Study claims Toronto's TTC streetcars are the slowest in the world

A new study claims that Toronto's streetcars are the slowest in the world, and, yeah, that definitely tracks.

The study from urban accessibility expert Dr. Jan Scheurer set out to determine whether Melbourne, Australia's trams are the most slugging worldwide, and instead pinned that unfortunate distinction on Toronto's TTC streetcar network.

Using the Spatial Network Analysis for Multimodal Urban Transport Systems (SNAMUTS) methodology system, the study looked at data from transit systems across the world that operate trams, streetcars and similar urban light rail networks.

As for the poorest performance, the study states, "that dubious honour continues to go to Toronto," noting that "Toronto stands out as a laggard" in the study.

The city scored at the bottom of the pack in both weighted and unweighted average streetcar speeds, and it wasn't even close.

Toronto has an extensive tram network. It also has the slowest tram network in the world, and it’s not close. The city could transform how people get around for cheap if they had political will. What’s the point of having streetcars if we don’t exploit their benefits? pic.twitter.com/0WeBHQBg41

— Observing The City (@observinthecity) August 22, 2024

The study acknowledges that the city's numbers "are not yet final," but stresses that the full results "won't change dramatically enough to improve the Canadian city's rank."

Other places don't seem to suffer the same challenges as Toronto outside of their central business districts. The research notes that "tram speeds in city centres are tangibly lower than on average across the network, with the exception of Toronto, where CBD-typical speeds seem to extend across the entire city."

While Toronto ranked dead last in average speeds, the city scored far better in the "average network service frequency" score, which measures departures per hour per direction.

T.O. scored an 8.3 in this category for its streetcar network, compared to a highest score of 12.9 in Gothenburg and a lowest score of 5.0 in Sydney.

So, how did it get so bad?

One standout fact is that most cities run their streetcars primarily in dedicated right-of-ways through urbanized areas, the study referring to Toronto as "a conspicuous exception" of unsegregated streetcar traffic sharing lanes with private vehicles.

The importance of dedicated streetcar right-of-ways has been underscored this summer by ongoing construction along the 510 Spadina Streetcar route, with replacement buses unable to operate in the streetcar right-of-way and relegated to shared traffic lanes in brutal gridlock.

Other projects to improve streetcar travel times, like the King Street Transit Priority Corridor, have been somewhat effective when properly enforced. But, even in the best of times, streetcar rides can slow to a crawl on this route.