The city will take several steps to improve travel times for drivers along Bloor Street after preliminary data revealed that some rush-hour trips have increased by more than eight minutes since separated bike lanes were added to the roadway.

The preliminary data was collected in September and October, shortly after the lanes were first installed between Shaw Street and Avenue Road as part of a one-year pilot project.

The data shows that while the lanes have resulted in a 36 per cent increase in the number of cyclists using Bloor Street, they have also had an impact on traffic.

Prior to the lanes being installed it took drivers an average of 11 minutes to travel from Bay Street to Ossington Avenue during the afternoon rush hour but afterward that time shot up to 19 minutes and 39 seconds. Commute times during the morning rush hour were also up by about four minutes, according to the data.

“It is important to know that we haven’t done any operational tweaks to the roadway yet,” General Manager of Transportation Services Barbara Gray told CP24 on Friday. “We were waiting to see the data to see how the travel patterns shifted, so now we will use that information and start to look at signal improvements we can make and other elements in our tool kit that we can use to get those travel times down.”

Gray said that the main choke points when it comes to traffic are at Bloor Street and Bathurst Street and at Bloor Street and Avenue Road.

She said that staff will “focus” their efforts to improve traffic flow at those intersections but will also take a look at changes that could be made to improve the flow of vehicles along the entire 2.4-kilometre corridor.

In addition to the re-timing of some traffic signals, Gray said that turning and parking restrictions will be introduced in some areas and staff will work with businesses to reduce the impact of deliveries on traffic flow.

“We really have to let some of these improvements settle out a little bit and then we will take another look at the data in June,” she said.

The preliminary data found that on the day previous to the bike lanes being installed there were a total of 3,300 cyclists who utilized Bloor Street compared to 4,500 on the first day the lanes were in place. Meanwhile, the total daily vehicle volume along Bloor Street was down 22 per cent. That, combined with the increase in cyclists means that bicycles now account for about 18 per cent of the users of the roadway (up from 12 per cent).

“The addition of bike lanes on Bloor is part of the most comprehensive data measurement the city has ever done, tracking everything from travel times, bike and pedestrian volumes to safety, business impacts and community support,” Mayor John Tory said in a statement provided to CP24 on Friday morning. “At the half-way point of this process, we have preliminary data that will help us to make changes to improve the flow of people along Bloor for the duration of the pilot. I look forward to seeing the end result so city council can evaluate the pilot in its entirety."

According to Gray, the reaction from businesses to the bike lanes has been a “mixed response” so far with about 53 per cent of business owners who responded to a survey indicating their support for the pilot project. Support for the bike lanes among local residents, meanwhile, was 64 per cent and among drivers it was 34 per cent. Perhaps not surprisingly, more than nine in 10 cyclists (92 per cent) say they support the pilot project.

The pilot project is costing the city $500,000.