Item - 2025.TE23.50

The Toronto and East York Community Council recommends that:

1. City Council direct that the following amendments to parking and traffic regulations currently in place on Dundas Street West between Spadina Avenue and McCaul Street approved in Item TE13.42, as amended by MM23.35, be made permanent:

a. prohibit stopping from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and  12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday;

b. prohibit parking from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., Monday to Friday and 9:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday;

c. designate an Accessible loading zone, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., daily, between a point 34.5 metres east of Huron Street and a point 12.5 metres further east, on the north side of Dundas Street West;

d. designate Pay Parking, 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday to Friday and 1:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., Sunday, on the south side of Dundas Street West;

e. designate a 20-minute loading zone, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., daily, between a point 55 metres east of Huron Street and a point 13.5 metres further east, on the south side of Dundas Street West; and

f. designate a Bus loading zone, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., daily, between a point 9 metres east of Beverley Street and a point 86 metres further east, on the south side of Dundas Street West.

As the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) operates a transit service on Dundas Street West, City Council approval of this report is required.

In May 2024, Transportation Services recommended temporary parking and traffic amendments on Dundas Street West, between Spadina Avenue and McCaul Street, to enhance transit service.  These changes were in support of the closure of the 510 Spadina streetcar right-of-way, initially scheduled from June until December of 2024.  The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) required alternate ways to support customers accessing the Chinatown neighbourhood during this time.

To support the 505 Dundas streetcar travelling through Chinatown, the on-street paid parking in this section of Dundas Street West was to be removed during the construction period.  This was generally replaced with regulations that prohibited stopping during the daytime periods and parking during the overnight periods.  Additionally, areas were identified through consultation with the Chinatown BIA for on-street commercial and accessible loading activities.  Finally, the existing weekday peak period turn prohibitions at Dundas Street West and Spadina Avenue were also amended to include weekends.

As the TTC's construction on Spadina Avenue was not completed by the end of December 2024, Transportation Services subsequently recommended extending the temporary parking and traffic amendments on Dundas Street West to be in effect until the end of March 2025.  Based on the TTC's findings and community consultation, adjustments were made to the parking and stopping prohibitions at this time to restore some paid parking outside the daytime peak period on the south side.

As part of the extension approval, Transportation Services were also directed to report back by the second quarter of 2025 on the results of the temporary changes and the feasibility of making the changes permanent.

Through consultation with the TTC, the data indicates that travel times have improved, with the following results:

- In the eastbound direction, TTC saw improvements of up to 7% on the weekdays and 6% on the weekends in September.  There was no impact major impact to the travel times when the parking signs were restored on the south side when looking at the January 2025 travel time numbers.

- In the westbound direction, TTC saw improvements of up to 21% on weekdays and 10% on weekends in September.  In January after signage changes on the south side were made, these improvements continued to be similar with improvements of up to 21% on weekdays and 12% on weekends.

The TTC have reviewed the ridership numbers and there was no noticeable increase along the corridor, but the travel time and reliability improvement did impact the 14,000 daily customers who take the 505 streetcar on this stretch from Bathurst Street to University Avenue.  The TTC are in favour of maintaining the current conditions permanently.

The pilot project has resulted in the loss of approximately 81 on-street paid parking spaces and four parking machines, as well as a 94% decrease in transactions.  If the spaces were to close permanently, the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA) assessed that the financial impact would be a loss of $322,000.00 in annual gross revenue (estimate), plus $6,780.00 for the pay machines (including tax).

However, there is still alternative parking available for customers at nearby on-street paid parking locations (about 269 spaces within a 300-metre radius) and off-street Green P facilities including Car Park 150 at 40 Larch Street (capacity of 332 spaces), where TPA is currently pursuing state of good repair and wayfinding capital improvements.  The average daily peak utilization at these parking locations indicates that there is capacity to absorb additional parking demand.

There was consultation through Councillor's Saxe's office to advise the impacted business on this corridor to ensure there was general support for the changes made through the pilot period.

As the pilot initiative on Dundas Street West achieves the goals of the Congestion Management plan in moving more people through the City, Transportation Services recommends that the temporary changes be made permanent.