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A: Metrolinx was created by the Government of Ontario to develop and implement an integrated multi-modal transportation plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) — the metropolitan region encompassing the City of Toronto, the City of Hamilton and the four surrounding regional municipalities (Durham, Halton, Peel and York). Its mandate includes providing seamless, coordinated transportation throughout this region, which is Canada’s largest and among North America's most rapidly growing.

Metrolinx operates within the legislative framework of the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority Act, 2006.

A: Since December 2007, The Greater Toronto Transportation Authority (GTTA) has had a new “doing business as” name: Metrolinx. We believe Metrolinx succinctly describes our mandate to provide a seamless transportation network that links the metropolitan region that stretches from York and Durham Regions, through Toronto, Halton and Peel and onward to Hamilton.

Governed by this mandate and delivering various initiatives, Metrolinx “links people to places".

For legal purposes, we’ll continue to use the GTTA name.

A: Metrolinx has a new logo as of May 2008.

In December 2007, we changed our name from the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority to Metrolinx:

• To eliminate ongoing confusion with GO Transit's legal name (Greater Toronto Transit Authority) and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA);
• To better reflect Metrolinx’s mandate to integrate transportation across the metropolitan region (including Hamilton) instead of just “Greater Toronto”;
• To make it easier for the public to identify the agency, especially during extensive public and stakeholder interactions while developing the Regional Transportation Plan.

Over the ensuing months, with assistance from the Ministry of Transportation, Metrolinx undertook a competitive process to create a new logo. The new design builds on the name in a creative, forward-moving, progressive manner. It promotes a strong, solid organization that is at the same time bold and forward-thinking. Our choice of colours shows that we have a green agenda.

To champion, develop and implement an integrated transportation system for our region that enhances prosperity, sustainability and quality of life.

A: Metrolinx is constituted under the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority Act, 2006.

A: One of Metrolinx’s first priorities is the development of an integrated, multi-modal Regional Transportation Plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). We will be working to improve the options people have for transportation as they travel across the GTHA.

A:  Metrolinx is using a very collaborative and consultative approach to develop the Regional Transportation Plan. The plan started with seven discussion papers on each of the following subjects:

• Towards Sustainable Transportation
• Mobility Hubs
• Active Transportation
• Transportation Demand Management
• Moving Goods and Delivering Services
• Roads and Highways
• Transit

Technical Advisory Groups with representatives from each of the municipalities and the provincial and federal governments have been providing input into each of the papers. An Advisory Council, consisting of community leaders from across the GTHA, has also provided input into the papers.

The seven discussion papers were consolidated into two White Papers: Vision, Goals and Objectives; and Preliminary Directions and Concepts. All the papers will be coordinated under the themes of people, the environment and the economy to form a Draft Regional Transportation Plan.

There have been and will continue to be opportunities at each stage of the process for those with a specific interest in any of the discussion papers, key stakeholders and the general public to provide their comments, concerns and ideas.

A: This site has provided, and will continue to provide, opportunities to comment on all the papers that comprise the plan. We’ll also post dates for public meetings and Metronauts events where you can participate in person.

A: Metrolinx is responsible for developing an Investment Strategy to support the Regional Transportation Plan. This strategy will be developed in tandem with the transportation plan and will be released at the same time as the Draft Regional Transportation Plan.

A: Metrolinx released seven Green Papers as the first step in our open consultative process. These are preliminary reports posted on the Metrolinx website and the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) Registry for interactive input from the public and stakeholders. Each Green Paper focused on a key topic (for example, roads and highways) and asked the public to comment on how we could tackle that aspect of our current system. Two White Papers summarize and analyze the comments received on the Green Papers. We continue to seek input from our stakeholders and from various experts. All the comments on the White Papers will lead to the development of a draft Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). We plan to hold a series of public meetings in your local communities this fall to solicit final public comments on the Draft RTP and Investment Strategy.

A: Metrolinx is the final piece in a three-part approach by the provincial government to prepare the Greater Toronto and Hamilton region for growth and sustained prosperity. Building on the work of the Greater Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt, which protects more than 1.8 million acres of environmentally sensitive and agricultural land in the heart of the region, and Places to Grow, a plan that coordinates population, development and job growth, Metrolinx will develop an internationally renowned world-class transportation system.

One of the first priorites of Metrolinx will be to focus its energies on improving the traveller’s experience across the region. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about inter-regional travel, please share them with us. If your complaint is about a specific transit service, we suggest you also speak to your local transit service provider.

A: The BikeLinx program advances Metrolinx’s work in the field of active transportation, aimed at encouraging people to use healthy and environmentally friendly means of getting around. Given the numerous benefits that walking and cycling can provide to everyone, we believe that these modes of transportation need to be promoted more seriously. Our Active Transportation Green Paper describes why Metrolinx is working to make it easier for people to ride their bicycles to connect with public transit and to be able to store them safely.

A: The objectives of the BikeLinx program are to:

• give travellers more choice in how they get around;
• allow travellers to combine two modes of transportation for faster and more convenient trips by installing bicycle racks on public transit buses;
• promote public transit as an effective way for potential cyclists to cross barriers that they might not otherwise cycle across, such as highway interchanges and bridges;
• show that bus rapid transit and other priority bus-based transit services can have a greater market and community penetration when combined with a cycling trip at either end;
• create secure and covered trip-end facilities, such as bicycle lockers, making commuting by bicycle a more attractive option to those who might otherwise drive; and
• prove commuter cycling is an effective and efficient alternative to the single occupant vehicle.

A: BikeLinx is also one of Metrolinx’s “Quick Wins” initiatives. The objective of the “Quick Wins” program is to fund short term service improvements to the transportation system in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. In August 2007, the Metrolinx Board approved the first set of Quick Win projects with a total value of $106.6M, including an Inter-Regional Bicycle Expansion project with a value of $5M. The program funds the installation of 1,000 new bicycle-carrying racks on municipal transit buses and 1,000 new safe and secure bicycle storage spaces, including smart card lockers at strategic station locations across the GO Transit inter-regional network.

Funding for the program is part of the province of Ontario’s financial commitment to the Metrolinx Quick Wins initiatives, confirmed in the March 2008 Budget. The program is being implemented in collaboration with municipal staff.