This article is an update to King Street Travel Times: May-November 2023 incorporating data for December 2023. The charts here show the variation on a day-to-day basis for selected hours of service including the morning peak 8-9am, midday 1-2pm, and hourly from 3pm to 11pm.

Items of note:

• The problems in late 2023 were predominantly eastbound caused by a combination of auto traffic entering the King Street corridor and filling all available capacity, and by delays eastbound at Church for TTC vehicles making left turns on diversion routes.
• There are early signs of this problem in the hour from 1 to 2pm, but it worsens dramatically from 3pm onward and travel times do not settle down to normal values until after 7pm.
  • This shows the need for traffic management over an extended period, not just for a short “peak within the peak” interval.
  • The problem receded somewhat in December with the implementation of traffic wardens, but various construction projects, some unplanned, also affected the street.
• The day-to-day variation in travel times, and by extension in the amount of competing traffic, generally peaks on Wednesday.
  • This was already evident in Spring and Summer data indicating a problem brewing for later in the year as construction affected parallel roads.
  • The peaking within the week, and the different behaviour by time-of-day and direction show the folly of citing “average” values. By extension, the quality of service varied substantially depending on the level of congestion, and this affected entire routes, not just the downtown portion.
• There is a regular increase in travel times in the evening, notably on Fridays, corresponding to the busy day in the Entertainment District. This is not as severe as the peak period delay eastbound, but it is a quite regular occurrence.

When the January data are available, I will update these charts to show how consistently the December improvements have survived past the holidays and without major construction works on Adelaide Street.

In these charts, each group of columns shows one week’s data for regular business days. Where there is a holiday, or where service diversions meant that no cars ran between Bathurst and Jarvis, the column is blank. The two gaps in October and December correspond to water main repair work on King east of Jarvis. Some days also show no data in early September due to TIFF diversions.