A large section of Queen Street between Bay and Victoria streets is now closed for (at least) the next four-and-a-half years while the new Ontario Line is built.
This summer, progress is also expected to be made at the intersections of Queen Street and Spadina Avenue, King Street and Bathurst Avenue, and Gerrard Street and Carlaw Avenue for their respective Ontario Line subway stations.
New transit lines will be welcome relief, once built. But in the meantime, the thousands of daily riders who depend on the 501 Queen streetcar, the 504 King, 510 Spadina, and 511 Bathurst streetcars will face a near-decade of detours through heavy traffic.
But there is a solution to this traffic fiasco. Just north of all major construction is Dundas Street — an efficient and cost-effective transit solution for those heading to and from the downtown core.
Dundas Street from Bathurst to Jarvis was identified as a priority route by city officials. This means that on-street parking, utility construction, and CafeTO installations will already be limited — an opportunity for streetcar prioritization.
Right now bunching and constant heavy traffic plagues the 505 Dundas streetcar to the point where walking can be faster — riders who rely on it need improved service.
To do this, apply the fundamental solution to speeding up streetcars and separate it from mixed traffic. To do this, install thin curbs or even fixed, non-retractable bollards to block off the centre lane, while giving the rightmost lane, currently used for parking, to vehicles.
It is important to do the right-of-way correctly with signal prioritization, unlike the Spadina and St. Clair lines where streetcars with potentially a couple hundred passengers have to wait for left-turning vehicles.
It would be fascinating to see European-like signalling at intersections to change traffic lights as streetcars approach, something that Kitchener-Waterloo has championed with their ION light rail line.
The 501 Queen shuttle bus from Long Branch could be extended to Dundas Street West and Ossington Avenue. The 502 downtowner bus from Victoria Park Avenue and Kingston Road can return and go to McCaul Loop via Dundas, creating a seamless alternative to the 501 Queen streetcar from Etobicoke to downtown to the Beaches.
At the moment, Broadview station’s streetcar platform is being retrofitted to support two Dundas streetcars as opposed to one. The work on improving service along Dundas has already started. All that is needed is a priority signal for streetcars leaving Broadview and a right-of-way along Dundas, which can be completed in stages coinciding with the removal of on-street parking to minimise construction.
In the face of stringent budget cuts at the TTC, speeding up a streetcar lowers operational costs. Savings can be passed on to expanding service on Dundas or even reversing the drastic cuts made throughout the system this year alone.
Once the Ontario Line is complete, this could also give the opportunity for a beautiful pedestrianized area during the summer with only streetcar and bike access at Yonge-Dundas Square – a truly accessible space for everyone with patios, food trucks, and more. We close roads like this during the Toronto International Film Festival, but not with transit access and this can be an opportunity for true innovation for tourism and local happiness.
An initiative to transform Dundas into a simple, but effective, transit priority route would be a remarkable act of foresight from city hall.
A change from the bureaucratic apathy and shoulder-shrugging at the prospect of creatively dealing with an external challenge would be a breath of fresh air for the city.
The time to be proactive in handling Ontario Line construction is now before it really gets underway.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)
does not endorse these opinions.