Toronto city staff recommend extending King Street pilot until the end of July
Almost 13 months into the King Street Pilot project, city staff are recommending Council to extend the transit pilot until the end of July next year.
According to a report heading to City Council on Thursday, the King Street Transit Pilot, which was launched on November 12, 2017, includes a robust monitoring and evaluation program, and a wide range of data was collected both before and during the pilot to assess the impacts and benefits and inform the final evaluation for Council’s consideration.
With that, a comprehensive evaluation report on the pilot will be brought forward to the Executive Committee and TTC Board in the first quarter of 2019, states the report.
Staff are looking for Council’s approval to continue the King Street Transit Pilot in order to allow “the comprehensive report to be considered and for Council to reach a decision on whether or not to make the pilot permanent.”
The report indicates that the funding required to operate and maintain the King Street Transit Pilot until July 31, 2019 is expected to be approximately $210,000. Staff say that this funding is needed for anticipated expenses for signage and pavement markings, traffic signal maintenance, maintenance of public realm spaces and winter operations.
And should City Council not approve the continuation of the King Street Transit Pilot, the estimated cost to remove the pilot project and reinstate the previous roadway configuration would be approximately $500,000.
In July 2017, City Council authorized the implementation of the proposed King Street Transit Pilot between Bathurst Street and Jarvis Street with a goal of improving transit reliability and speed on one of downtown’s busiest corridors.
Throughout the project, the city released metrics on its public website, sharing data collected from the pilot.
See also
Follow Channels and Categories