour that should be encouraged, especially out of frustration.
Travel times across the priority corridor dropped substantially after traffic agents prevented motorists from blocking intersections, and a further improvement is expected when work is complete on parallel streets related mainly to the 501 Queen diversion tracks for Ontario Line construction. Some eastbound traffic now attempting to use King will shift north to Adelaide.
The date for the 501 Queen shift to Richmond/Adelaide is not yet certain. However, track repairs are planned at King & Church in August, and it would make sense to have an alternate streetcar route across the core available by then. Whether it will be is quite another matter.
The effectiveness of these improvements is being monitored and, if successful, Transportation Services is proposing to implement similar changes at other locations along the King Street corridor. It is anticipated that these measures, if successful, may also mitigate the need for Traffic Agents at two or more locations.
Update Report at p. 4
In the short term, there is a budgetary issue because Toronto Police are providing direction and enforcement at some locations. This provides an incentive for technological solutions.
The City intends to purse automated enforcement, but current legislation only allows this for red light running, but not for entering and blocking an intersection because there is no space clear on the far side. “Blocking the box” cannot currently be charged against a vehicle owner, only against a driver. This must change to match red light enforcement where the owner is charged regardless of who is actually driving.
Also under consideration (and subject to the same legislative requirements) are offenses such as blocking bicycle and reserved transit lanes. (Note that there are no reserved transit lanes on King.)
What is painfully clear since the priority corridor was installed is that motorists will do whatever they damn well like unless there is enforcement. Toronto’s laissez-faire attitude undermines whatever bylaws Council might enact.
Since their installation, the curb lane pedestrian areas at stops have deteriorated. After a mid-2023 inspection, 180 missing or badly damaged yellow tactile mats and five bollards were replaced. Other needed work includes basic street cleaning, graffiti removal on barriers, pothole repair and repainting of pavement markings. These are to be addressed in 2024. Another annoyance not mentioned in the report is the relocation of stops without concurrent shifts in transit shelters and benches. The gradual decline of the pedestrian facilities on King tells its own story about the City’s real priorities.
A trial raised platform for passengers was installed at Peter Street and at Portland Street in 2019, although the latter was removed for adjacent construction activity. That platform will be “redeployed” elsewhere. Of the 20 stops along the corridor, some can accommodate platforms without any utility conflicts. Five-to-seven will be installed in fall 2024 (locations not yet named). The remaining stops require co-ordination with utilities for the effect of a platform on their access with the intent of installing these in 2025.
Some mid-block curb extensions for public realm improvements will be designed in 2024 and built in 2025. However, major work to reconfigure King Street is not planned until after 2030, presumably when the Ontario Line is open (or at least substantially complete) and its construction disruptions end. In the meantime, improvements will be made where possible in co-ordination with other construction in the area.
The bylaw governing the corridor will be amended to include the Billy Bishop Airport Shuttle as a service that is permitted to use King Street as a transit vehicle.
Travel Time Statistics
The charts below show the travel times between Jarvis and Bathurst from May 2023 to March 2024 subdivided by time of day and day of the week. Eastbound data is in the left column, westbound data in the right. (Some browsers might display this gallery as a single column with alternating eastbound and westbound images.) Click on any image to open the gallery.
Points to note:
- The delays to streetcars in fall 2023 are evident from about 3pm onward eastbound, and on bad days the effect does not disappear until after 8pm.
- There are some westbound delays, but they are evident only between 5 and 7pm.
- Many weeks show a daily variation with Wednesday having the longest travel times, although the variation from this effect s tiny compared to the effects of uncontrolled congestion.
- Late evening data show the effect of congestion in the entertainment district primarily on Fridays.
- Gaps in the data correspond to periods when streetcars did not operate the full distance from Bathurst to Jarvis for various reasons, notably water main breaks.
For a long view of experience on King Street, here are charts of travel times in the 5-6pm hour from 2016 to present. Points to note:
- The green bar marks the onset of the priority scheme. It was implemented in stages over several days and so the effect does not occur all at once.
- After the scheme was in place, the variation in travel times went down with a few spikes for days of particular congestion, often sporting events.
- The travel times drop further in early 2020 with the lockdown and work-from-home of the covid era.
- By Spring 2023, the travel times, especially eastbound, have much the same pattern as before the priority scheme was implemented, and became even worse late in the year until the traffic agents were deployed.
Steve Munro 
“A complication is that “authorized vehicles” (i.e. licensed taxis) are allowed through between 10pm and 5am, but to the casual observer a car is a car is a car.”
Another complication is that Toronto’s Transportation Services (and the TTC executive and board members) sees a streetcar (or bus) as another “car”. They ignore the 100+ inside a streetcar (or the 40+ inside a bus). Ditto to the Toronto Police Service and the single-occupant motorists.
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I live at the intersection of King and Church. The constant blaring of the streetcar horns has been unbearable since the installation of the signals for streetcars. Vehicles stay in the centre lanes with the intention of going straight through the intersection or turning left thereby blocking streetcars that have a green light. Suggest repainting yellow striped zone and white right turn arrows on road surface plus more prominent signage in advance of intersection. Current signage is inadequate and only visible on reaching the intersection.
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Steve, your second paragraph points to my realization that there is a different person in charge of every street in Toronto. That is why there is zero coordination regarding construction. For example, the City blocked Adelaide at the same time as they blocked University and Queen. I was leaving a concert at RTH (with you!) and chose to try north instead of south. Wrong! But that was the night I learned Adelaide was closed. You think it’s hard to keep up on the TTC changes?! It’s hard to know as a car driver which lanes are open and which are suddenly closed.
In my former commute to work I went along Eastern because Lakeshore was so bollocked up. Then they closed Front street! Yup. Right before Jarvis. Yet again I chose poorly. Don’t go south. Nope. You get stuck in a loop. Must go north. I changed jobs because the commute from the east end to the Gardiner Jarvis Street ramp was so exhausting. And I communicated – often – with the man overseeing Lakeshore. So many times the road lines disappeared because of all the trucks and shifting lanes. There it went from 3 lanes to 2 or 1.
There seems to be no one at the helm. And that was long before Olivia Chow took over. What a hard problem to fix!
No one in Toronto management seems concerned about the fact that Toronto has the 3rd worst traffic in the world. My guess is we’re at 2nd now.
And sorry to say, but a live police officer works better than lights because there is a fear of repercussion if disobeying a police officer. Lights? When stuck in traffic? At a certain point, frustration rules.
Now, about those street cars who hold doors open or leave lights flashing when there is clearly no one getting on or off are also the cause of frustration – especially when there still is time to get through a light. Some drivers are respectful. Too many are not. They power trip by holding cars and bicycles back.
Glad you’re on all this, not just writing that the TTC is The Better Way. That’s about as old as Toronto Cops Are Tops. Only the old remember those slogans,. Right Steve?!!! 😉
You choose what you want to publish and what you don’t.Nothing is fine! But at least you know that people are reading. I am!
Cheers, Nancy
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Steve, it may feel obvious to believe that drivers are doing this on purpose out of frustration or malice, but I can tell you as someone who’s watched the King Street Pilot, then Transitway as a resident on King, walking the length of the street every day for 7 years, most drivers are just absolutely clueless to what they’re supposed (and not supposed) to do.
Enforcement would solve nothing, other than making the city a shit-ton of money from fines. Sure the city would be rich but the problem will continue. You see drivers lining up to go straight, right in front of cops, so they’re not doing this to run a red, they’re doing it because they don’t understand the street design.
While the signage is technically compliant with the Highway Traffic Act, the road design is not at all understandable from behind the wheel. Drivers don’t follow signs, they follow roads. This one continues ahead, so they do too.
I shared a video on Twitter of a truck driver who sat at the intersection for 5 or 6 light cycles, waiting to go straight. After the first couple of lights didn’t go his way (it never turns green), I felt pity and told him he couldn’t go straight. A cyclist came along and told him the same. He still sat there for 4 more light cycles trying to figure it out while streetcars (and a car) blared their horns for him to move.
The city needs to revert to an intuitive layout, the Alternating Loops option #1 studied for the King Street Pilot.
In this layout…
Even without looking at signage, this is clear to drivers. There’s no street ahead so they can’t drive ahead. The challenge will be keeping cars out of the transit ROW, but this could be achieved with red paint and flexiposts lining the centre lanes.
City Staff and bureaucrats have just been going through the motions, checking off boxes to comply with the HTA, even if that’s not actually solving the problem. It’s been 7 years, the city needs to come to terms that this layout does not work, will not work, and instead deploy the at the time Chief City Planner Keesmaat’s recommended solution: Alternating Loops with an exclusive transit ROW.
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Has Steve Munro explored the idea that fewer streetcar stops will improve service reliability?
Steve: My personal feeling about this is that far too much faith is placed in the idea. In effect it’s a planner’s simplistic reaction to complex route management problems.
First, removing stops will at best reduce travel time, but will probably not affect reliability. At the same time, it will make access time longer for people who used the former stops, so total travel time for riders is not a saving for everyone.
Second, if the stop is not at a traffic signal, there is a good chance that after a brief pause, the streetcar or bus will only manage to catch up to traffic and get caught at the next signal (likely a major stop) anyhow. Conversely there are traffic signals that are not at stops, and they may or may not have TSP enabled. These are at least as much of a nuisance to transit service as “extra” stops.
If a stop is not well used there is a good chance a streetcar will not actually have to stop there on every trip. However, with larger cars, the odds of someone wanting every stop on a route (including the officially “busy” ones) goes up, and streetcars have to stop everywhere.
The single largest contribution to service unreliability is poor headway management. This is not just a question of “on time” departures at terminals, but of maintaining reliable spacing along routes. There are also issues with some TTC metrics that fight service in the interest of getting good OTP stats. For example, if there is a car missing, those on either side leave the gap open rather than adjusting their position so that they stay “on time”. For riders, there is a big hole in service where one could be avoided, but of course adjusting headways on the fly would put those cars “off schedule”. No gold star for management.
Another factor for streetcars is that at intersections with special work, there is a permanent slow order system wide because the TTC fears derailments. This typically fouls up the speed of the streetcar relative to the “traffic wave” that is built into signal timings and can make a car miss the next green signal in sequence.
Finally, it is worth noting that when the red lanes went in on Eglinton/Kingston/Morningside, part of the time saving claimed for them actually came from removing stops. In fact the press conference was held at a stop that was later removed.
There are many factors at work, and too many simplistic answers.
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The usual story of City Council passing regulations with no thought as to how they will be enforced. (See empty homes, off-leash dogs, illegal AirBnBs, late-night noise, rush-hour parking restrictions, and – thankfully – alcohol in parks.). The Councillors feel good, but nothing changes.
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This is beating a dead horse I know but with the scope of the Ontario RT expanded to cover the majority of the east-west corridor between the Don River and the west end, not replacing the King car will be one of its biggest failures.
King Street is about 8 km in length and the Ontario RT runs for about 7 km west of the Don River.
People will be reminded each and every time new rules are created for the King transit mall in the vain hopes that it will surely work this time.
If you want to talk simplistic planner thinking, go have a look at the early relief line powerpoints. King Street didn’t really need to be considered for rapid transit because it already the transit lanes in the works they said. Yeah well… about that…
Steve: Don’t forget that the planners in their “wisdom” wanting a City Hall station on the Relief Line put it under Queen Street. Then DoFo got the bright idea of linking the Science Centre with Ontario Place. A lot of people have had their fingers in that pie.
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Again, many thanks to Steve for his most valuable hosting of this blog and fighting for public transit! He does not suffer fools, and I get called out now and then.
I have a few comments on the posts on this thread, and also on downtown traffic in general.
About Steve’s answer to TooManyStops, I want to deal with it first because my comment will be short. I am in total agreement with what Steve wrote about the TTC’s misguided attempt to increase their so-called efficiency by eliminating stops (!),
“… it will make access time longer for people who used the former stops, so total travel time for riders is not a saving for everyone. … If a stop is not well used there is a good chance a streetcar [or bus] will not actually have to stop there on every trip.”
(It never happened to me before, but one recent evening the rather full eastbound Wellesley bus did not have to stop at Church nor Jarvis, not even for red lights, and I was the only rider to disembark or embark at Sherbourne.)
In my humble opinion, the TTC needs to increase current surface service by 200% or so, to an absolute minimum 10 minute service on almost all routes 6 am to midnight. And, transit stops should be no more than 200m apart, plus or minus. Only reliable & dependable & convenient service will attract riders from their cars. Data shows transit’s loss of share of travel. Maybe rationalise loopy-loopy routes such as Lawrence West and Scarlet, but put in mini-buses or even Wheel-Trans to pick up on call & drop off passengers in areas to/from a central point or subway station. TTC’s efficiency should be measured from the client’s point of view.
As background, native Torontonian, old enough to remember streetcars with wood stoves. I reside in Caledon where there is hardly any public transit since all of the cutbacks, nor are there the medical services I need. Therefore I must travel and stay in Toronto, where, once I park my compact fuel-efficient car, I use only public transit and the occasional fully licensed and insured taxi (never Uber). So, I do drive within Toronto but out of absolute necessity. I cannot walk very far. I need the escalators at subway stations to always run up, not down, and I was stuck 10 minutes last week half-way up a flight of stairs at College because one escalator was out of service but the other one ran downwards. Not that anyone offered to help, either. Thank you very much.
About the King Street Transit Priority Corridor – Starting from the top, I like Edric shim’s idea of “repainting yellow striped zone and white right turn arrows on road surface plus more prominent signage in advance of intersection.” Add Pedro Marques’ “The car lane (curb lane) [should] always end in a dead end, with no road ahead to continue on.”
So, what I have seen, King Street and the traffic quagmire downtown in which TTC vehicles get stuck in, something more needs to be done. A lot of the King Street problems are overflow from adjacent streets.
Let us start with what is causing all the traffic congestion. I observe many vehicles, mostly SUVs but also delivery attempting to reach the westbound Gardiner Expressway, clogging southbound Parliament, Sherbourne, Jarvis, Yonge, Bay, York, Simcoe, Spadina, and westbound Queens Quay, Lakeshore, Front, Wellington, King, Richmond around after 2 pm to 9 pm . Single occupant vehicles. They leave work from downtown to go to Etobicoke, Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, etc. The drivers refuse to take the GO train. Many drivers are local Toronto, but also not using transit. Of course, once on the westbound Gardiner, it is still slow go all the way to Hamilton.
Although the Province will not allow the City to use tolls, the City has many other means to discourage auto use.
On King Street, white right turn arrows, dead ends for any vehicle other than TTC or bicycles (no exemption for taxis and Ubers). Barriers installed a 75m distance from the far intersection to hint that road is closed, you need to turn around. I would add – no left turns allowed ever anywhere Dundas and south 24/7. Parliament, Sherbourne, Jarvis, Yonge, Bay one-way north after 2 pm. A hefty parking space tax. All this to make driving and car ownership downtown inconvenient & costly – use transit. Look at some European cities what they have done.
Maybe the City planners will finally understand to put public transit as a social priority.
Steve: I was going to leave this comment “as is”, but decided to add a few key points. First, making major streets that have transit service on them, however poor it might be (Bay and Sherbourne for example), one way will run counter to making transit more convenient. There is also the tiny problem of parked cars facing the “wrong” way at the magic hour when southbound is not possible. Then there is the tiny matter of streetcar track on Parliament that is well used in both directions, albeit on an ad hoc basis when diversions or short turns are needed.
As for transit and road traffic downtown generally, I agree that more people should use transit to make trips that now queue for the Gardiner, but that requires a good transit presence at their destinations. You mention the absence of transit in Caledon, and that’s not the only place where transit is not a viable option for many. We could just put up big “go away” signs at the City borders, but that’s hardly the message we want to send. Also, having uploaded (soon) the highways to the Province, we have no ability to make structural changes. Indeed, we could find Ontario reviving highway expansion projects within the City and be powerless to stop them.
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Thanks for your comments, Steve. No, I never meant that northbound rules would apply also to TTC, bicycles, and emergency vehicles, nor all southbound lanes of traffic suddenly becoming northbound. Like King but not like Adelaide and Richmond which are one-way all the time. I do not really expect this to happen, so no use hammering out the details.
I mentioned Etobicoke, Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington as destinations (add Brampton), which are well-served by GO and local transit. Free parking at GO stations (if you can find a spot). So, no excuses! On the other hand, Caledon, Orangeville, and Alliston are poorly served by transit, and this causes traffic headaches in Bolton and the rest of Caledon. Somebody is killed on the local roads almost every day. There used to be a commuter train from downtown Toronto through Bolton to Orangeville, the Bolton-Orangeville rail has been abandoned for decades, but the ROW is still there. Recently, the rail line from Orangeville to Mississauga was shut down. I do not know the situation east of Toronto.
Yes, Doug Ford in charge of the Gardiner Expressway, what a scary thought!
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Ubers are not exempt, but the drivers sure act like they are.
Steve: Yes, they are terrible, and are not exempt.
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I must say that it’s pretty funny watching drivers try to figure out the new lights. They park in the left lane, waiting for their signal to turn green. It never does, and the streetcar drivers are leaning on their horns trying to get the drivers to move.
Saw one drive straight through the intersection after a few frustrating stop light cycles with people yelling at them to move – only to be pulled over by a cop waiting on the other side.
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Why is it general policy in most cities to grant more privileges to a single occupant in an Uber than other drivers? Why do we allow any straight traffic other than delivery vehicles? The entire road needs to be ripped up and changed to a transit/pedestrian mall. With the few vehicles that do need to access it feeling like they are not welcome to pass through.
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The real ‘fix’ for this east-west transit problem, would have been a faster Front St. transitway linked to the Queensway car beyond Bathurst St. just north of the tracks, but all of our governments/stripes favoured a big road project, until it was sidelined, and the transitway somewhat built over to be having far less chance of occurring, unless a massive construction project. We just don’t want to have transit compete with the car, not effectively, and maybe the OLine project should be paused, until Eglinton is up and running safely for three months, and get the APTA/UITP folks to review all of the planning and some of the options that are unexplored, and that is also including prying Metrolinx out from reporting only to the party in power, but to all of the House/taxpayers.
And cycling on King – though we have some options near – is a bit on the dangerous side due to margins of trackbeds being quite rough, along with the tracks being inherent hazards, and trucks parking fully in the curb lane to ensure a crossover of the tracks/hazards and hope some other vehicle isn’t behind you and anxious. So it’s not just the pedestrian realm that has a set of issues/neglect.
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hamish Wilson posted about “this east-west transit problem”. As I was observing yesterday the work in progress on the Ontario Line work at Osgoode Hall, I also thought about how OL unknowns were delaying planning and building the Waterfront West LRT connection between Exhibition Loop and Dufferin Loop, not even one kilometer distance. But OL is under construction. The west lawn of Osgoode Hall is now completely paved over but remaining trees are cordoned off, and the area where they cut down all the trees sits empty. Sad sight. Now that the Dufferin bridge is being completely rebuilt, would it make sense to make space for streetcar (LRT) tracks on the new bridge?
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I’m of the mind that linking the OSC with OP was the least of his concerns. Those real estate developers he met with in the backrooms on the other hand…
A betting man would say the snake-like alignment of the Ontario RT was conjured up to prop up private development endeavours. Any portions of the plan which end up helping any transit users is happy coincidence.
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