The King Street transit pilot project is weathering another bout of criticism over its effectiveness.
Using the city’s own data, a new study suggests that the pilot project’s effect on travel times has been “modest at best” and claims that increased ridership numbers can be attributed to added streetcars and not traffic changes.
The review, conducted by Ryerson University professor Murtaza Haider, was released Monday by the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association (ORHMA).
Tony Elenis, the President of ORHMA, told CTV News Toronto by phone Monday that while he understands the purpose of a pilot project, he’s not convinced the changes are as effective as the city is making them seem.
“We see only a marginal variant – actually a slight increase – in the travel from one end King Street to the other in the A.M. peak period and only about two-and-a-half minutes faster in the P.M. peak period,” Elenis said.
The King Street pilot project became a reality in November of 2017 after months of discussions and consultation with the TTC, the city and residents. The one-year project forces all traffic on King Street between Jarvis and Bathurst streets to turn right after travelling one block. All on-street parking spaces within the route have been removed, and taxis have restricted access along the corridor.
In Haider’s analysis, he notes that the average commute time on eastbound streetcars during the morning rush actually increased from 15.3 minutes pre-pilot to 15.5 minutes in January and 15.9 minutes in February. The westbound route, meanwhile, saw a meager reduction in travel times overall. The average commute time was 15.2 minutes pre-pilot and 14.5 minutes and 15.2 minutes in January and February, respectively.
“Therefore, based on the data reported by the City of Toronto, for the morning hours one does not see any meaningful change in average transit travel times because of the pilot project,” Haider wrote in the report.
While travel times during the afternoon or evening hours saw a “greater decline” in the analysis – from 18.9 minutes pre-pilot to 16.5 minutes in January – Haider suggests that the elimination of on-street parking along the corridor is partly responsible for those “high travel time savings.”
“Even though parking regulations restricted on-street parking in the evening peak hours, it is possible that vehicles remained parked beyond permissible hours,” he wrote.
According to the city, travel times on the stretch of King Street have continued to improve. They reported in February that streetcar ridership routes serving the pilot has increased from 2,047 passengers per hour to 2,892 passengers per hour. The overall daily increase in ridership has increased as much as 27 per cent during the westbound P.M. commute, they say.
Haider’s study argues that the city’s reported increase in ridership was made possible “by the introduction of additional streetcars along the route,” which he believes was done to accommodate the pilot and not as a result of ridership numbers.
Toronto Mayor John Tory continued to stand by the project when speaking to reporters Tuesday.
“Well, I’m willing to look at all input, but this comes from a group that are ardently opposed to the King Street pilot project and would like to see it shut down,” Tory said. “But having said that, we are looking to move people better on transit. We are looking at reliability of transit, ridership, travel times, and they’ve all improved, dramatically in some cases.”
The King Street pilot has been met with strong criticism from restaurant owners, who say the pilot project has negatively impacted their business since it began four months ago.
Tory acknowledged those concerns and nodded to the recent “Food Is King” program and the $10 parking discount on select spaces near the pilot.
“We know there has been some challenges with businesses but we’re working on those too,” he said. “I just think with this whole thing we have to keep looking at the information month by month and making improvement as we go, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
The ORHMA president says that’s not enough.
“To continue with the pilot project – and we understand that it is a pilot project and that it’s underway – but (we need to) lift restrictions after 7 p.m. and on weekends and on holidays and allow taxis,” he said.
Along with the study, more than 50 businesses signed a letter addressed to Tory and city council on Tuesday which called on the city to consider making changes to the pilot, including removing traffic restrictions and allowing taxis to move along King Street at all times.
Tory would not make any firm commitments on the possibility of any amendments.
When reached by CTV News Toronto for comment, the author of the study said he was not yet finished with his analysis and would only speak on the matter once it is completed.
Full report below:
Letter from businesses below:
