[URBAN NOTE] "Queen streetcar riders get what they’ve waited for: more service"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Verity Stevenson described earlier this month promises to increase service on the Queen Street streetcar line. Here's to hoping these get fulfilled.

If you take the Queen streetcar often, your experience may be similar to Effy Lustgarten’s.

“Sometimes I stand in the middle of the street to see if it’s coming,” Lustgarten said while aboard the city’s third busiest tram around noon Sunday, noting the wait was consistently more than 20 minutes. “Then, I might take the King Street car . . . it’s more frequent.”

A few seats back, Dave Crawford, who takes the 501 streetcar to church on Sundays from Carlaw Ave. to Spadina Ave., said he’s waited up to 30 minutes for it.

“There’s some mornings where I just start walking because it’s actually quicker,” Crawford said.

You could say their desire is named Streetcar. That is, until Sunday morning, when their yearning for service might have been gratified: as of Jan. 3, the Toronto Transit Commission has added extra morning trips and split the route in two for daytime ones.

Crawford waited no more than 10 minutes and another rider, Corey Jones, noticed the higher frequency, too. “Sundays are usually very crowded, but today it’s a special day,” Jones said as he disembarked. The streetcar, headed east, carried no more than 30 people, but Jones remained skeptical.

“It’s just one day, you see what I mean?” he said. “It’s too early to tell.”