King Street (Streetcar Transit Priority)

[TOareaFan]

It took me an hour last week to get from Sherbourne to Bathurst at 5PM. Surely this will no longer happen.

Yeah, in rush hour it can be intolerable the length of time it takes (my experience is usually on WB streetcars around 5:30 pm in summer heading over to Liberty Village for soccer games).......even if the average trip is 5 minutes shorter that is a huge time saving considering how many people use the King car.

 

[steveintoronto]

It took me an hour last week to get from Sherbourne to Bathurst at 5PM. Surely this will no longer happen.

Yeah, in rush hour it can be intolerable the length of time it takes (my experience is usually on WB streetcars around 5:30 pm in summer heading over to Liberty Village for soccer games).......even if the average trip is 5 minutes shorter that is a huge time saving considering how many people use the King car.

I may have been a tad pessimistic on the time saved, albeit there is no hard figure that I can find, but it is misleading to state time saving alone. I was disappointed to read the limited time saved (@ Steve Munro?) but it was pointed out that there's a psychology to continuous movement.

From 'closer to home':

An 11 minute reduction would be an equivalent service boost to adding an extra 3 streetcars per hour per direction to the route. Unlike simply adding more streetcars however, this service boost would come with no additional operational costs associated (beyond the marginal difference in electricity consumed). It's by far the most operationally cost-effective way to boost service levels.

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2017/01/king-street-pilot-study-push-car-free-corridor

It would be interesting to read what figures other readers have seen.

Intuitively, if this works the way it should (and the devil is in the details, as many have pointed out) time saved should be a lot greater than this. One of the points Munro makes is that the corridor of discussion is at the mercy of the ends feeding it that stymies an over-all improvement, which leads me to wonder if further emphasis on the 514 or a short-turned 504 is in order?

One has to wonder if a Queen car routed along the King Corridor at some time in the near future from King/Queen to King/Queensway and back onto the present Queen alignment might be advantageous, especially in lieu of redirected motor vehicle traffic onto Queen from King.

 

[innsertnamehere]

My commute in the evenings on the streetcar from Strachan to Church typically takes about 40 minutes. If this could get it down to 30 minutes, it would be huge. I've done that tripin the early morning (6am) when there is no traffic in less than 20 minutes, which really shows what dedicated lanes could do.

 

[steveintoronto]

My commute in the evenings on the streetcar from Strachan to Church typically takes about 40 minutes. If this could get it down to 30 minutes, it would be huge. I've done that tripin the early morning (6am) when there is no traffic in less than 20 minutes, which really shows what dedicated lanes could do.

Yeah, that sounds about right, but instances like @Edward Skira happen far too often. An hour is brutal. You can be in Oshawa on a GO train from Onion Station (sic) in less than that.

Fingers crossed that the first iteration of this is just the beginning. I got very sour on this when Council started voting willy-nilly on exemptions, and I had no-one less than Keesmaat making the same case. But with the Bloor bike lanes now becoming long-term reality, my optimism is lifted.

A lot more than ten minutes could and should be shaved off of at least the distance between each end of the core. Again, as an avid cyclist, I think giving cyclists a through travel at intersections where vehicle traffic is banned from doing so is a mistake. Cyclists should be prepared to dismount, walk through as a pedestrian, and remount the other side of the TTC stop other side of the intersection.

I don't want to be part of a group given special status that is part of the problem, not part of the cure. Once the mall is established permanently, dedicated cycle paths could perhaps be established, albeit there isn't enough space to do it safely in my opinion. Perhaps in short stretches through to the shared vehicle lanes that is conducive to 'through intersection cycling' and streetcar stops would become islands yet again, albeit much larger than the ones prior with a lane of motorized traffic separating them from the sidewalk.

 

[MetroMan]

A lot of work activity happening today along King. All the new TTC stops have been installed with some having new shelters and all road markings are being finished today. Barriers, planters, and other hard infrastructure will start arriving tomorrow. Most of all the King Street Pilot will be in place by the end of the day tomorrow with signals switching over on Saturday and the pilot officially going into effect the following morning.

All things said, I'm pretty excited about the transformation of my street. While I think that the King Street Pilot is significantly flawed in its design, anything is better than the status quo. What's most exciting is that I don't think that we'll ever go back. These are the final days of nonsensical parking on a busy street like King and eventually a faster streetcar — even if not perfect. Those two things alone are a major improvement, anyway you put it.

 

[LNahid2000]

My commute in the evenings on the streetcar from Strachan to Church typically takes about 40 minutes. If this could get it down to 30 minutes, it would be huge. I've done that tripin the early morning (6am) when there is no traffic in less than 20 minutes, which really shows what dedicated lanes could do.

That sounds unbelievably long, considering I could walk that 3km commute in about 30 minutes.

 

[innsertnamehere]

That sounds unbelievably long, considering I could walk that 3km commute in about 30 minutes.

You aren't wrong, you aren't wrong. There is a reason I usually bike. That same trip on a bike takes 10-15 minutes depending on how fast I feel like going.

 

[Avenue]

That sounds unbelievably long, considering I could walk that 3km commute in about 30 minutes.

It's accurate. I once walked from Queen and Church to Queen and Dufferin during rush hour. I haven't seen a single streetcar pass me. They move considerably below walking speed in rush hour.

 

[MetroMan]

That sounds unbelievably long, considering I could walk that 3km commute in about 30 minutes.

It's true. Hence why it became undeniable that something had to be done right away. I used to be a Metropass subscriber but when it started getting to a point where I was stuffed in a crawling streetcar moving slower than I could walk, I just started walking home. Eventually I moved even closer to downtown and often, I can walk faster from King and Spadina to St. Andrew Station or vice versa than waiting for and taking the streetcar during rush hour. It's painful.

 

[Avenue]

That's why I make a huge stink about the viability of the West King West neighbourhoods whenever I post about the topic. Like, who will want to live in Liberty Village once the buildings stop being relatively new and shiny and the only attribute the neighbourhood gets is "very dense and incredibly hard to commute to"? It needs to be rescued.

 

[LNahid2000]

That's why I make a huge stink about the viability of the West King West neighbourhoods whenever I post about the topic. Like, who will want to live in Liberty Village once the buildings stop being relatively new and shiny and the only attribute the neighbourhood gets is "very dense and incredibly hard to commute to"? It needs to be rescued.

I wouldn't live there, but it would be a pretty quick commute to the core if you commute by bike.

 

[WislaHD]

Mindful that biking in this city is a challenge even for fit male 20 something-rathers. It is not an option for everyone and we certainly don't have the prerequisite infrastructure to even fully look into incorporating cycling into the mode share mix for all able-bodied persons at the time.

 

[LNahid2000]

Mindful that biking in this city is a challenge even for fit male 20 something-rathers. It is not an option for everyone and we certainly don't have the prerequisite infrastructure to even fully look into incorporating cycling into the mode share mix for all able-bodied persons at the time.

That may be true for most areas of the city, but I see all sorts of people on the Adelaide/Richmond bike lanes, which would get you to West King West. Last time I rode them during rush hour, there were people in suits, people with carriages for their kids, and lots of other normal looking people.

 

[WislaHD]

That may be true for most areas of the city, but I see all sorts of people on the Adelaide/Richmond bike lanes, which would get you to West King West. Last time I rode them during rush hour, there were people in suits, people with carriages for their kids, and lots of other normal looking people.

Yah, it is getting better. Adelaide/Richmond are coincidentally some of our most developed bike lanes however.

 

[MetroMan]

That's why I make a huge stink about the viability of the West King West neighbourhoods whenever I post about the topic. Like, who will want to live in Liberty Village once the buildings stop being relatively new and shiny and the only attribute the neighbourhood gets is "very dense and incredibly hard to commute to"? It needs to be rescued.

King Street is a temporary solution to Liberty Village. A TTC equivalent GO ride from Liberty to Union is a long term solution. A Front street extension is a long term solution. Rail Deck Park extending to Liberty Village, connecting Liberty village natural to the rest of the city is a long term solution.

But in the meantime, the King Street Pilot will make King work as the interim solution.