I'm not sure if it's relevant, but Vancouver also hosted an expo and the winter Olympics in just 30 years.
This is why I want Toronto to host an olympics game. Nevermind the fact that Vancouver, Montreal, and even Calgary have hosted them. I think that an expo/Olympics is the best chance we have to get our rapid transit network fast-forwarded a couple decades and get a DRL built.
So, according to the
Pembina institute:
Km of rapid transit (includes ROW streetcars):
Toronto: 83 km
Vancouver: 68 km
Winner:
Toronto
This is not the best metric, since it doesn't measure the quality/speed/capacity of the "rapid transit", and a more sprawly city will require more km of transit to maintain the same coverage, so this measure is a little biased towards Toronto, which is less compact. You could have your entire city's population within 500m of a station of a 10 km transit line and perform worse than a city that has built a 20km subway from nowhere to nowhere.
% of population within 1km of rapid transit:
Toronto: 34%
Vancouver: 19%
Winner:
Toronto
This is a much better measure, since it shows if rapid transit gets people where they need to go and reaches where they are. The one caveat I'd give is that if a city has a good bus network it reduces the need to be within walking distance of a station.
Number of rapid transit trips per capita
Vancouver: 52
Toronto: 133
Winner:
Toronto
Toronto is the clear winner here, and this is a much better measure of dependence on transit. The only caveat I'd give for this is whether these rapid transit trips are replacing car trips, or if they replace trips that would be taken on foot or by bike instead. Maybe in Toronto there are destinations (like grocery stores) that are done by transit instead of by foot because the built form is less compact?
Mode share (data for census metropolitan areas):
Vancouver: 19.7% public transit 6.3% walking 1.8% biking - 27.8% non-vehicle
Toronto: 23.3% public transit 4.6% walking 1.2% biking - 29.1% non-vehicle
Winner:
Toronto
There are some issues with using mode share, since it is only for work trips and doesn't measure the ability to say, get groceries or run errands without a car. But it is consistently recorded by the census and is a reliable measurement. Note that even though Vancouver has 3.6% fewer making trips by public transit, they almost make up for it by having more people walk to work or bike (more active transit).
New rapid transit within past 10 years:
Vancouver: 20
Toronto: 7
Winner:
Vancouver
Vancouver has had some impressive expansion with its ICTS system, building a network from scratch over the last couple decades. There are some criticisms of it (small stations to save costs mean that there are capacity issues, using railway ROWs means that it doesn't always go where people are, etc) but this is better than the stagnation Toronto had seen. With the projects underway in Toronto and the failed Vancouver transit referendum, Toronto can probably retake this category.
Overall winner:
Toronto