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A shiny fleet of big, brand new low-floor Bombardier streetcars would certainly help, but alas, Bombardier has forgotten how to make them, and interim TTC CEO Rick Leary has abandoned his predecessor Andy Byford’s quixotic insistence that the company would somehow meet its final deadline. The circumstances for this pilot project are far from perfect.

The three measures of success are improved ridership (boffo); reliability (clear but inconsistent); and speed (not much). People are already talking about sanding down some of the project’s more controversial elements, and its opponents will certainly hone in on the streetcars’ pace when it comes time to make the changes permanent or not. My fear is the concept will be judged without having been given the best chance to succeed.

The TTC boasts of shaving 3.7 minutes off the slowest trips in the westbound PM rush hour and 4.3 minutes eastbound. But that still works out to less than 8 km/h

Toronto police say they’ve issued 1,675 tickets on King for “proceed contrary to sign,” since Nov. 11, but transit activist and writer Steve Munro thinks there could still be far more enforcement — especially on illegal left turns and on that most Torontonian of traffic offences, blocking intersections. Intersection-blockers should go to jail and their cars should be dropped from a great height onto their houses. If the cops can’t spare the manpower, let’s get red light cameras up at every intersection on King.

Transit signal priority for streetcars is available at some intersections. I humbly suggest it be turned on. Get as many streetcars on the line as can possibly be spared. And for the love of God, let’s not repeat the humiliating spectacle of shutting down King Street for TIFF — the act of a profoundly unserious city that Tory says is “unlikely” to be repeated this year.

Some 65,000 people a day ride the King streetcar (that was before the 25 per cent increase). That’s about three-quarters of the Sheppard subway’s and Scarborough RT’s ridership combined. A serious city would have ruthlessly prioritized their needs years ago. Whether this city can bring itself to do so is very much up in the air.

• Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter: cselley