Vehicle traffic near Toronto Stadium and in the financial district was actually down as the World Cup got underway in Toronto last week, suggesting that soccer fans might be heeding the city’s pleas to make it a “transit first” event.
City staff have previously warned that vehicle traffic could rise by up to 15 per cent on match days.
But during a press conference on Friday, city officials said that vehicular traffic actually declined 25 per cent around the stadium and 12 per cent in the financial district during Canada’s World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12.
“Overall, we’re very pleased with how the network has performed,” Andrew Posulns, Toronto’s chief of congestion, told reporters. “Traffic has been manageable, and we’ve seen lots of numbers of people using transit, cycling, and walking.”
Posuln said vehicle travel times downtown on June 12 were consistent with the travel times over the past few weeks.
“We set a baseline of looking at the previous four Fridays, and what we’re seeing is that the travel times in the downtown are very similar to what we experienced on match day, as before,” Posluns said.
He said those times were “well within the range of normal variation across the city as a whole,” noting that travel times were actually slightly better than average.
Walking near the stadium was up by 130 per cent, while cycling was up by 65 per cent.
“It’s also important to keep in mind that all of these results come in the face of increased demand on our network associated with the people going to the events and visitors in our city,” Posluns said.
Josh Colle, chief strategy and customer experience officer for the TTC, said while it’s still early on in the tournament, the city has seen “some really encouraging signs” so far.
He said the TTC has seen a 30 per cent increase on routes with high World Cup traffic, such as the 509 and 511 streetcar routes. He said the 509 streetcar car saw triple the normal usage for the route after the first match last Friday.
“While we don’t have the final numbers in on match two, those are even looking more encouraging,” Colle said.
He said customer satisfaction has also been strong so far in the TTC’s measurements.
Metrolinx Chief Operating Officer Sean Fuller echoed his colleagues’ praise of the transit plan so far.
“This is a success story to date,” Fuller said. “We are seeing that our service plan is adequate, is moving the ridership across the region.”
He said game-day service to and from Exhibition Stadium has been very successful, with 20,000 to 25,000 riders using that stop alone.
“We’re seeing the daily ridership keeping its normal numbers. We do see that the value of what we put together will be enough to sustain the matches,” Fuller said.
He said Metrolinx is doing a full review post-match of all deliverables to see what is working and what can be done better.
Posluns said the numbers show that people did hear the messaging coming from the city and adapted their behaviour accordingly.
“I think what we’re seeing as well is we’re seeing the evidence that people did take into account our messaging around planning ahead,” he said. “We actually have more people coming into the city, we have thousands of people attending the stadium, we have thousands of people coming to fan festival, as well as going to events around the city.
“The fact that we’ve been able to do that and keep the traffic moving at a relatively similar speed and experience to what we had previously, I think is testament to people planning ahead and switching modes a little bit in order to make sure they get to where they need to go.”
