Reluctant sardines of Toronto, rejoice! TTC officials have heard our prayers angry tweets about overcrowding on the King streetcar route, and they've got a solution.
Whether it's an effective solution remains to be seen, but hey – it's something.
Thirteen new streetcars were added to the current fleet running along King Street this morning, according to the TTC's Brad Ross. Ten of those streetcars are on the 504 King route and three of them are 514 Cherry cars.
Your #TTC is running 13 new streetcars this morning on King St. - 10 on the 514 Cherry and 3 on the 504 King - all in an effort to add much-needed capacity along the route. #KingStreetPilot
— Brad Ross (@bradTTC) December 5, 2017
Capacity has been an issue among TTC passengers on King Street for years, but the early success of the King Pilot Project seems to have exacerbated the issue.
The project has cut down on the amount of time people spend on the streetcars, for sure, but some say that overcrowding has actually been worse since the pilot started.
Commuters have also noticed an uptick in the number of people waiting for streetcars that are already full.
@fordnation Just a little update on The King street pilot project & missing 3 streetcars in a row due to being packed in like sardines. FULL #ZeroVision #KingStreetPilot http://pic.twitter.com/h5do3lBuPg
— ™●POLITICAL ACTIVIST (@5BobbyArmstrong) November 24, 2017
It's not uncommon to wait 20 or 30 minutes during rush hour for just a chance to squeeze aboard an already jam-packed car on King.
Riding a streetcar with double the amount of people it should hold is the actual worst, and I'm pretty sure it's the reason some tourists say Torontonians look "angry." We are.
We need more service on the 504 streetcar and we need it now!!! The last two cars have been too packed to get on. This is not acceptable #KingStreetPilot @JohnTory @bradTTC @joe_cressy http://pic.twitter.com/TAOysengIA
— #KingStreetPilot GOD (@purplevancrew) November 21, 2017
Ross, in his announcement on Twitter this morning, said that the 13 cars were added to King "in an effort to add much-needed capacity along the route."
So far, commuters on Twitter don't seem to have noticed much of an improvement, but it's only been a few hours.
The second test begins this afternoon, and ends whenever rush hour does. 7:30 p.m.? 9:30 p.m.? Never? I can't really tell anymore.
by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
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