Toronto Announces Continual “10-Minute-Or-Better” Transit Service
A round of convenient transit advancements for Toronto will become active through the end of 2015 and on into 2016. The overall result: last week, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) announced a continual “10-Minute-Or-Better” service network. The press release solidified that Toronto will enjoy 52 streetcar, subway, and bus routes that will run every 10 minutes (or better).
The Toronto Transit Commission‘s officials assured all that there will be no worries about having to wait long at the beginning or end of a long day. Even in the middle of the day, if you are just cruising the city, you will enjoy continual services across Toronto. The improved network ultimately includes all 4 subway lines, 11 streetcar routes, and 37 bus routes.
“Providing quality transit service that is reliable, punctual, frequent that allows Toronto residents to reasonably opt for the TTC when making their way around the city at all times of the day, is critical to our success as a city,” said TTC Chair Josh Colle.
Back in August 2014, the TTC’s board endorsed a report that was the impetus for funding improvements. Included in TTC’s 2015 operating budget, the report emphasized the city council’s willingness to support transit advancements for the public. The city made an “unprecedented commitment of almost $100 million” to TTC earlier this year, Colle said, adding: “As chair, I am pleased to see us continue to make headway on improving public transit in Toronto.”
Here at Important Media we love public transportation and enjoy sharing its benefits. In an article on Cleantechnica, we point out that “Using Transit Could Save A Typical American Urbanite $9,238 A Year.”
Of course, the more we improve transit, the better. Along those lines, also see: “New Google Maps Help You Navigate The World’s Transit” and “This App Could Revolutionize Public Transit.” As Scott Cooney notes, there are “Big Changes Happening In Urban Transportation.”
Without a doubt, we need to cut down on our driving — for health, environmental, and climate reasons. With Toronto’s positive news spurring us on, it also seems a good time to highlight an older post by our sister site Planetsave.com: “US Secretary of Transportation Says ‘Cut Down on Driving!’ — 2 Key Steps.” From that article:
The main steps he said we need to take to get to this ideal are:
1) Give communities additional transportation choices. In particular, he mentioned light rail, fuel-efficient buses, and pedestrian and bicycle paths that intersect with transit centers. Research shows that people want dedicated paths if they are to walk and bike for transportation purposes, and that connectivity to key destinations is also an important factor. The Secretary seems well aware of this.
2) Invest transportation money in coordination with housing and economic development. Ignored for years, but recognized now as a key to creating mixed-income, transit- and pedestrian-friendly communities, land use changes, transportation, and economic development need to be carefully coordinated in order to produce whole communities. Getting people to switch their transportation mode is not a single issue, it is a combination of issues. (Spatial Mismatch — Sprawl & Poor Transit Further Unemployment)
More Related Stories:
A Different Model: How Public Transit Should Work!
200 MPH Houston-Dallas Bullet Train Planned
Americans Want More Public Transit Options, Not More Highways, Study Finds
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Back in the 80s, when I lived in the Toronto area, I knew quite a few folks who chose not to own a car, though they had licenses and would sometimes rent for trips out of town. The TTC was workable and reasonably efficient then–and certainly well-utilized.
But ’10-minutes or better’ is rather fantastic.
Now that the TTC has survived the Rob Ford administration, the sky’s the limit. The new mayor’s “Smart Track” plan strikes me as less practical than the previously-approved “Transit City” plan that would have built out our existing street car and subway networks, but perhaps Tory can actually get it funded and built.
That’s been the problem in Toronto: everyone has a transit plan, but no-one has been able to get the federal, provincial, regional and city governments aligned and providing funding.
Everybody knows in NYC knows how long it takes to walk somewhere. (2 minutes to walk a block, 1 minute to walk a street. For those outside of NYC and do not know. So if you want to go from 42nd st to 72nd it takes 30 minutes.) Busses are often slower. (Busses are always slower than somebody on rollerblades or a bike.) So with this background in place the question is will these Toronto busses get somebody somewhere faster than just walking?