The operation of Toronto’s streetcars is under considerable fire for what is portrayed as the slowest cars in the world. Ironically, the very slowest of Toronto’s routes operates on a private right-of-way: 510 Spadina. The usual excuses about mixed traffic operation do not apply here.

Recently, I published charts showing the speed of each streetcar line over various segments and by time of day. 510 Spadina did not show well, although the actual speeds vary from one place to another. This article looks more deeply at the data including a comparison with September 2019 before the pandemic. but after service was operating with the new Flexity cars.

There are three sets of charts in this article:

• Travel times by segment comparing June 2026 to September 2019 values. The 2026 numbers are the same as those in the previous article, but the 2019 numbers show how in almost every case travel times are longer today than seven years ago.
• Travel speeds over the route showing the relationship to stop locations and intersections, and contrasting 2019 values with 2026. This shows the areas with the greatest change in travel speeds.
• Locations of long dwell times by streetcars. Some of these are at stops, but many are at traffic signals. Some dwell times have grown since 2019 (not shown) in spite of recent transit priority changes at some locations.

The charts in this article are fairly dense, and readers should click on them to view details, preferably on a device larger than a phone.

I do not offer a “magic bullet” to deal with slow operation, but note that it occurs at many locations along the route. Some are at traffic signals, and some but definitely not all are at junctions.

This is the first of a series of articles that will review each route’s performance.

Updated Aug. 16 at 11:10pm: Dwell time charts and commentary have been added for off-peak periods.

Continue reading →