What do you get when you take the King streetcar, add a bunch of celebrities, and multiply by 80,000 commuters. You get a really rough commute.

TIFF certainly brings an exciting crowd to Toronto, but it will also bring a few headaches for commuters as the festival will cause a diversion on the popular King streetcar route.


The King streetcar will be diverted for four days, including workdays and weekends, for the TIFF Street Festival.

When:

Starting September 6 at 5 a.m. until September 10 at 5 a.m., the 501 King will be diverting up to Queen Street.

The Diversion:

Westbound routes will head up York and down Spadina.

Eastbound routes will divert up Spadina and down Church.

The Reaction:

Commuters are understandably frustrated, as the King streetcar is one of the busiest routes in the city with roughly 80,000 people taking the route each day

Plus, the King Street Pilot program results showed ridership increasing on the route, indicating the success of opening the street to transit.

The renewed energy for pedestrians had brought in popular initiatives that encouraged a more relaxed vibe to the famous street highlighting both transit and pedestrians over traffic.

READ: Europe on King Street: How To Escape Toronto, While In The Heart Of It

That is until TIFF comes to town apparently...

Here's hoping we can get back to normal once the A-Listers leave.

Toronto