Poll: Majority of Toronto residents support King Street Pilot

Half of Torontonians approve of the City’s King Street Pilot Project, according to a recent poll.

The poll, conducted by Forum Research on November 21 and 22, was based on a telephone survey of 843 randomly selected Toronto voters.

Half of respondents say they approve the pilot, with a third (33%) say they strongly approve. The poll found that approval is highest amongst those living in the former city of Toronto, with two-thirds (67%) saying they approve. Meanwhile in the suburbs, approval is lowest, with residents in North York (42%), Etobicoke (42%), and Scarborough (42%) showing the lowest levels of support.

“Awareness of the King Street pilot is very high, which suggests the city has done an excellent job on getting the word out,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research, in a release. “Overall, half approve of the pilot, but it looks like the people who are most likely to benefit from it, such as those living downtown or transit users, support it, and those who aren’t likely to benefit, such as those living outside of the core, and drivers, don’t.”

As expected, drivers and transit users differed on opinion on the topic, with 37% of drivers saying they approve of it, while 63% of public transit users approve the pilot.

Of the respondents saying they are very familiar with the pilot, almost two-thirds (63%) approve of the project. The number is highest amongst those that travel on King Street every day, with more than two-thirds, or 68%, saying they approve.

Less than a quarter (24%) of those polled say they disapprove, with just under one-sixth (15%) saying they strongly disapprove. Suburban residents are most likely to disapprove, particularly in North York (30%) and York (29%).

The pilot is changing how residents use King Street. The poll found a quarter (23%) of respondents that use King Street at least once per month say they will travel on King more now, and this includes (34%) of transit users.

One third (34%) say that their usage of King Street won’t change, including almost 4 in 10 (39%) transit users, according to the poll. And one third (34%) say they will travel on King Street less, including more than half (52%) of drivers who previously used the route.

Only 1 in 10 (10%) said they didn’t know how the pilot would affect their transit going forward.

The King Street Pilot, which runs between Bathurst and Jarvis along King, began mid-November and is expected to continue until November 2018.

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