BAN CARS ON KING STREET AT RUSH HOUR

TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) CEO Andy Byford wants to try banning cars from the downtown part of King Street during rush hour in order to keep the streetcars moving in an efficient manner. As a proud/big walker and TTC user I say "yes!"

Traffic on that street is getting worse year-by-year. I used to commute on King Street when I worked at a company downtown; now I go down there to do business and it's more of an ordeal with all the new car-spitting condos... with more and more going up all the time.

TTC chairperson Karen Stintz has noted that with the expansion of "Liberty Village" (near King & Dufferin) there is a need to make the streetcar service more dependable along the route to that area.

(To be honest, I go down there quite a bit, and as much as I admit transport in general is slow in the downtown core part of King Street, it's not too bad out near Dufferin -- pretty good, actually; no problems to report. Ms. Stintz is talking of the condos going up along King to the way to the village. She is correct. When I'm on the streetcar going along that section of King I think, "look at all the holes".)

The "erection" of Liberty Village is a whole issue by itself. I've been meaning to take pictures whenever I'm down there to show the insane amount of condo-building going on. The density is so high that it looks like a PhotoShop job... or former East Berlin in the 1990s.

Hopefully something will be done about traffic congestion on King Street; but, a close second would be the problems on Queen Street.

Toronto, downtown, is slowly but surely going more and more insane. But... we can do things to avoid being admitted to the "loony bin". It just takes brains and guts. Do we have those essential services here in Toronto? Time will tell.

I must say: The TTC's new Bombardier 204 streetcars are nice-looking machines. It'll be good to see them on Spadina Avenue and King Street. And as a regular transit user in that part of town, I look forward to riding on them.


The Toronto Star...
TTC boss suggests banning cars from downtown King St. at rush hours
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/2013/06/20/ttc_boss_suggests_banning_cars_from_downtown_king_st_at_rush_hours.html