The restaurants and bars along downtown King St. have another lifeline on the way, just in time for the first day of summer.
10 patios between Bathurst St. and Jarvis St. will be allowed to expand into the curb lane, where drivers used to be allowed to park.
The boost for patio season is a piece of the pilot project the city put into place last fall, in an attempt to speed up public transit on what has long been a congested artery.
Transit advocates support the program because it makes streetcar traffic the priority.
Nearby businesses, led by a vocal group of King St. restaurants and bars, have complained that revenue took a nose-dive last winter, claiming that customers have been staying away due to the new traffic regime.
In the establishments along King, there were mixed feelings among managers and employees asked on Wednesday by NEWSTALK 1010 about the latest effort by the city to draw crowds back to the neighbourhood.
Some say that they noticed business picked up as the warmer, sunnier weather arrived but they're not sure whether or not they'll be able to take advantage of new, extra patio space.
One bar manager noted that more space to seat customers means the potential to sell more food and drink, especially when demand is higher on Friday and Saturday nights.
Servers say they're hoping to bring in more tips when they're on a shift.
The city has waived the application fee for the extra space but business owners are still on the hook for expenses like café application fees, and liquor licenses.
Al Carbone, the owner of King St.'s Kit Kat restaurant, refutes the suggestion that warmer weather has made any meaningful positive impact on business.
"Obviously its better than the winter but after 7:30pm, we don't have a business anymore," he says.
Carbone, who has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the city's pilot program, won't get into specifics surrounding how much revenue he believes he's lost, but he insists that he's had to send staff home early because his night time business has tapered off so drastically.
"The city's efforts have been poor," he says.
"They realize and they know that business is not back and they've destroyed King St. as a main artery."
While some merchants on King say the city's help has been useful, the longtime restaurateur disagrees with the Mayor's insistence that the measures are working.
The city offered a discount promotion for parking in nearby spaces, and also set on a marketing campaign to attract more customers to the area.
Carbone argues the summer patio expansion program will come as too little too late, especially with some of his fellow restaurant owners enduring long delays for their permits.
The word from John Tory and other top city officials is that so far, the pilot project has slashed commute times for thousands of streetcar riders.
In an interview Wednesday on The Jerry Agar Show, Tory defended his efforts to drive sales in the neighbourhood, but admits that it might have been a good idea to start the streetcar pilot closer to the spring warm-up, rather than the run-up to winter.
He also stands by the city's goal of improving public transit.
"The transit numbers ... are encouraging in that you have a 25 percent increase in ridership on the streetcar and a huge increase in reliability on the streetcar," he says.
Tory claims the plan to expand King St. patios will further help wipe away 'misperceptions' that King St. is closed.
He stresses that the streetcar pilot program will be reviewed in its entirety, after it wraps up this fall and hints that there might be room to tinker with the traffic rules if the balance isn't quite right.