Toronto is looking to have more pedestrian-friendly streets. What could that look like?

The pedestrian pilot project on Church Street has been running since June, but today we're learning that costs are more than projected. Beth Macdonell reports.

Toronto is looking at having more pedestrian-friendly streets throughout the city, where people can walk arm-in-arm from store to restaurant without worrying about oncoming traffic or waiting for street lights to change.

There are very few streets in the city that consistently stay car-free for longer than a weekend. There’s Market Street near the bustling St. Lawrence Market, and now there is Church Street, where a pedestrian-only space exists between Wellesley and Alexander streets until Aug. 21.

In a motion that passed about a week after the Church Street pilot launched on June 19, city council voted in favour of finding more suitable streets in Toronto for seasonal and year-round pedestrianization, starting next year.

Coun. Josh Matlow proposed the motion, which passed 16-6. The Ward 12 councillor explained in a recent interview with CTV News Toronto that there is an “enormous desire” for more car-free streets and that Toronto is “lagging behind” other Canadian cities, like Montreal.

“We see that in cities around the world pedestrian streets are destinations where people get excited about going, meeting up with friends, going out with their families, and we just don’t have enough of those places in Toronto,” Matlow said in an interview on Monday.

Paul Hess, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Geography and Planning, says there is a real potential to pedestrianize more streets in Toronto, noting that there are different ways to go about doing so.

“The one on Church Street is kind of a classic context where it’s a commercial street and pedestrianization often attracts people to go there to enjoy as a public space and also to use the businesses,” Hess said, adding that it is a huge boon for tourism and supporting the local economy.

Hess says pedestrian streets can also be used to calm traffic and provide spaces where people can safely walk. In Montreal, for example, Hess says there are short pedestrian segments that create corridors through neighbourhoods

“Barcelona is creating similar kinds of pedestrian corridors, which allow people to cross neighbourhoods and districts without worrying about traffic and that can really increase pedestrian comfort,” Hess said.

Church Street pilot so far

Matlow’s motion suggested learning from the ongoing Church Street pilot to inform the city’s decision, though he said it is not the only model to learn from.

“What we’ve seen on Church Street is the street has been packed every day and every night,” Matlow said.

The pilot launched at a time when the FIFA World Cup was coming into full gear in Toronto and when the Pride Festival was about to kick off.

Speaking to reporters at an unrelated news conference on Friday, Mayor Olivia Chow said “tens of thousands” of people have visited Church Street during the pilot so far.

“We’ll see at the end of the pilot what kind of results they have, but certainly, because the weather is great, there are a lot of people on the street right now,” Chow said when asked if she would like to see more pedestrian zones throughout the city.

“Let’s see what the BIA (says) and look at the local residents’ association. I don’t want to pre-empt what they want to do after this summer.”

Matlow says Toronto can do a lot better with regards to its public spaces.

“I love our city, but Toronto has always reached for the height of mediocrity when it comes to our public spaces,” Matlow said, adding that the city can do a lot better. “There hasn’t been a program to set up to support streets that would like to become pedestrian streets.”

Hess said the model for pedestrian-friendly streets differs in North America from Europe.

“Europe’s a little different, where the main shopping streets in many cities have been pedestrianized for decades, but New York has pedestrianized Times Square and other little bits, it’s been very successful,” Hess said in an interview, saying that while Toronto is pushing for more of these areas, it is not a familiar concept for the city.

The professor explained that this is partly because of how streets are used in Toronto and noted how the city had to negotiate with police over the cost of security for the Church Street pilot.

“That tells me we haven’t worked out a system to make this (pedestrian-friendly streets) happen,” Hess said.

Concerns of security costs

The total cost of security comes just shy of $500,000, which a spokesperson from Coun. Chris Moise’s office said it includes “in-kind contributions.” That figure, according to the councillor’s office, includes all security-related costs.

“Because the police required 24/7 security + 12 hour security, the $500K overall figure includes costs that the police required in order for them to feel comfortable and sign off on the project,” the statement reads, adding that the cost was initially quoted at $3 million.

Since this is the city’s first project of its kind, Moise’s office says they view the cost escalations as “teething issues” and expect the process to be more streamlined, both procedurally and financially, when more streets become pedestrian-friendly.

“We don’t spend that when we’ve had our Kensington streets on pedestrian Sundays. We don’t have that on Market Street next to St. Lawrence Market. There are other little segments of pedestrian streets around the city where we don’t have that level of security,” Hess said.

“I don’t understand why you need that level of security.”

The city currently has a survey open to residents, visitors and local businesses about their thoughts of the Church Street pilot.

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