The city has begun returning on-street parking to a bustling section of Dundas Street West much earlier than anticipated, a move targetted at helping holiday shoppers get to Chinatown this winter.
When construction began on the 510 Spadina streetcar right-of-way last June — necessitating a temporary switch to TTC buses that share the lanes with car traffic — street parking was prohibited along Dundas between Spadina Avenue and McCaul Street.
The city determined this 550-metre stretch of road was a “significant pinch point” for streetcar operations, so council agreed to temporarily remove all on-street parking until the work was scheduled to be completed in December.
The move was designed to speed up 505 Dundas streetcar service and support customers accessing the Chinatown neighbourhood while Spadina is crowded with buses.
But last month, the TTC revealed construction on Spadina is not expected to be finished until March 2025.
Before that news broke, city council had already decided to lift its restriction for on-street parking around Dundas and McCaul — months ahead of when the Spadina streetcar will resume service.
“This motion is urgent because changes must be made to the current parking restrictions in time for the Christmas shopping season for the benefit of the Chinatown businesses,” reads the November city council agenda item for Coun. Dianne Saxe’s request to reopen on-street parking.
Last spring, Transportation Services and the Toronto Parking Authority determined the financial impact of lost revenue and operating expenses from nixing on-street parking on that block of Dundas would be approximately $485,000 — before taxes — between June and December of this year.
Signage costs would come out to approximately $43,750, according to the city.
This week, locals noticed city crews were replacing the “no parking” signage on Dundas with Green P meters and updated enforcement times — generating hundreds of reactions on Reddit.
Approximately 15,000 vehicles travel across this two-way stretch of Dundas every day, the city said. The area is active with restaurants, grocery stores, spas, gift shops and art galleries — including the Art Gallery of Ontario.
There is also a large underground Green P parking lot located on the south side of Dundas just east of Spadina.
As construction on Spadina's streetcar right-of-way continued, the transit commission said its crews are replacing hundreds of metres of rails along the avenue, as well as bolts and anchors in the route's tunnel. Replacement buses will continue operating in mixed traffic until construction is complete.
