RapidTO: Surface Transit Network Plan

A reliable surface transit network is essential to enable people to move around the city and access employment, business/retail, education and recreational/cultural facilities, particularly for Neighbourhood Improvement Areas and equity-deserving communities. Improving transit services in the inner suburbs is a key recommendation of the City of Toronto's Poverty Reduction Strategy. Supporting transit reliability is critical for meeting the City's TransformTO Climate Action Strategy's goal of 75 percent of trips under a 5 kilometres area walked, biked, or by transit by 2030. The Official Plan identifies that "recognizing their importance, the network of bus and streetcar routes will be enhanced to improve service reliability and travel times by reducing interference from other road traffic through the implementation of transit priority measures, and by improving operational efficiency and rider convenience by such means as providing more frequent service." The Surface Transit Network Plan aims to create a comprehensive network of surface transit priority corridors along arterial roads through the use of tools such as reserved lanes, intersection and signal improvements and customer comfort improvements at transit stops to prioritize public transit in the City's road network. The Surface Transit Network Plan was referred to as the RapidTO: Surface Transit Network Plan during the consultation process. This report seeks City Council endorsement in principle of the overall Surface Transit Network Plan, provides a status update on four projects where roadway-specific studies have been completed or initiated, seeks City Council endorsement of the initiation of three (3) additional roadway-specific studies in the near-term (2024-2025), and responds to a related request from Infrastructure and Environment Committee. Staff from Transportation Services, City Planning and the Toronto Transit Commission worked collaboratively to develop the Surface Transit Network Plan with consideration for roadways identified in the City of Toronto Official Plan's Surface Transit Priority Network (Map 5), the Toronto Transit Commission's 5-Year Service Plan and 10-Year Outlook, as well as other bus and streetcar routes with more than 20,000 daily riders. In developing the plan, feedback was received from over 7,100 participants over two phases of consultation with local community representatives and the public: In Phase 1 (October to November 2021), participants were asked to rate and provide feedback on the importance of evaluation criteria in selecting bus and streetcar roadways to prioritize. There was overall support for the initial evaluation criteria presented, and a new criterion for connectivity to Major Destinations was added as a result of the consultation feedback. In Phase 2 (March to April 2022), participants were asked to provide feedback on the list of roadways to be prioritized over the next ten years. Overall, participants expressed support for the initial twenty (20) roadways. Many survey respondents expressed support for accelerated implementation and some frustration about the need to undertake more studies for individual roadways. Assessment of technical data and public input helped inform the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of 47 candidate roadways for surface transit improvements. As a result, twenty (20) priority roadways have been identified to be included in the Surface Transit Network Plan over the next ten years. Attachment 1 shows the location of the Surface Transit Network Plan priority roadways, along with the 27 candidates for long-term planning studies across the City of Toronto. Corridors identified for roadway-specific studies will be subject to further feasibility analysis to determine suitable surface transit priority measures and development of design options. Public consultation for each corridor will strive to engage residents and local community groups through online and in-person consultation activities, where possible. Staff will work with Councillors' offices to identify key groups, such as residents, businesses and other community representatives, that should be included in outreach and notification efforts. The public will have an opportunity to review and provide feedback on proposed design options. Confirmation of the preferred design will be developed with both technical analysis and community input. The preferred option would be recommended in an implementation report to the appropriate Committee for Council approval, before proceeding to implementation. As previously directed by Council, there are four (4) projects where roadway-specific studies have been completed or initiated associated with the Surface Transit Network Plan: Eglinton Avenue East, Jane Street, Steeles Avenue, and Victoria Park Avenue. This report contains updates on each of these studies. Subject to City Council approval of the Surface Transit Network Plan, three (3) additional roadway-specific studies are proposed to be initiated in the near-term (2024-2025) to move forward on feasibility study, design, and community consultation for the following roadways: - Finch Avenue East between Victoria Park Avenue and McCowan Road; - Dufferin Street between Wilson Station and Dufferin Gate; and - Lawrence Avenue East between Victoria Park Avenue and Morningside Avenue. Transit signal priority and improving accessibility at bus stops will be considered east of Morningside Avenue. Finch Avenue East, Dufferin Street, and Lawrence Avenue East were identified as priority corridors in Toronto Transit Commission's 5-Year Service Plan and 10-Year Outlook. Dufferin Street and Lawrence Avenue East were identified as high priority corridors under the Surface Transit Network Plan evaluation framework. The above referenced sections of these roadways are being recommended for near-term study to leverage potential opportunities for delivery as part of upcoming capital projects. Initiation of feasibility studies for the remaining segments of Finch Avenue East and Lawrence Avenue East will be considered at a future time. Each roadway-specific study will require two to three years to undertake feasibility study, design, and community consultation prior to seeking City Council approval for implementation of the proposed changes which will include a phased approach to accelerate implementation of shorter segments of the roadway, where possible. While the Surface Transit Network Plan looks at delivering large scale surface transit improvements on priority roadways, there are other concurrent programs that aim to implement localized transit priority measures city-wide to enhance service. Actions include: - Delivering up to 12 stand alone queue jump lanes in the next 5 years; - Implementing transit signal priority to 50 locations annually; and - Implementing targeted regulatory measures at 10 locations per year. More information about these actions along with other transit improvements will be presented in the Toronto Transit Commission's 5-Year Service and Customer Experience Action Plan to be submitted to the Toronto Transit Commission Board in the first quarter of 2024. In partnership with Toronto Transit Commission and City Planning, Transportation Services will report to the appropriate Committee and City Council at key milestones as part of the implementation of the Surface Transit Network Plan.

with the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to initiate three additional roadway-specific studies, public consultation, and design of the following individual roadways proposed for surface transit priority, and to bring study findings and recommendations to the appropriate Committee and Council for approval at the appropriate time: a. Finch Avenue East between Victoria Park Avenue and McCowan Road; b. Dufferin Street between Wilson Station and Dufferin Gate; and c. Lawrence Avenue East between Victoria Park Avenue and Morningside Avenue. 3. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services, to forward a copy of this report to the Toronto Transit Commission Board.