Restaurant owners report .... but do we have actual data re business?
I was about to make a point, and then noticed Lucy's post:Interesting .. Two surprises:
a) Cyclists appear to like the Pilot a lot more than transit riders. While the transit ridership is up 11%, cyclists are up 440%.
b) Higher travel volume did not translate to higher patronage of the restaurants; some complain of the business decline.
I don't have a good explanation for either. Would expect the increases in transit ridership and in cycling to be in the same range, and would think the restaurants should see higher than before patronage, not lower.
I'm very concerned about any and all the figures being touted.Restaurant owners report .... but do we have actual data re business?
Now if they could only speed it up by making it semi-express by removing unnecessary stops like Bay St, Church it would be even faster.
This was likely a pilot for a reason - because they were not sure what's the best thing to do.Interesting .. Two surprises:
a) Cyclists appear to like the Pilot a lot more than transit riders. While the transit ridership is up 11%, cyclists are up 440%.
b) Higher travel volume did not translate to higher patronage of the restaurants; some complain of the business decline.
I don't have a good explanation for either. Would expect the increases in transit ridership and in cycling to be in the same range, and would think the restaurants should see higher than before patronage, not lower.
What is a business to do with that one spot where there are 10 other business on either side of them??
If there are 10 parking spot for these business, where do the rest of their business clients park?? How far is that parking spot from their business??
What is the turn over ratio these business?? How long do their clients spend at these business??
How many tables are there for each business??
If you got a good business with good service, food, drinks and so on, you are looking at about an hour per table turn over, which represent about 12 cars a day using that one spot. If you got 10 table of 4 chairs, you can be looking at a need of 120 parking spots if 4 people are in the same car to 360 if 3 of the 4 people come by separate cars. 10 business x 120-360 = 1,200-3,600 parking spots a day.
Math said you lost your mind thinking that one spot is going to save your business, let alone meet your current needs.
10-20% of a good business client and tell want front door service, otherwise they will go elsewhere if they can't get it. The rest are willing to walk a block or so to get to it.
If you remove all the current parking with off street underground parking, you will still see the same business, even those who want front door service since they can be drop off there in the first place. The removal of parking will allow traffic to use that curb lane and allow transit to use the centre lane. All left turns should be from that curb lane to the point they should be ban 100%.
The baning of Left Turns and no traffic in the centre lanes will allow transit to speed a lot faster and move more riders than today best of time ratio.
Watching traffic these days still see far too many drivers disobeying the signs and some of this is caused by traffic following the rear of a streetcar since they can't see the signs in the first place. The signs are useless at nighttime since they are hard to read the small print. Until there are LED signs along with enforcement, not going to improve the quality of service than it is today.
LOL. Proves my point to a point, since comparing apple to oranges so say the restaurants.The Eaton Centre must be empty without any street parking at all.
It isn’t hard to understand why cyclists like the King Street Pilot.
Many fewer cars mean many fewer obstructions and opportunities for injury. With the state of road safety these days, it’s obvious that when a road largely eliminates cars, cyclists will migrate there. Also, a cyclist can traverse the core of the city using King very quickly when with so many fewer cars.
Now that it’s clear cyclists are heavily using King, the pinch points between the street furniture, streetcars and cyclists should be alleviated when the Pilot goes permanent.