Commute times on the 504 streetcar have improved by up to two-and-a-half minutes on average since the launch of the King Street pilot project while vehicular commute times on parallel streets have only slowed by a minute or less.

Data released by the city on Tuesday shows that streetcars travelling through the 2.5 kilometre pilot area from Jarvis Street to Bathurst Street are moving quicker, both eastbound and westbound.

The biggest improvement was observed in the afternoon rush hour when average commute times through the pilot project area were two minutes and 34 seconds quicker westbound and one minute and 18 seconds quicker eastbound.

Commute times in the morning rush hour also improved but the difference was slight, with eastbound streetcars moving an average of 24 seconds quicker and westbound streetcars moving an average of 54 seconds quicker.

Meanwhile, the data reveals that vehicular commute times on a handful of parallel routes were slower in the wake of the launch of the pilot project but mostly by a minute or less. The city says that a small number of routes that saw commute times slowed by more than a minute had other factors at play, such as the presence of construction.

 

As part of the one-year pilot, all traffic on King Street, between Jarvis and Bathurst streets, is only permitted to travel one block before being forced to turn right.

All on-street parking spaces between Bathurst and Jarvis streets have also been removed.

“This initial set of data shows improvements in the reliability and travel times of the streetcar, with minimal impacts on travel times for vehicles on other routes in the downtown," the city’s General Manager of Transportation Services Barbara Gray said in a press release accompanying the data. “We will examine the data and make any operational improvements necessary to ensure people can move quickly and reliably through the downtown no matter how they travel.”

Improvement in slowest streetcars more marked

While the King Streetcar was only one or two minutes faster on average, the improvement in commuting times among the slowest streetcars was more significant.

During the afternoon rush hours, the data revealed that westbound streetcars at the upper range of commute times moved through the pilot area in about 19 minutes and 42 seconds (compared to 24 minutes) while eastbound streetcars moved through the pilot area in about 22 minutes (compared to 25 minutes).

In the morning rush hour, commute times at the upper range were about two minutes and 18 seconds faster westbound and one minute faster eastbound.

The data was collected between Nov. 12 and Dec. 2.

The city says that it plans to release data gauging the success of the pilot project on a monthly basis.