One Year Later: Transit Priorities Still Working on King Street in Toronto

"A $1.5-million pilot project that gives priority to streetcar traffic on King St. between Bathurst and Jarvis Sts. marks its one-year anniversary Monday with [Toronto's] latest data showing a spike in transit ridership, cyclist and pedestrian travel and a slight improvement in customer spending in the busy downtown corridor," reports Michael Lewis.

"City of Toronto data for July and August shows double-digit increases in streetcar ridership during the morning and evening commutes on King St. during the period compared to ridership before the project began last Nov. 12, with average all-day ridership jumping by 11 per cent to roughly 80,000 boardings per day," adds Lewis.

Based on those data, and "key metrics" for September and October expected to be made public soon, the city will decide whether to make the pilot project permanent. The news about the King Street project has been positive for ridership and system performance since shortly after the project launched, as past coverage by Planetizen shows.

• An Ambitious Plan to Rethink Toronto's King Street (January 2016)
• In Praise of Toronto's Least Ambitious Transit Project (November 2017)
• Ridership Surges After Streetcars Gain Priority in Toronto (January 2018)
• With Transit Signal Priority Back On, Streetcars Moving Faster in Toronto (September 2018)

For more coverage of the anniversary of the pilot project, see also an article by Angie Schmitt.