Toronto's Congestion Problem has Simple Fixes, if the Establishment is Willing to Face Them

TRBOT put out a report on congestion. Predictably, it focused on moving more cars, more quickly, as if that’s ever worked. Instead of doubling down on traffic, here’s what they could have proposed.

Last week, the Toronto Region Board of Trade put out a report on congestion. Predictably, it leaned on the same tired thinking of “how can we move more cars more quickly?”

The main issue is they started with the wrong question.

The real issue isn’t that cars move too slowly in Toronto, that is merely just a symptom of a city whose infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with it’s growth, especially as much of that growth has developed as sprawl where driving becomes the default. While transit in the GTA region isn’t terrible, it certainly isn’t sufficient, and in many cases, it’s deployment has been unequal.

If you want to get into downtown Toronto, despite having solid, if unspectacular, commuter rail system in GO, a couple of subway lines and multiple streetcar routes, if your journey starts in a car in say Mississauga, Brampton or Pickering then it will typically end in a car even if you’re going downtown. While Toronto might be ok-ish for transit, the Region needs a lot of work.

The issue with the TRBOT ‘action plan’ is that all of it focuses on moving more cars, more quickly, rather than the people. When you focus on making driving easier rather than making alternatives irresistibly better, all you do is induce more demand for cars and repeat the cycle.

Now let’s just appreciate they did say “build transit” but they also just assumed that transit is primarily subways, and they take years to build, and hence went back to things like “don’t allow construction to close a lane”, or “enforce driving rules” or sillier “move bike lanes to backstreets and get rid of outdoor patios”. While these things might not actually be inherently wrong for moving more cars, they don’t break the cycle of car first, and they certainly don’t make a better city in which to live, work and play.

(as an aside, Lanrick Bennett already did a pretty good oped critique on the report here)

So, let’s break that cycle and focus on what they could have suggested.

Here are five alternative things Toronto could do immediately to ease congestion, not by shuffling more cars through traffic, but by making the other modes of transport more compelling so people choose to leave their cars at home, especially when accessing downtown.

1. Remove On-Street Parking on Major Transit Routes

If a street has a streetcar or a major bus route, it should not have curb side parking slowing it down. The King Street Pilot already proved this works. Entrench it, and it across the city.

Prioritise the implementation on the busiest corridors first (e.g. King, Queen, Dundas, College, Eglinton, Finch … even Bloor) with strictly enforceable tow-away zones, a bit like Red Routes in London. Complement this with clearly designated drop off and loading zones, ideally on the side streets or back lanes.

2. Tax Incentives & a Transit Lottery

Want to get people onto transit? Make it rewarding.

Perhaps inspired by the Nota Fiscal Paulista program, launched in São Paulo. The government created a lottery to incentivise people to ask for receipts when making purchases.

• Every transit fare contributes 5 or 10 cents to a prize pool, with daily/weekly cash prizes for riders. Inspired by the

• Or, a $500 tax credit for making 20 transit rides, maybe another $100 for a subsequent stack, automatically tracked via PRESTO. In many cases, riders just need to be encouraged onto transit and build the habit, seeing that it can work and they don’t need to backslide to the car.

While lots of people will say there isn’t transit near their home in the suburbs, using this as a way to promote Park & Ride, where the car can be left at a GO station and the journey completed by train could have a huge impact on what’s sitting still on the Gardiner, QEW or Don Valley Parkway.

Incentives work. We’ve just never applied them to transit properly.

3. 100% Tariff on Downtown Parking

Driving downtown is a privilege, not a right. A 100% tariff on parking would discourage unnecessary car trips, or the daily banker commute from the burbs, while making space for those who truly need to drive. The revenue proceeds can be directly deployed to fund better transit.

4. Rebrand the Bus & Streetcar Network as a Proper Rapid Transit System

Toronto’s buses and streetcars already move more people than the subway, but they don’t feel like rapid transit. They don’t scream consumer proposition. In many cases, unless you’re familiar with the route and the frequency, then the bus is something for other people, even when it can suit you.

• Dedicated bus lanes and streetcar paths, with signal priority at traffic lights and junctions. The sort of thing that was being done in most European cities in the 90s, delivering a minimum expectation of frequency.

• Better, safer, cleaner, more visible stops with real-time info, shelter/shade and seating. Where the bus or tram stops needs to be a visible and compelling as the vehicle itself, even if the wait time is minimal.

• On that note, refresh the branding and livery of streetcars and buses, to look cleaner, sharper, promoting the destination, route and frequency.

• Clear, visible, consistent branding & an updated route map that highlights high-frequency, high-speed corridors for transit. The bus and streetcar network should be as prominently displayed as an overground system to complement the subway.

Make it look and feel like something people actually want to use over the car.

5. More E-Bike Sharing, Charging & Weather-Adapted Kiosks

Expand the bike share system to include even more e-bikes, ensuring consistent availability as the e-bike is the real competition to the car or ride share, while the traditional bike is more of an alternative to walking.

The distance that can be covered with relatively little physical effort is the real game changer, especially when applied to the bike lane network that has gone from poor, to relatively good in recently years. This also acts as a counterbalance to the demand from Doug Ford to rip out the lanes he sees as underutilised.

For those with their own bike, more prominent, safer, secure, likely indoor bike parking and e-bike charging would support those using their own two wheels. The provision of change facilities, showers or even rental kiosks for the likes of an impromptu rain jackets, pair of gloves or helmet make biking more desirable and doable year-round.

No new highways. No road widening. No hundred billion-dollar tunnel projects. No putting the car first.

Just smart, rapid and inexpensive changes that make the transit, cycling, and shared mobility we already have today better, faster and more attractive so that when someone does need to drive, the roads are actually clearer.

Toronto does have a congestion problem, but it will only be solved as a result of a bigger action plan designed around overall mobility, not the car.

Toronto can fix it, but only if it breaks a few very old habits.

To being Challengers.

Even the TRBOT.