Public support for the King St. streetcar pilot has slipped, although a plurality of Toronto voters still approve of the project, according to a new poll.

The survey conducted by Forum Research earlier this month found that 42 per cent of respondents support the pilot, which aims to improve transit service on King by restricting car traffic on the street.

That’s down from a poll Forum conducted in November, shortly after the pilot began, which found 50 per cent of voters backed the experiment.

The portion of those who said they strongly approve of the pilot has also decreased, from 33 per cent in November to 24 per cent this month.

Conversely, the portion of voters who oppose the project has increased by five percentage points, from 24 per cent to 29 per cent. Those who strongly disapprove remained roughly unchanged at 17 per cent.

Just more than one-fifth said they neither approve nor disapprove.

The lower favourability numbers come in the wake of vocal opposition from some restaurant owners in King’s theatre district who say the project’s traffic restrictions have driven away customers.

That opposition has since been met by a countercampaign to rally support for the project.

Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum, said that an eight percentage point drop is “a big change in two and a half months,” and if the trend continues those who disapprove of the experiment will soon equal those who support it.

He speculated that “publicity stunts” staged by the frustrated business owners, including filming their supporters playing road hockey on a relatively empty King, have likely succeeded in changing public perception.

Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), whose ward includes part of the pilot area, agreed that “there have been some voices of opposition that frankly I think have shifted some of the concerns.”

But the councillor, who is a strong supporter of the streetcar experiment, predicted that once warmer spring weather draws more people to King businesses and the city releases further data on streetcar performance, the project’s positive effects will be undeniable.

“The King pilot has made life better for a significant number of Torontonians,” he said. “I’m confident that this will prove to be one of the best transit decisions the city has made in decades.”

Approval rates for the pilot were highest among respondents who live downtown, six in 10 of whom backed the project. Support was also high among provincial Liberal and NDP voters, roughly half of whom said they approved.

Support was lowest among residents who live outside of downtown, in North York and Etobicoke, but even there disapproval didn’t significantly outweigh approval, with the number of voters saying they supported the project roughly equal to those who said they did not.

Half of respondents who commute by transit said they favour the project, while 44 per cent of those who rely on their car said they were opposed.

The city and TTC launched the pilot in mid-November in an effort to make streetcar service quicker and more reliable. Its estimated budget was $1.5 million.

Streetcar routes serving King carry more than 72,000 riders a day, far outnumbering the roughly 25,000 drivers who use the street, but for years streetcar service has been bogged down in traffic.

New traffic rules in the pilot area between Bathurst and Jarvis Sts. compel drivers to turn right off of King at most major intersections, and all 180 on-street parking spots have been removed.

Initial data published by the city and TTC indicate the pilot has succeeded in making streetcar service faster and more reliable, and that ridership is up.

Later this week the city plans to publish updated statistics on the pilot performance. It had planned to release economic data on how local businesses have been affected, but a spokesperson said that could be delayed.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The project is scheduled to last one year, after which council will vote on whether to make it permanent.

Forum conducted the poll on Feb. 7 and 8 using an interactive voice response telephone survey of 977 randomly selected Toronto voters.

Results based on the total sample are considered accurate plus or minus three percentage points 19 times out of 20. Subsample results are less accurate.