Item - 2024.TE15.59

The Toronto and East York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council authorize amendments to parking and traffic regulations on Spadina Avenue as set out in Attachment 1 to the letter (July 9, 2024) from Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik.

2. City Council delegate, despite any City of Toronto By-law to the contrary, to the General Manager, Transportation Services, until January 4, 2025, for the purposes of implementing and then addressing operational and safety issues that may arise in relation to the projects identified in Part 1 above, the authority to implement changes and process and submit directly to City Council, any necessary Bills for by-law amendments to the schedules, to City of Toronto Code Chapters on the streets and within the parameters as generally described in Attachment 2 to the letter (July 9, 2024) from Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik.

3. City Council direct that Spadina Avenue be returned to its pre-construction traffic regulations when regular Toronto Transit Commission streetcar service has resumed on Spadina Avenue and Lower Spadina Avenue.

Due to the temporary closure of the 510 Spadina streetcar right of way required for capital upgrades, Transportation Services on behalf of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is looking at ways to support its replacement bus operations, specifically in the southbound direction on Spadina Avenue south of Queen Street West where the bus service experiences significant congestion. Travel times for the Spadina route have tripled since the initiation of the replacement bus service on June 23, 2024. Measures such as the deployment of traffic agents at key intersections and the turning around of buses at Front Street have already been implemented. To support bus operations further, Transportation Services and TTC are proposing the temporary removal of on-street parking and a taxi stand on the west side of Spadina Avenue between Richmond Street West and Front Street West to enable the installation of a temporary priority bus lane within the southbound curb lane between Richmond Street West and Lake Shore Boulevard West. Two southbound traffic lanes for general traffic will be maintained on Spadina Avenue between Richmond Street West and Lake Shore Boulevard West. These proposed temporary parking and traffic amendments are intended to remain in place until the 510 Spadina streetcar right-of-way is projected to reopen in January 2025.

Transportation Services has consulted with Toronto Parking Authority (TPA), who assessed that the financial impact of lost revenue and operating expenses will be approximately $162,300.88 (pre-HST) for the period of July to December 2024.

The estimated cost to implement/remove the parking amendments and temporary priority bus lane is $78,586 (pre-HST), which will be funded from the TTC’s 2024-2033 Capital Budget and Plan.

This letter is urgent as it enacts measures which are required to improve transit service reliability during temporary construction works.