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Last week on June 26, 2025, Toronto City Council voted to temporarily repeal a portion of the King Street Transit Priority Corridor between Yonge Street and Church Street. This comes following the start of road closures along King Street East to facilitate watermain replacement, sending shuttle buses and private vehicles onto parallel corridors. Beaches-East York councillor and 2023 mayoral race candidate Brad Bradford moved the motion in City Council, after hosting a press conference on the matter earlier in the week.
The debate over the future of the King Street Transit Priority Corridor was reignited after the start of the latest detour on Toronto's busiest streetcar line, the 504 King. The closure of King Street East and 'bustitution' of streetcar service — the replacement of rail transit vehicles with buses — comes just months after the completion of major roadwork along King Street West through Liberty Village and the resumption of regular streetcar service in late 2024. Outside of major detours, intermittent construction and disruptions have routinely seen the King car rerouted along Queen Street, Adelaide Street, Richmond Street, Shaw Street and Spadina Avenue.
Long periods of route detours, infrequent enforcement of restrictions on private vehicles and shifts in commuting patterns following the pandemic have taken their toll on the 504's ridership. City staff reported to Council on Thursday that current ridership on the King streetcar is at approximately 60,000 riders per day, down from the 2019 peak of 84,000. With shuttle buses temporarily replacing streetcars, daily ridership has declined further to 24,000 riders per day.
In the Council chamber, Bradford referenced these ridership statistics to support his motion titled, "Re-Opening King Street for Business: Keeping Toronto’s Downtown Core and Canada’s Financial District Moving". The East End councillor sought to allow private vehicles on the portion of King Street where streetcars are not running, from Spadina Avenue to Church Street, during the length of the diversion. Mayor Chow responded by noting that shuttle buses continue to operate along the entire corridor, except for a two-block stretch between Yonge Street and Church Street. Chow then moved an amendment to Bradford's motion, proposing to allow private vehicle traffic on only the portion of King Street wholly devoid of transit service. Council adopted Chow’s amendment, and the modified motion to expand private vehicle access to only the two block stretch between Yonge Street and Church Street was passed. Bradford, however, voiced strong opposition to the change, characterizing the amendment as “a poison pill.”
According to City Staff, implementing the necessary signal changes along King Street East will take several weeks. With construction scheduled to conclude on August 8th and full transit priority expected to be reinstated shortly thereafter, Councillor Bradford faced questions from journalists about the practical value of his motion following the Council meeting. In response, Bradford restated his desire to reduce congestion and that relief for even a few short weeks would be worth it to motorists.
The largely symbolic changes to King Street East are a part of a broader citywide debate over who should be prioritised on Toronto’s streets, private vehicle users or transit riders. From Jane Street to The Esplanade, attempts to implement transit priority measures have faced strong opposition, with some RapidTO projects, such as the proposed bus lanes on Bathurst Street, now entering their fourth year of delay.
The selection of corridors for RapidTO was largely based around the Toronto's busiest surface transit routes, many of which carry more transit riders than motorists during peak hours. For example, on densely populated downtown corridors such as King Street, the 504 streetcar is able to carry nearly 90,000 passengers a day when given priority. In contrast, peak daily vehicular throughput on King Street prior to the implementation of restrictions on private vehicles in 2017 was below 10,000. Transit advocates and City Staff often cite this disparity in transportation capacity as an argument for prioritising public transit, particularly in the face of Toronto's rapid densification.
While discussions around RapidTO continue, the broader plan for citywide transit priority lanes has yet to be fully realised. Since the COVID-era implementation of bus lanes on Eglinton Avenue East, no additional transit priority corridors have been completed. Similarly, more than five years after the King Street Transit Priority pilot was made permanent and a street redesign was promised, temporary transit platforms and street furniture remain in place.
The King Street Transit Priority corridor, and RapidTO as a whole, will likely remain points of political contention following the conclusion of current road closures and the planned resumption of full transit priority. With the 2026 mayoral election nearing, and congestion ever increasing, how to address it and which road users to prioritise will almost certainly re-emerge as a major election issue.
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