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A public information and consultation campaign regarding the future of transit in Toronto—how passengers are served across the city and region—has been launched by the City of Toronto and the TTC. Through the Realignment of Transit Responsibilities Review, both want to help riders of the system and other invested parties learn more about the various needs and plans the system warrants. The campaign follows on the heels of the provincial government's recently passed Getting Ontario Moving Act, and will include information about the effect the act is expected to have on the City of Toronto.
The consultations are set to include:
- Public meetings led by staff and featuring a City-TTC staff presentation followed by a Q&A session (open-house-style sessions will also take place before/after the presentations, with staff available to answer questions and collect feedback/public input)
- Third-party research
- An online survey anyone can fill in at http://www.toronto.ca/transitreview
- Pop-up activations in TTC subway stations to raise awareness of the website, online survey and public meeting dates and locations.
In addition, an expert advisory panel has been established by the City of Toronto and TTC to advise the City Manager as well as the transit system based on the response to the campaign.
The Getting Ontario Moving Act (GOMA) was approved on Tuesday, June 4th. The plan is supposed to streamline the process of crafting new transportation infrastructure (i.e. subway tunnels, stations) and also address Toronto’s Vision Zero goal with road infrastructure enhancements on the horizon as well. The list of changes to increase road safety include:
- Improving traffic flow and enhancing road safety on highways by introducing tougher penalties for driving slowly in the left-hand lane.
- Protecting children by giving municipalities tools to target drivers who speed around school buses and threaten the safety of children crossing roads to their school or home.
- Strengthened laws that protect frontline, roadside maintenance, construction, tow truck and recovery workers from careless drivers.
- Making learning to drive safer and reaffirming to new drivers that it is never safe to drive under the influence by introducing two new offences for any driving instructor that violates a zero blood-alcohol concentration or zero drug presence requirement.
A large portion of the new legislation is dedicated to funding future expansions of the TTC subway system to the tune of $28.5B (that figure includes a majority of contributions the provincial government is calling on the federal and municipal governments to shoulder) with $10.9B of that specifically allocated for the proposed 'Ontario Line'. Ontario Minister of Transportation Jeff Yurek was quoted this week on the subject stating, “Our government is moving forward with its plan to upload new Toronto subway infrastructure to improve transit and get shovels in the ground faster. This legislation marks the next step in the largest of Ontario’s transit network in our province’s history that will bring real relief to transit users.”
Public information meetings are offered in various places in the city over the next three weeks. Dates and times for the meetings are as follows:
Thursday, June 13, 6:30 to 8:30 PM: Father Serra Catholic School 111 Sun Row Drive, Etobicoke
Thursday, June 20, 6:30 to 8:30 PM: North York Memorial Community Hall, 5110 Yonge Street, North York
Saturday, June 22, 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM: Scarborough Civic Centre, 150 Borough Drive, Scarborough
Thursday, June 27, 6:30 to 8:30 PM: City Hall, Council Chamber, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto
What do you think? Add your comments in the form below or join the discussion in our various Forum threads dedicated to Transportation issues.
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