Updated January 31, 2017 at 12:20 pm:
Additional charts:
- Saturday vs Sunday travel speeds
- Detailed bus and streetcar speeds
- Terminal layover times
As part of its TOCore studies, the City of Toronto is contemplating changes to King Street to alter the way it serves many users: cyclists, pedestrians, cars, taxis, delivery vehicles and, of course, transit. Recent media coverage latched on to a scheme to remove at least private automobiles from the street completely. This is only one option, but the focus on the “no cars” scheme, probably the most extreme of possibilities, leads to a polarized debate, hardly the way to launch into a proper study.
The primary beneficiary of a “new” King Street is supposed to be the transit service, but a vital part of any proposals and analysis is the understanding of just how the street and its transit work today.
Recent articles related to this post contain background information that I will only touch on briefly here:
- Travel Times on Route 504 King
- How Much Service Actually Runs on King Street (2)
- How Much Service Actually Runs on King Street
- 504 King: Did Eliminating Car Stops Make Any Difference?
- King Street Service Update: June 2016
- Does More Running Time Improve Service?
The basic premise behind improving transit on King is that with less traffic in the way, streetcars (and buses) on the route will move faster, and this will allow better service to be provided without additional resources (vehicles, operators) that the TTC does not have, nor have budget headroom to operate even if they were available.
This sounds good, but it presumes that a large portion of the route is mired in traffic congestion throughout at least the peak periods, and, therefore, there are substantial “efficiencies” to be had by speeding up the service.
Steve Munro 