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57-560: The King Street Transit Priority Corridor is a transit mall located along King Street between Jarvis and Bathurst Streets in Toronto , Ontario, Canada. It passes by two subway stations ( King and St. Andrew ) on Line 1 Yonge–University . The corridor was created by the King Street Pilot Project to improve streetcar reliability on downtown King Street. The corridor went into operation on November 12, 2017, and

114-632: A median barrier , or railway , rapid transit , light rail , or streetcar lines. There is no international English standard for the term. Median , median strip , and median divider island are common in North American and Antipodean English . Variants in North American English include regional terms such as neutral ground in New Orleans usage. In British English the central reservation or central median

171-502: A raised median . This arrangement could eventually have led to the trial implementation of a transit mall on King between Bay Street and Spadina Avenue , with hopes of eventually closing King to cars from Dufferin Street to Parliament Street . Local merchants and restaurateurs opposed the proposed transit mall. While the 2007 pilot project was not implemented, proposals for some kind of transit priority corridor were revived in 2016 when

228-534: A headway of 4 minutes. The City found that retail business in the area had increased by 0.3%, although some restaurateurs in the John Street area still complained of lost business due to the pilot. In early July 2018, the City activated transit signal priority (TSP) along the transit mall. With this improvement, streetcar travel time along the mall was reduced on average by 30 to 126 seconds depending on direction;

285-852: A multi-lane roadway. North American usage calls the leftmost lanes located closest to the roadway centerline the "inner" lanes, while British usage calls these lanes the "outer" lanes. Thus, it is less confusing to call these central lanes the "passing", "fast", or "overtaking" lanes in international contexts, instead of using the ambiguous inner/outer distinction. Regional differences between right-hand traffic and left-hand traffic can cause further confusion. Some medians function secondarily as green areas and green belts to beautify roadways . Jurisdictions can: plant lawn grasses with regular mowing ; hydroseed or scatter wildflower seeds to germinate , bloom, and re-seed themselves annually; or create extensive landscape plantings of trees , shrubs , herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses . Where space

342-562: A right turn after travelling only one block. All three options aimed to reduce automobile interference with streetcar operation between Bathurst Street in the west and either Parliament Street or Jarvis Street in the east. On July 6, 2017, Toronto City Council—by a vote of 34 to 4—approved a one-year, $ 1.5-million pilot project to improve streetcar service along King Street between Bathurst and Jarvis Streets. The project would limit automobiles to travel only one block before being forced to turn right, and left turns would be prohibited. However, over

399-719: A section of the M6 between Shap and Tebay, which allows a local road to run between them, and on the M62 where the highest section through the Pennines famously splits wide enough to contain a farm . The other major exception is the A38(M) Aston Expressway , which is a single carriageway of seven lanes, where the median lane moves to account for traffic flow (a system known as tidal flow or reversible lane ). With effect from January 2005 and based primarily on safety grounds,

456-491: A single set of double yellow lines which may in some cases permit turns across the line. This arrangement has been used to reduce costs, including narrower medians than are feasible with a planted strip, but research indicates that such narrow medians may have minimal safety benefit compared to no median at all. The medians of United States Interstate Highways break only for emergency service lanes, with no such restrictions on lower classification roads. On British motorways ,

513-480: A traffic-calming or landscaping element rather than a safety enhancement to restrict turns and separate opposite directions of high-volume traffic flow. In some areas such as California , highway medians are sometimes no more than a demarcated section of the paved roadway, indicated by a space between two sets of double yellow lines . Such a double-double yellow line or painted median is legally similar to an island median: vehicles are not permitted to cross it, unlike

570-575: A trial basis, the Downtown Express buses (routes 141–145) were relocated to the corridor in order to avoid traffic on their former route along Richmond and Adelaide Streets. All Downtown Express routes (141–145) passed both St. Andrew and King subway stations. On March 23, 2020, all the downtown express bus routes (141–145) were suspended due to reduced ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic , and by late October 2021, they had been delisted from

627-587: Is at a premium, dense hedges of shrubs filter the headlights of oncoming traffic and provide a resilient barrier. In other areas, the median may be occupied by a right-of-way for a public transportation system such as a light rail or rapid transit line; for example, the Red and Blue Lines of the Chicago 'L' partially run in the medians of the Dan Ryan , Eisenhower , and Kennedy Expressways . In contrast to

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684-810: Is desirable to have areas not dominated by the automobile, or as a way to speed travel time through an area—usually the city center—for transit vehicles and as a transport hub for interchanges, making them more efficient and thereby more attractive as an alternative to car use. Converting a street or an area to a transit mall can be a form of pedestrianization , allowing pedestrians and cyclists as well as transit vehicles to move more freely, unimpeded by private motor traffic, if autos are banned completely. However, some transit malls are not auto-free, but rather restrict cars and other private traffic to only short segments or only one lane, with other lanes being limited to buses or trams (streetcars). Transit malls differ from busways , which are roadways dedicated to

741-458: Is located entirely within a wide median of Massachusetts Route 128 . This 502-bed facility was opened in 1993 as infill construction in the previously unused real estate that had been isolated by the divided highway in the early 1950s. An extreme example of a wide median can be found on Interstate 75 near Cincinnati , Ohio ; nearly the entire village of Arlington Heights , as well as the downtown district of Lockland , are both located between

798-488: Is that decreasing the size of a median to 20 feet (6.1 m) from 30 feet (9.1 m) to add lanes to a highway may result in a less safe highway. Statistics regarding medians with barriers were not calculated in this study. Central reservations may also be used for reserved bus lanes , as in Istanbul's Metrobus , Los Angeles's J Line and Bogotá's TransMilenio . Center-lane running and island platforms installed in

855-496: Is the preferred usage; it also occurs widely in formal documents in some non-British regions such as South Africa, where there are other informal regional words (for example middelmannetjie , which originally referred to the hump between wheel ruts on a dust road). Neutral section and central nature strip are coinages in Australian English . Additionally, different terminology is used to identify traffic lanes in

912-436: Is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways , dual carriageways , freeways, and motorways . The term also applies to divided roadways other than highways, including some major streets in urban or suburban areas. The reserved area may simply be paved , but commonly it is adapted to other functions; for example, it may accommodate decorative landscaping , trees ,

969-603: The Trans-Canada Highway near Ernfold , Saskatchewan , Canada , where eastbound and westbound lanes go as far as 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) apart from each other), but converge to a lane's width of separation in suburban areas and cities. In urban areas, concrete barriers (such as Jersey barriers ) and guard rails (or guide rails ) are used. In Dedham, Massachusetts , the Norfolk County Correctional Center (a state prison)

1026-645: The Advisory Committee on Accessible Transit advised the TTC that the temporary metal ramps at streetcar stops along the King Street Transit Priority Corridor were in poor condition and had become inaccessible. The proposed solution was to replace the metal ramps with asphalt ramps from the sidewalk to the street, locating the new ramps roughly at the second door of the streetcar. The new ramps would be 2 metres wide and, unlike

1083-421: The City a fee; three other patios were sponsored by businesses for public use. One space by Roy Thomson Hall is decorated by a wall of plastic crates holding planters separating a sitting area from the streetcar lanes. Another space east of Church Street has a road mural called "King's Buried Treasure" to commemorate former creeks long since buried . The corridor is used by the following TTC routes: Initially,

1140-642: The City of Toronto's "King Street Visioning Study" proposed a transit and pedestrian corridor on King Street through downtown. In February 2017, as part of the King Street Pilot Study, City staff proposed three options, one of which would be submitted to City Council for approval in July and implementation as a pilot in the fourth quarter of 2017. One of the three options was similar to the 2007 proposal. All three options forbade left turns, and two options forced automobile traffic to leave King Street by

1197-522: The City offered up to $ 10 in free parking at municipal parking lots in the area. By May and June 2018, streetcar ridership along King Street had increased overall by 11% since the King Street Pilot Project had started. Ridership had increased 35% in the morning rush hours and 27% during the evening rush hours. Average travel time at midday was reduced by 2 minutes and by 4 to 5 minutes during the afternoon. 85% of streetcars operated on

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1254-529: The King Street theatre district saw revenue drop by 41% (comparing December 2016 with December 2017). Restaurateurs attributed the declining revenue to driving restrictions and the removal of on-street parking within the corridor. The City started a campaign to attract customers to local businesses along the mall, such as a public space design competition, street performers, warming stations and special promotions. In January 2018, to attract automobile customers,

1311-476: The TTC customer website. In 1993, the streetcar tracks along King Street between Dufferin and Parliament Streets were made reserved lanes for streetcars and taxis only during rush hours. Other road traffic was to use the curb lanes during rush hours when parking and stopping would be prohibited. This effort to improve rush-hour streetcar service failed as there was insufficient police enforcement to prevent illegal parking, resulting in motorists continuing to drive on

1368-769: The U of T study had collected data for a shorter period. At the time of the City's analysis, traffic signal timing had not yet been changed to improve streetcar speeds. By mid-January 2018, the TTC had released its own analysis, which found that morning rush hour ridership had increased 25% along King Street after implementation of the transit mall and that the average travel time through the transit mall (Bathurst Street to Jarvis Street) had decreased by 14%. The TTC temporarily replaced streetcars on routes 505 Dundas and 506 Carlton with buses and reassigned those streetcars to other routes, such as 504 King, to handle crowding from increased ridership. The Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association reported that 26 restaurants located within

1425-787: The UK's Highways Agency 's policy is that all new motorway schemes are to use high containment concrete step barriers in the median (central reservation). All existing motorways will introduce concrete barriers as part of ongoing upgrades and through replacement as and when the current systems have reached the end of their useful life. This change of policy applies only to barriers in the median of high speed roads and not to verge side barriers. Other routes will continue to use steel barriers. In North America , and some other countries with large sparsely populated areas, opposing lanes of traffic may be separated by several hundred meters of fields or forests outside of heavily populated areas (an extreme example being

1482-535: The US Federal Highway Administration quantified the correlation between median width and the reduction of both head-on accidents and severe injuries. The study found that medians without barriers should be constructed more than 30 feet (9.1 m) wide in order to have any effect on safety, and that safety benefits of wider medians continue to increase to a width of 60 to 80 feet (18.3 to 24.4 m). A consequence of this finding

1539-478: The York Street intersection and thus blocking southbound traffic.) On December 8, 2023, Mayor Olivia Chow announced that the city was fixing the problem of illegal traffic along the corridor. There will initially be 10 traffic agents along King Street, to be expanded to 50 agents. Construction along parallel Adelaide Street would end by late December, providing more room there for road traffic. Chow hoped that

1596-542: The carriageways may have to be built on different levels of the slope. An example of this is on the M5 motorway as it climbs up the side of the Gordano Valley south of Bristol . In Birmingham and many other cities, suburban dual carriageways may have trees or cycle lanes in the middle as a wide central reservation. Two examples on the UK road network where the carriageways are several hundred yards/metres apart, are on

1653-470: The change particularly benefitted eastbound streetcars during the evening rush hours. TSP reduced the chances of a streetcar being stopped at a red light, saving an average of 8 seconds per signaled intersection. A transponder on the streetcar notifies TSP of a streetcar approaching a signaled intersection; TSP could then extend a green light or shorten a red light facing a streetcar. On December 13, 2018, Toronto City Council voted 19 to 3 in favour of extending

1710-416: The corridor and of a lack of police enforcement. In January 2023, in a 40-minute period during a late weekday afternoon, a Toronto Star reporter observed 31 vehicles disobeying traffic signage at the intersection of King and Yonge Streets. Suggestions to overcome the problem included using traffic cameras to catch violators (which would require provincial permission), making signs larger, painting red lines on

1767-435: The corridor, which had increased along downtown King Street during the King Street Pilot Project. Along with this change, route 503 was extended west from York Street to Spadina Avenue and turned back at Charlotte Loop. As of January 7, 2019, the 503 route returned to shuttle bus operation to accommodate some construction projects; the 503 terminus was moved back to York Street. Effective September 3, 2019, 503 Kingston Rd service

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1824-417: The evening rush hour versus 19% prior to the pilot. However, crowding on routes 504 and 514 had increased, forcing riders to wait for room to board as several streetcars passed; improved travel times increased demand for streetcar service through the transit mall. To address the increased demand, the TTC started to assign two Flexity streetcars, plus future Flexity deliveries from Bombardier , to route 504. This

1881-404: The evening rush hours, travel time was reduced from 18.9 to 17.6 minutes eastbound and 19 minutes to 16.4 minutes westbound. The mall allowed better spacing of streetcars, reducing the problem of streetcar bunching. The mall had little impact on traffic on neighbouring streets. Statistics differed between the U of T analysis and the City's because different pre-pilot periods were selected and because

1938-456: The form of single streets in which automobiles are mostly prohibited but transit vehicles are allowed. They are rarely completely free of motor vehicles. Often, all of the cross streets are open to motorized traffic, and in some cases taxis are allowed and truck deliveries are made by night. Examples include: Examples include: Examples include: Median strip A median strip , central reservation , roadway median , or traffic median

1995-495: The median is never broken (except on the tidal flow of Aston Expressway ), but there are no such restrictions on other dual carriageways . The central reservation in the United Kingdom and other densely populated European countries (where it is known by their local names) is usually no wider than a single lane of traffic. In some cases, however, it is extended. For instance, if the road is running through hilly terrain,

2052-434: The median of a major road, those in urban areas often take the form of central traffic islands that rise above the roadway. These are frequently found on urban arterial roads . In their simplest form, these are just raised concrete curbs, but can also be landscaped with grass or trees or decorated with bricks or stones. Such medians are also sometimes found on more minor or residential streets, where they serve primarily as

2109-470: The medium reduce conflicts with stopped and parked cars as well as pedestrians near the curb, thus speeding service. In some cases, the median strip of the highway may contain a train line, usually around major urban centers. This is often done to share a right-of-way , because of the expense and difficulty of clearing a route through dense urban neighborhoods. A reserved right-of-way is contrasted with street running , in which rail cars and automobiles occupy

2166-483: The movement of buses at high speed or capacity. A number of European towns and cities have made part or all of their areas car-free while permitting public transit vehicles. These are often accompanied by car parks on the edge of the area and/or park-and-ride schemes. Most of these zones allow delivery trucks to service the businesses located there during the early morning, and street-cleaning vehicles will usually go through these streets after most shops have closed for

2223-729: The night. Examples include: In North America, the creation of pedestrian-friendly urban environments is still in its infancy, but transit malls have existed in a few cities for more than 40 years, starting with the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968, followed by the Granville Mall in Vancouver, British Columbia , in 1974 and the Portland Mall in 1977. In North America, transit malls usually take

2280-609: The objections of the TTC, Council granted taxi cabs an exemption on the ban against through traffic between 10pm and 5am. The TTC said that King Street is busy overnight, forcing streetcars to slow down to between 4.6 and 6.8 kilometres per hour (2.9 and 4.2 mph). On October 23, 2017, the City of Toronto published a plan for the King Street Transit Pilot showing the location of streetcar stops and traffic restrictions between Bathurst and Jarvis Streets. The pilot project went into operation on November 12, 2017, and

2337-447: The off-hours. After the creation of the corridor, space in the curb lanes was converted for other uses such as seating, patios and bicycle parking in order to make the street more pedestrian-friendly. In 2018, three dozen streetscape improvements were made including eighteen patios, two parkettes and a number of spaces for artists and public displays. Fifteen patios were associated with private businesses (usually restaurants) that must pay

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2394-421: The old ramps but like curb ramps elsewhere in the city, would not have a handrail. From November 2017 to August 2019, police issued 16,000 fines to motorists failing to turn off the corridor where through-traffic is prohibited. Each fine cost the driver $ 110 plus two demerit points. Out-of-town drivers were the main culprits. In December 2022, there were again complaints about motorists illegally continuing through

2451-490: The pilot area. City staff were considering adaptations of the pilot to other routes. Other cities were examining the pilot to possibly emulate it. However, City staff reported that growth in retail spending fell from 2.5% the year before the pilot to 1.7% during the project. In November 2019, new raised streetcar loading platforms were installed at the Portland Street and Peter Street stops for evaluation. Both ends of

2508-513: The pilot until July 31, 2019. City staff wanted more time to collect and analyze data before recommending whether to make the pilot permanent. In April 2019, a City staff report dubbed the transit mall the "King Street Transit Priority Corridor". On April 16, 2019, City Council voted 22 to 3 in favour of making the pilot permanent. From the beginning of the pilot, weekday ridership had increased from 72,000 to 84,000 passengers, while people movement had also increased and vehicle traffic had decreased in

2565-446: The platform have a bicycle ramp to allow the platform to double as part of a bicycle path. Cyclists are not allowed to cross the platform when passengers are boarding or alighting a streetcar. When a streetcar is not present, waiting streetcar passengers must stand in a white-coloured area behind a yellow tactile divider to allow cyclists to pass. The new platforms use former road space to make more room for pedestrians. In September 2021,

2622-455: The principal routes using the corridor were the 504 King and 514 Cherry, which overlapped through the corridor. However, effective October 7, 2018, the 514 Cherry route was discontinued and replaced by two new branches of route 504 King, both of which also overlap through the corridor. On February 20, 2018, route 503 Kingston Rd was modified from rush-hour only to full weekday service (evenings excluded) to increase capacity to support ridership in

2679-423: The province would allow cameras for automatic enforcement of traffic restrictions. Chow also wanted improved signage for motorists along the corridor. By February 2024, there were up to 12 traffic agents long the corridor between 5 and 6 p.m. weekdays. When the agents were on duty, streetcar travel times were reduced from 45–65 minutes to 17–21 minutes, and agents prevented the blocking of intersections 96 percent of

2736-587: The road and adding curbs to separate road traffic. By the end of November 2023, streetcar performance had deteriorated along the transit corridor mainly due to construction and a lack of police enforcement of traffic rules. Travel time for the 504 streetcar was on average 23 minutes in September 2017 before the implementation of the corridor, 16 minutes in September 2018 after its implementation and 26 minutes in 2023. Because of various construction projects, downtown streets were more congested, and motorists were using

2793-554: The time. However, streetcar travel times increased after the agents went off duty. Mayor Chow hopes to have 40 agents available by March 2024 to extend their hours of traffic supervision. The corridor inspired New York City to create a similar corridor for bus rapid transit along 14th Street in Manhattan . Unlike Toronto, New York uses cameras to catch motorists illegally using its corridor. Videos: Transit mall Transit malls are instituted by communities who feel that it

2850-457: The tracks. On March 22, 2007, the TTC proposed a pilot project for a transit mall along King Street, to be implemented in mid-2008. The proposal suggested reserving the centre lanes for streetcars and making a single lane in one direction available to private vehicles, taxis and delivery vehicles, alternating the lane direction on different blocks. The street would have been closed entirely to through traffic and streetcars would run at grade, not in

2907-403: The transit corridor in violation of traffic restrictions. In addition, there was congestion at intersections crossing King Street, which could delay streetcar traffic. A University of Toronto study showed there were 6,800 illegal turns or through movements per day, but less than 0.3 percent of the offending drivers were ticketed. (Ironically, police ticketed a streetcar driver for failing to clear

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2964-712: The two directions of I-75. Some freeways in North America include "inverted" medians, which separate roadways running in the opposite direction from the standard for the country they are located in. Roads are so designed for a number of reasons, including to save space, for the creation of continuous flow intersections , or for diverging diamond interchanges . Inverted medians are also used in rare cases on local streets that historically had unusual traffic patterns, such as Bainbridge Street between 3rd Street and 5th Street in Philadelphia . An August 1993 study by

3021-455: The westbound stops at Portland and Bathurst Streets being near-side. Passengers board streetcars from delineated loading areas in the curb lane with barricades at each end to protect waiting passengers from traffic. Downtown Express buses along the corridor have separate stops from streetcars to avoid passenger and vehicle congestion. Prior to the pilot project, the two curb lanes along King Street were used for rush-hour traffic and for parking in

3078-425: Was again upgraded to run midday as well as during rush hours on weekdays. On September 3, 2019, the TTC reintroduced rush-hour route 508 Lake Shore. It runs through the corridor eastbound in the morning peak period, and both ways during the afternoon peak. Also on the same date, route 503 Kingston Road was upgraded from rush-hour only service to include midday service on a trial basis. Effective November 25, 2019, on

3135-457: Was expected to last one year. The following changes were made for the pilot: After 16 days of operation, University of Toronto (U of T) researchers determined that the transit mall had reduced the mean travel time for streetcars by 24% westbound (from 22.8 to 17.3 minutes) and 20% eastbound (from 20.6 to 16.4 minutes) during the evening rush hour. Only 1.3% of streetcars took more than 25 minutes to travel between Jarvis and Bathurst Streets during

3192-456: Was in addition to the 10 Flexity streetcars on route 514 and 44 CLRVs on route 504. The City's Transportation Services department had yet to adjust traffic light timings to give more green-light time for streetcars within the transit mall. By December 12, 2017, City staff reported that the transit mall had reduced streetcar travel time during the morning rush hours from 15.3 to 14.9 minutes eastbound and from 15.2 to 14.3 minutes westbound. During

3249-501: Was made permanent by City Council on April 16, 2019. The corridor is 2.6 km (1.6 mi) long and spans 18 street intersections. The corridor extends along King Street between Jarvis Street at the east end and Bathurst Street at the west. Private vehicles are allowed to use the corridor, but they may only travel up to three blocks along it before they are required to turn right out of the corridor. Other private vehicle restrictions include: Most streetcar stops are far-side, with only

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