King St. transit stops to nowhere

Torontosun.com
July 10, 2019
Antonella Artuso

If you see someone standing confused in a King Street transit shelter, it’s not the newest art installation to attract visitors to the streetcar-friendly roadway.

Instead, the City of Toronto hasn’t gotten around to removing eight retired transit stops.

One observer said it’s not unusual to see baffled tourists watch as a streetcar rolls past them and stops on the other side of the intersection.

City spokesman Hakeem Muhammad said Tuesday that no date has been set for the removal of the decommissioned transit shelters.

“City staff are currently scheduling the relocation of the shelters for this fall,” Muhammad said.

The unused King St. transit shelters are located eastbound at Peter, Bathurst, Bay, Yonge and John Sts. and at Spadina Ave. The other two are located on westbound lanes at Jarvis and Church Sts.

“City staff are still working through exactly what permanent shelters will be installed in the corridor, based on available space and other technical constraints,” Muhammad said. “All decommissioned shelters will have the glass replaced and be relocated to active transit stops --either on King St. or elsewhere in the city. The relocation of the shelters is being coordinated with other work in the corridor and elsewhere in the city.”

Toronto council voted in April to make the King St. pilot project permanent, preventing motorists from travelling straight through between Jarvis and Bathurst by forcing them to turn right at major intersections.

The project was launched in November 2017.

While the TTC reported improved travel times for streetcars, many business owners complained that customer traffic dropped way off, hurting their operations.