Category Archives for "Southwestern Ontario"

Brampton studying Urban Boulevard to replace Highway 413

By Transport Action Ontario | Highways and Bridges , Latest News , Southwestern Ontario

The GTA-West corridor (Highway 413) is a proposed new expressway between Vaughan and Milton. It is currently in the final stages of an Environmental Assessment. Transport Action has been involved with this project since 2009. See our last posting Nov. 12, 2019.

In July, 2020, Brampton Planning and Development Committee unanimously approved a recommendation by city staff to study an urban boulevard in lieu of an expressway in the Heritage Heights area of the City. Transport Action Ontario made a deputation supporting the staff recommendation. It can be viewed below:

Progress Towards a Public Transportation Network in SW Ontario

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Southwestern Ontario

The steady startup of community bus services in Southwestern Ontario, funded by the Province under Community Transportation Grants (CTG) is continuing. See our previous post on Rural Transit Renaissance (January 2020) for background. Several of these groups have now taken an important next step, by working together and coordinating their efforts under the banner of Southwest Community Transit Association (SCT), facilitated by the South Central Ontario Region Economic Development Corporation (SCOR EDC).

Transport Action Ontario has written Minister Mulroney congratulating her on the CTG program and its positive fallout. We also urged her to continue to work on other Actions in the province’s draft plan Connecting the Southwest, released in January, 2020 (see our posting January 17, 2020).

Our letter can be viewed below:

All Aboard St. Marys joins Transport Action

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Southwestern Ontario

All Board St. Marys (AASM), a non-government organization based in St. Marys, Ontario, informed their members on June 25, 2020 that they intend to merge with Transport Action Ontario. This group has been a strong and vocal advocate for improvement of passenger rail service on the North Main Line between Kitchener and London.

All Aboard St Marys has been very successful in raising awareness of passenger rail with MPs, MPPs and the general public. Use of the train in St. Marys is up 75% over the past decade, and both a wheelchair lift and electric vehicle charger have been installed at the community-managed train station.

AASM has also been instrumental in getting resolutions supporting VIA Rail passed by many Ontario cities and towns, and gathering support from 78 MPs, MPPs, and Senators.

We welcome members of All Aboard St. Marys to the Transport Action family.

Input to Ontario 2020 Budget Consultations

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Latest News , Northern Ontario , Southwestern Ontario , Urban Transit

The Ontario government is asking for public input into Budget 2020. Transport Action Ontario has made the following submission, focussing on the public transportation sector.

Northern Ontario

• Provide funding to implement the Ontario Northland and Metrolinx study on passenger train and bus renewal in Northern Ontario

• Work with the federal government to save the Huron Central Railway, ideally under Ontario Northland management

Southwestern Ontario

• Provide funding to initiate firm steps to implement some of the Action in the recently released draft transportation master plan.  Particularly important are concrete steps on Actions 6 to 8, which deal with improving passenger rail on existing rail corridors owned by freight rail companies.  Work needs to be initiated with the freight rail companies and with VIA Rail.

Urban Transit

• Increase the gas tax share directed to urban transit.  This had been promised by the Ford government during the election campaign, but was not kept.

• Initiate a study to permit Ontario municipalities to use new revenue tools, such as a piece of the provincial sales tax, a land-transfer tax, or authority for road tolls, to fund critical infrastructure such as public transit or roads.

• Develop a program to subsidize transit fare integration in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Areas in order to reduce two-fare walls between agencies like TTC-GO and TTC-York Region Transit.

General

• Include environmental and climate change considerations when reviewing transportation modal options.  Any provincial transportation proposals are then more likely to meet with broader public approval.

• Expand the highly-successful Community Transportation Grant Program and improve regional coordination/planning/oversight and shared service models.  See our letter to Jeff Yurek (Minister of Transportation at the time) of February 4, 2019 and re-sent to Minister Mulroney in July.

• Expand the HOT lane program on Ontario expressways.

Photo: Daniel Vorndran

Draft Transportation Plan for Southwestern Ontario released by MTO

By Transport Action Ontario | Intercity Rail and Bus , Southwestern Ontario

On January 17, 2020, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation released the report Connecting the Southwest: A draft transportation plan for southwestern Ontario. Transport Action Ontario is pleased that the plan has been released, as promised in the 2019 Provincial Budget.

The Province has also launched an online survey to gather feedback on the document.

Most of the plan’s 43 Actions deal with expansion or operations of highways and roads. As an organization focusing on rail, bus and transit public transportation, we will not comment further on those Actions.

We are encouraged to see the province taking the public transportation concerns of communities large and small across the region seriously, to reverse the decline of rural and regional mobility. Some of the Actions are province-wide programs or plans already underway. We support these programs such as the Community Transportation Grant Program, the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, Dedicated Gas Tax Funding for Public Transportation and Transit-Oriented Development of stations.

We are pleased that the province will be actively engaging with mayors in a Task Force to build upon the foundations that have been created by the Community Transportation Grants, and focusing on a regional bus network with a rail spine, as recommended in our policy research and reports.

The province is working to identify opportunities for incremental improvements to the existing rail corridors, which could swiftly deliver the more frequent and reliable passenger services that the region needs. It is imperative that these passenger rail improvements are for the benefit of the whole region, including additional services to Sarnia and Windsor.

We hope to see the federal government represented on the new Task Force and working alongside the province as an active partner in bringing about significant improvements that will make the best use of the increased capabilities of the new VIA Rail train fleet that will be arriving in 2021.

We’re encouraged by a focus on passenger convenience, and connectivity between rail and bus services. This is something people in this region have brought up frequently at our public meetings. It is also fundamental to maximizing the benefits to quality of life and minimizing the burden on the public purse.

Bus drivers and train crews are the backbone of a passenger friendly transportation network. They need fair wages and good working conditions to help them deliver outstanding levels of customer service, and that’s an issue we will be watching.

We look forward to seeing concrete steps to fulfill these Actions, including line items in upcoming Provincial Budgets. Inevitably, investment decisions will have to be made between highway, road and public transportation projects. It’s imperative that all investment decisions be evidence-based and incorporate broad-spectrum stakeholder consultation. All plans need to include a contribution to citizens’ wellness and full consideration of their health effects. Economic growth facilitation should not be based on monetary considerations alone but its positive effects on society in general.

Photo: Ontario Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney announcing Connecting the Southwest accompanied by Environment Minister Jeff Yurek, MPP for Elgin-Middlesex-London; London Mayor Ed Holder; Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman, MPP for Oxford; Consumer Affairs Minister Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron-Bruce; and Bob Bailey, MPP for Sarnia-Lambton