No turning back on King St. makeover

Let’s start from the beginning. King St., was broken. Before city council decided to take the bold step of transforming King St., into a transit-priority corridor, it wasn’t working for anybody.

If you were a streetcar rider, it was faster to walk than ride the streetcar. If you were a driver, well, let’s be honest, you avoided King during rush hour at all costs. And, if you were a pedestrian, the sidewalks were overcrowded and unsafe.

Sticking with the status quo simply wasn’t an option. Now, one month into the pilot project, our job is to improve it and make it better.

The pilot is working, as evidenced by early data showing improved streetcar reliability and travel times, though there is certainly room for improvement. But let me be clear: As the local city councillor, I will not support going back to the past.

King St., is one of the key arteries serving downtown. It carries 65,000 daily streetcar riders (compared with 20,000 cars), making it the largest surface-level transit route in North America.

Commuters from east to west use King St., to get to and from work in the Financial District, or at the rapidly increasing number of tech startups in the Entertainment District — an area that also attracts thousands to its dynamic shops, theatres and restaurants.

The numbers help tell the tale. Downtown Toronto may have a residential population of 240,000 people, but our daytime population nearly quadruples to 900,000 as people travel to the core to work and study.

According to a recent City of Toronto report, downtown Toronto now accounts for 25 per cent of the city’s tax base, 51 per cent of the city’s GDP and has 33 per cent of all jobs in the entire city. If people can’t get to their jobs, if deliveries are stuck in traffic and if downtown meetings are delayed or cancelled, Toronto’s entire economy suffers.

As Metrolinx has demonstrated, congestion is costing Toronto $6 billion a year in lost productivity. We have to get people moving faster and strategies of the past, based on a much smaller population, aren’t going to cut it.

Which takes us to the decision to launch the King St., pilot project. Over the last number of years, our city had tried numerous operational changes to speed up transit service on King: parking restrictions during rush hours, proof-of-payment rear boarding, left-turn restrictions and increased fines in no-stopping zones.

You name it, we tried it. Nothing worked. Streetcars continued to go slower and arrive later. A bold shift was needed to put people and transit first.

On Nov. 12, the King St., pilot to prioritize streetcars was launched. By simply removing 180 on-street parking spaces (merely 3 per cent of the 7,800 parking spaces within a five-minute walk of the corridor) and implementing restrictions on vehicle movements, we reprioritized the street for people.

In many world-class cities, such a move wouldn’t be seen as bold. Frankly, many cities implemented such changes more than a decade ago. But, this is Toronto. Radical incrementalism is our way.

The early results of the pilot show quick improvements so far. The reliability of streetcar travel times has improved, which means people spend less time waiting in the cold wondering when their streetcar will arrive. Average streetcar travel times have decreased by as much as 2.6 minutes during rush hour. And average vehicle travel times on adjacent streets have been barely impacted.

That’s not to say that everything is perfect. For many, the adjustment period has led to confusion and traffic tickets. The fact that we launched during the cold winter season has left a feeling of emptiness on the street before the patios reopen. And, far too many businesses — my own local constituents — have expressed concerns.

However, with a pilot project, we are able to test, measure and refine as we go. Already we’re making changes. King St., is open for business and the city is rolling out campaigns to promote local business, as well as new street and pop-up festivals to bring people to King. Traffic signal changes and other tweaks are coming to speed up streetcars and vehicular movement on adjacent streets. And we’re not done yet.

At the end of the day, it’s worth remembering that change is hard. In fact, changing the way our streets operate may be the hardest growing pain a city can experience. Everybody uses our streets, and everyone has an opinion. But, on King St., change is necessary and long overdue.