ACTION: Speed up better transit!

 

 
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Toronto has a plan to speed up transit on 18 bus corridors and the King and Queen streetcar. But the plan is too slow - some routes won't see improvements until 2031!

Take action by sending a message to the Mayor and your City Councillor using the form above, or signing up to speak to the Executive Committee on November 18th. Copy and paste information below to personalize your message. 

Information below is from this November 2020 staff report

What's being proposed? 

Transit priority measures are proposed for 18 bus corridors and 2 streetcar corridors. Transit priority can mean everything from better bus stops, to traffic signal priority, to bus-only lanes. Bus lanes are planned for four more corridors (Jane, Dufferin, Steeles, Finch East) and others are being considered. An expansion of the King Street transit corridor is planned from Roncesvalles to the DVP and similar streetcar priority is in store for Queen Street, but not until 2028. The plan is positive, but it is moving too slow. 

We need better buses where COVID-19 rates are highest 

The majority of proposed bus corridors run through neighbourhoods with the highest COVID-19 positivity rates (see the map from the report below). Higher numbers of Black residents and people of colour live in these same neighbourhoods. Fast-tracking these bus improvements is an urgent equity issue. The Toronto Office of Recovery and Rebuild has recommended that the City “accelerate or make permanent transit initiatives the City undertook quickly to support crisis response and restart, such as instituting priority bus lanes."

Local stops & more service needed on bus lanes

The TTC is reducing the number of buses on the first RapidTO corridor on Eglinton East. Instead, TTCriders is calling on the TTC to increase service frequency and add buses. Local residents have opposed the removal of mid-block bus stops, some of which are right outside of apartment buildings. Scarborough has a high proportion of pedestrian deaths and the poor snow and ice clearing at some of the removed stop locations will make transit less accessible. 

Other cities are doing more

Toronto is lagging behind. Vancouver is implementing four bus lanes this Fall, on its most crowded routes. New York City and Boston are implementing bus lanes as a pandemic response.  TTC users need these improvements because 70% of all journeys on the TTC currently include a trip on surface transit, according to the report.

City Council should fund the plan in 2021

The Surface Transit Network Plan needs around $62 million in funding from 2021-2024 to study, plan, design, and implement surface transit projects. This funding will be requested during the 2021 City Budget process. 

We shouldn't have to wait a decade

Bus lanes were proposed by the TTC Board this summer as an urgent pandemic response. But only one has been installed 2020. A report on the Jane Street bus lane proposal will be debated at City Council in June 2021, with no date set for implementation. Then the next set of transit priority is not scheduled until 2023. Yet the TTC Board had asked staff to consider speeding up installation of four more lanes in 2021.

City Council approved a motion in July 2020 to fast-track public consultations on Dufferin Street. But in the plan being debated this month, Dufferin is not slated to have public consultations until 2023, with installation planned for 2024.

There timelines from the report show how long you'll be waiting for transit priority improvements: 

Corridor Engineering studies Detailed Design  Project delivery
Jane Street Ongoing Ongoing  2021
Steeles Ave West 2021 2022 2023
Finch Avenue East 2021 2022 2023
Dufferin Street  2022 2023 2024
Lawrence Avenue East 2022 2023 2024
Finch Avenue West 2023 2024 2025
Sheppard Avenue West 2023 2024 2025
Don Mills Road/ Overlea Boulevard/ Pape Avenue 2024 2025 2026
Victoria Park Avenue 2024 2025 2026
Keele Street 2025 2026 2027
Sheppard Avenue East 2025 2026 2027
Queen Street 2026 2027 2028
King Street 2026 2027 2028
Markham Road 2027 2028 2029
York Mills Road/Ellesmere Road 2027 2028 2029
Wilson Avenue  2028 2029 2030
Lawrence Avenue West/ Scarlett Road/ Dixon Road 2028 2029 2030
Kipling Avenue 2029 2030 2031
McCowan Road  2029 2030 2031

 

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