Toronto – Toronto City Council has endorsed the RapidTO: Surface Transit Network Plan that aims to improve the speed and reliability of buses and streetcars by implementing a range of transit priority solutions along major roads. Each of the 20 major roadways included in the plan serve some of the busiest bus and streetcar routes in the city. A list of the roadways can be found on the City’s Surface Transit Network Plan: Phase 2 webpage.
Transit priority solutions
With up to 70 per cent of all transit journeys requiring the use of a bus or streetcar, the reliability of surface transit is essential for thousands of riders each day. Transit priority solutions are a critical investment and studies have shown how these measures can improve the lives of transit users by providing more equitable transportation options.
Transit priority solutions include dedicated bus lanes, high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, transit priority signals, queue jump lanes, bus bays and more. Descriptions of transit priority solutions are available here.
In partnership with the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the City of Toronto will seek out opportunities to accelerate the installation of transit priority solutions while balancing the need to consult with the public and adequately studying the nuances of each roadway before installation begins. While RapidTO will deliver large scale surface transit improvements on priority roadways, there are other concurrent programs that aim to enhance service, including implementing:
- Up to 12 standalone queue jump lanes in the next five years
- Transit signal priority to 50 locations annually
- Targeted regulatory measures at 10 locations per year.
The implementation of transit priority solutions is a key recommendation of the City of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. Supporting transit reliability is also critical for meeting the City’s TransformTO Climate Action Strategy’s goal of 75 per cent of trips under a five kilometer area walked, biked or by transit by 2030.
Dedicated bus and streetcar lanes
Toronto has approximately 104 kilometers of all day dedicated bus and streetcar lanes. Of these, 18.5 kilometers are designated as RapidTO bus lanes. More information is available on the RapidTO webpage.