City staff want King St. pilot extended until July 31

Thestar.com
December 11, 2018
Gilbert Ngabo

The city is looking at extending the King St. transit pilot -- initially planned for one year -- until the end of July.

Council is set to consider this week a recommendation from the city manager that the experiment continue until July 31, 2019.

Torontonians may be enjoying more summer days alongside the King St. pilot, as city staff is recommending the project along with its on-street patios and public art be extended until July 31, 2019.

The project that aims to improve streetcar service on the stretch of King St. between Bathurst and Jarvis Sts. was launched in November 2017 and was supposed to end on Dec. 31 this year.

The staff recommendation heading to council Thursday says the July extension will give council ample time to consider findings from a “comprehensive evaluation report” before deciding whether or not the project becomes permanent.

That report will be presented to the city’s executive committee and the TTC board in the first quarter of 2019.

Speaking to the Star last month, the city’s general manager of transportation Barbara Gray said staff wanted to collect a full year’s worth of data before recommending what should happen to the project. There can be a lag between when data is collected and when it’s processed, she said at the time.

On Monday, city spokesperson Eric Holmes said the extension will give staff time to implement the city’s decision on the project, whichever way council decides.

“If council were to choose, in the first quarter of 2019, that the pilot would not proceed beyond the pilot stage, the time frame of July 31 would allow for orderly dissolution of the project to ‘put the street back’ to the condition it was in before the pilot began,” he said.

Area Councillor Joe Cressy, one of the proponents of the project, said he doesn’t anticipate it will take until July for the final decision to be made.

“The King St. pilot has been an overwhelming success. More people are now riding a faster and more reliable streetcar,” he said. “I think we have the data now to make it permanent, however we waited decades to finally fix King St. and we can certainly wait a few more months before we make a final decision.”

Figures published by the city show average travel times in the pilot area were decreased by 3.4 minutes this past summer compared to before the pilot was launched. Streetcar ridership also increased by 11 per cent on weekdays, according to city data.

Cressy said there are clear areas for improvement on the project, such as how the street is designed and increasing the number of streetcars on the line since people are waiting “too long” for a streetcar.

“The longer we delay making this permanent, the longer we delay making those changes to improve it,” he said.

In the city’s recommendation going to council, the city manager also recommends keeping open the outdoor cafes and public installations that came along the pilot project in an effort to make that section more lively.