It’s Back to School time, and pretty soon thousands of workers will be mandated back to their city offices – marking an end to the “work from home” holiday brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The move to reduce hybrid work arrangements in favour of more traditional in-person interactions has its supporters and detractors.
But there is little argument that more workers in offices mean more people downtown and in employment nodes on a daily basis; and that is a boost to the economy.
It also means more commuters, more traffic, and the worsening of an already horrendous congestion problem across the Toronto region. Toronto has the longest commuting times in the country and the region is among the worst in the world for congestion – not the kind of global recognition a city region covets.
Covid restrictions was supposed to reduce traffic flow. But it did so for only a short period. Despite a large number of people working from home, the Toronto region has been experiencing the kind of traffic congestion that is now standard water\ cooler conversation. There are several reasons for the growing congestion; and some potential cures.
- Toronto is a desirable metropolitan region with a diverse economy, educated workforce, excellent infrastructure, and most of the features that people seek in a livable metropolis. So people flock here. In that sense, congestion is a sign of success – until too much of it degrades the very features that make a city attractive. The cure is not to dismantle the construction cranes, but to better manage the growth.
- The city is in the midst of a very large building boom. On Friday Sept. 5, the provincial government held a news conference at the Scarborough city centre to highlight the planned new subway station there. It is part of a three-stop extension of the Bloor-Danforth line from Kennedy to Sheppard. The large billboard that framed the podium from which politicians and transit builders
spoke, read: “Part of our $70 billion plan to build public transit.” That means, reducing congestion and improving the daily commute is a stated and ongoing goal of our city-builders. - Some of the congestion cures are too slow in coming. The Eglinton Crosstown and the Finch LRT are the butt of jokes and source of rising frustration as delay after delay infuriates commuters who look to them as the answer to a
quicker commute. When these projects stall or take too long to move from construction to full service, commuters fume and bristle. - The current infrastructure is over-loaded. Highway 401 is an everyday parking lot, loaded with trucks that move essential goods, and populated by drivers stuck in traffic. One solution offered by the province – a tunnel through the central section of Toronto – is ambitious and decades away, if it ever happens. Maybe, a more urgent solution might be to move the trucks from the 401 to Highway 407.
- Aging infrastructure has to be repaired, and when they undergo renovation, the traffic snarl is often long and frustrating. Work on the Gardiner Expressway is a perfect example. It must be done. It takes time. It is going to cause commuter pain. Therefore, round-the-clock, a 24-7 construction schedule is the best way to limit the negative impact.
- New projects that promise a better commuting future often require present-day pain. The massive Ontario line, which is essential in providing relief to the Yonge subway line and the Bloor-Danforth line, is a huge undertaking that necessitates the ripping up of parts of the city. For example, Queen Street, just outside city hall, will be shut down for six, seven, eight years as that subway station is built.
- Proliferation of delivery vehicles is a mounting problem for a city that has not contemplated using smaller vehicles for downtown deliveries, like they do in Sweden; neither are we intolerant enough of drivers who park in no-stopping zones and ruin rush hour traffic.
In summary, we need foresight to plan for future growth; patience as construction progresses; adoption of strategies used elsewhere to manage demand and delivery of goods and people; wide and broad communication and alerts to drivers and commuters to reduce surprise traffic snarls; strict enforcement of no-parking and no-stopping in through-traffic lanes during rush hour; and stringent guidelines that allow the closure of traffic lanes to accommodate construction only in the most essential cases, and for as short a time as possible. Pay attention to the above and Toronto won’t choke on its success.
