Citing sales drops ranging from 5 to 52 per cent, anxious King St. merchants want city hall to suspend the King St. pilot project on evenings and weekends — or cancel it altogether.

“The problem is real,” Tony Elenis, chief executive of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, said of sagging foot traffic and revenues for King St. West eateries since the year-long transit experiment, restricting vehicle traffic between Bathurst and Jarvis Sts., launched Nov. 12.

“The most vibrant street in Canada is no longer vibrant.”

Elenis helped organize a city hall meeting last week in which more than a dozen business owners and other “stakeholders,” who are also facing the new $14 minimum wage Jan. 1, raised the alarm with Mayor John Tory and Joe Cressy, city councillor for much of the 2.6-km-long strip of King.

He also initiated an email survey so business owners could describe impacts, good or bad, since the changes, including no on-street parking and drivers compelled to turn right off King at most major intersections, that have speeded up streetcar trips.

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Preliminary results have 92 per cent of respondents — about two-thirds of them restaurant owners — reporting sales drops of between 5 and 52 per cent over the same period last year. Thirty-six per cent say they have laid people off, while 60 per cent say they have shaved between 10 and 20 operating hours a week.

Ninety-seven per cent disapprove of the pilot, while 90 per cent want it to end immediately, according to the survey that will be finalized and released next week.

Elenis says Tory and Cressy took their concerns seriously, including a request to restore normal traffic and parking after 7 p.m. and on weekends.

“We did commit to the mayor that we’ll wait for his follow-up meeting” in January, Elenis said. “We understand the aim of the pilot, but it’s very hard to keep business owners patient when they’re losing money every day in what is supposed to be one of their busiest times.”

The Star visited restaurants along the strip east of John St. mid-afternoon Wednesday. Every owner and employee interviewed cited unusual dips in sales and frequently empty sidewalks that, even in chilly weather, used to be more bustling.

Asked why, most guessed that people are confused by the new rules and scared off by media stories about offending motorists getting $110 tickets with the possibility of two demerit points.

“I have friends who are unaware of what part you can’t go in between, so I think they just boycott it altogether,” said Andrew Hall, bar manager at District Eatery at 303 King St. West. “The winter is always a bit quieter than summer, but since the pilot project the late-night crowd and the in-between-lunch-and-dinner crowd has definitely suffered.”

Hall wasn’t sure about suspending the pilot on nights and weekends, though, saying that might confuse people more.

Manna Au, co-owner of nearby Pearl King eatery, said she is seeing “less cars, less people walking on the street” and less sales.

She wondered if removing King on-street parking spots, without restricting vehicles, could have sped up streetcars without scaring away customers.

Fred Luk said weekend lunch trade at Fred’s Not Here restaurant is down 35 per cent, which he blames on no parking on King. He has also seen a surge in last-minute reservation cancellations from customers stuck in traffic and worried they won’t find parking. There are parking lots on nearby streets.

“This is a mixed-use neighbourhood,” where people used to park and stroll, Luk said. “The pilot is not a balanced policy and has failed miserably on one of the three objectives — support business and economic prosperity.”

In an interview, Cressy did not dispute that some businesses are suffering and noted the city is taking immediate steps.

Discounted parking at nearby “Green P” lots is coming, along with a “public realm activation program” to lure pedestrians. Advertising will assure people they can still drive a short distance on King, if needed, and access nearby parking. The city will highlight 17 pilot-area restaurants participating in the “Winterlicious” fixed-price meal promotion in January.

City transportation staff are looking at merchants’ suggestions, including “time options” for the pilot, and will report back.

“We’ve asked staff to look at those options, but we’ve said to the (merchant) group ‘Don’t expect this to change tomorrow, a complete overhaul of the pilot,’” Cressy said. “You need to give us time to look at it, but we’re not waiting a year.”

“It’s early going and any time you change a street, in the first few weeks there is going to be a huge shift. We need to make sure we are deliberate and guided by research... The pilot is a success for transit, but we need to ensure the system getting people in and out of the core also supports local business.”

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In an email, Tory spokesman Don Peat said the mayor “supports the King St. pilot project because King St. wasn’t working for anyone. This is about trying to move the 65,000-plus transit riders who use our busiest surface transit route in a better way.”

Tory is monitoring business impacts and awaits point-of-sale data, early in 2018, to help show what is happening, Peat said.

“We know there will be changes to the pilot along the way. The mayor will be looking to city staff to advise on any changes.”

Correction — Dec. 15 2017: This article was updated from a previous version that incorrectly stated the range of the sales drop experienced by King St. businesses.