4.0
STRATEGIES

STRATEGY #10
COMMIT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

The best transportation systems and transportation plans are informed by the best available data and research. Many information gaps currently remain in the GTHA, particularly with respect to the movement of goods within the region. As the RTP is being implemented, it will be important to continue to improve our understanding of transportation issues, and the factors that affect our success. The ability to offer innovative new programs over time will require increased local knowledge and understanding of transportation issues.

FACT: TTS
The Transportation Tomorrow Survey (TTS) is a travel survey conducted in the Greater Golden Horseshoe once every five years. Approximately five per cent of the households in the region are surveyed by telephone with questions pertaining to mode choice, trip purpose, trip timing, trip origin and destination, and other related issues.

This data is an invaluable resource to transportation planners.

One shortcoming of the TTS is that it counts walking and bicycling trips only if they are undertaken for work purposes. Walking and bicycling trips for other purposes, such as going to school, shopping and visiting friends, are not counted. As a result, these modes are systematically undercounted and information about their use for non-commute trips is lacking, which hampers efforts to match the supply of walking and biking facilities with the demand. combine their pick-up with other trips.

PRIORITY ACTIONS:

10.1 Establish a Centre of Excellence for Transportation in the GTHA.

10.2 Improve the coordination and standardization of transportation data collection, forecasting and modelling. This could include:

• expansion of the Transportation Tomorrow Survey (TTS) to gather more detailed information on active transportation;
• analysis of global and regional macro-economic forces;
• development of a leading edge activity-based transportation demand model that can serve as a common base for modelling throughout the region, by all stakeholders;
• analysis of socio-demographic dimensions of travel behaviour, and trends;
• analysis of trip assignment methodologies;
• analysis of transportation-land use integration; and
• analysis of effects of induced travel and congestion on emissions.

10.3 Develop a long-range land protection and/or acquisition strategy to accommodate future transportation needs. This strategy should:

• identify and accommodate future needs for active transportation, transit, roads, highways and goods movement, including the requirements for corridors, stations, intermodal facilities and other elements of the network;
• review all public land holdings for possible applicability to RTP projects;
• establish a process to review RTP needs prior to the disposal of any publicly owned properties; and
• identify provincial and municipal tools that are necessary to protect lands for future transportation needs.

10.4 In collaboration with TransLink in Vancouver, the Agence Métropolitaine de Transport in Montréal, and other partners, identify common approaches to prioritizing transportation projects, including linking regional to national transportation benefits.

10.5 Consult with private and public partners, post-secondary institutions, and others to expand the body of research related to the links between transportation and public health, socioeconomic conditions, economic competitiveness and the environment, and on clean fuel technologies and green vehicles.

10.6 Gather and disseminate knowledge about best practices in regional transportation planning, drawing on examples from similar organizations in comparable regions such as Agence Métropolitaine de Transport in the Montréal area, TransLink in the Vancouver region, Transport for London in England, and Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg in Germany.

10.7 In collaboration with the province, the Transportation Association of Canada, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, municipalities and other relevant stakeholders, expand and recalibrate road design standards and practices for more compact and fuel-efficient vehicles. Over time, replace demand-driven standards with those that recognize pedestrian, cycling and transit priority, as needed, to shift dependency away from single occupancy vehicles.

10.8 Metrolinx will explore options, for the Province of Ontario’s consideration, to create a GTHA Green Transportation Sector Initiative in collaboration with the federal and provincial levels of government, the post-secondary education sector and others, that would foster a madein- the-GTHA resource and talent pool to implement the RTP.