You can certainly take that position. There are some challenges with that though, ranging from congestion on Bay to simply getting people who are displaced out of the subway to walk a block away to get the bus.
Can these be addressed? Sure, but City staff will rightly talk to you about scope creep and budgetary impacts.
You want transit lanes on Bay? Okay, but there's a City Hall parking garage access, TEC parking and loading dock access, Hotel drop off access, and ROCP condo access.
You want buses to divert from Yonge along a Queen Street that's complete closed for the next several years by Ontario Line construction? No...you want them to use Richmond where the Queen Streetcars are diverted to?
No King........hmmm
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You want them to come back along Gerrard? A congested, single lane w/hotel pickup/drop off, and the College Park parking and loading docks?
No, College... ..where all left turns onto Yonge are currently banned? Further, left hand turning buses would block the 506 streetcar, in both directions (SB onto Bay as well)
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You see how challenging it is............how much money it would cost to address.
I'm not opposed, just so we're clear.........except that it won't happen, anytime soon. The Yonge project as it is, is not fully funded in the budget, its about 100M short.
Diverting buses to Bay involves major changes to Bay and whichever E-W streets you used to connect back to Yonge. Its a year worth of study if you're determined, and a low end budget of 20M (No removing the City Hall accesses, but closing them and making the internal garage adjustments required; etc etc.)
The expensive version is so much more.
Not an excuse, a reality. We keep making the perfect the enemy of the good, lets just get Yonge narrowed already, and do it properly.
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