Is King St. just the beginning? While controversy is still swirling around the pilot project to give priority to streetcars on the busy downtown street, the TTC and city are in the early stages of exploring emulating the idea elsewhere. According to the transit agency’s new corporate plan, which will be debated at a special meeting of its board on Thursday, the city and TTC plan to collaborate on “a comprehensive Surface Transit Priority Plan” that would “let buses and streetcars move more quickly on key corridors without getting stuck in traffic.”Read more: King St. business owner appeals to public to shut down streetcar pilot projectYonge St. bike lane plan for North York to be debated next monthTTC unveils strategy to grow transit ridershipThe document has yet to be endorsed by the board, but it states the plan would be executed over the next five years. It describes the King pilot as a “first step.”The transit priority plan is still in its infancy, and the TTC stresses no modifications are planned for any specific streets at this time. Agency spokesperson Stuart Green said transit priority measures have already been implemented at various places throughout the city, including specially-timed traffic signals, dedicated bus lanes at busy intersections, and high occupancy vehicle lanes on some major streets.“Giving transit a priority in Toronto is not uncommon at the moment,” he said.“And if there’s a way we can explore ways to continue making transit a priority to move 1.8 million people around the city more efficiently and more effectively, we will do that.”According to the corporate plan, prioritizing transit service could help make transit more attractive, and the proposal has been included in the agency’s ridership growth strategy that aims to draw more customers after three years of stagnating growth. Possible measures that could be used to prioritize TTC service include additio ...
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