Visions of Transportation and Urban Form in the GTA Bruce McCuaig Assistant Deputy Minister Ministry of Transportation

Planning for a growing GTA GTA is and will continue to be both a destination and a gateway for business, tourism and residents The Greater Golden Horseshoe region is thriving today and over the next 25 years, 4 million more people and 2 million more jobs will depend on our transportation network Maximizing our network means shaping our communities so that our roads and transit systems connect people and places when and where they need to go The provincial Growth Plan is providing a long-term strategic view to how and where we need to grow Fostering our growth potential must include consideration for our greenspaces, our economic need to move goods within and through the region, and building a transit culture Our challenge is to better connect our land use and transportation plans to ensure that our infrastructure is in the right place at the right time

Knowing where to grow Travel patterns continue to change and volumes are increasing across provincial and regional roads and to a lesser degree on our transit systems Home to work travel between the 416 to 905 region is now close to a 50/50 split and east-west volumes are increasing across Peel, York and Halton regions Last year, approximately 22,000 trucks moved goods on Ontario’s highways each day carrying commodities worth $1.5 trillion. As a net exporter of goods, over $330 billion crosses our borders Need to understand our hot spots across the network and how they are connected to maximize investments and productivity Both infrastructure and technology can assist in providing more choice to business and travellers on where, when and how they choose to travel Initiatives like High Occupancy Lanes, Bus Rapid Transit or GPS data in trucks can improve travel times and shape choice with minimal compromise to convenience or access to transportation

Predicting transportation demand Forecasting future growth and demand on our network helps to understand what our choices are today and how our decisions may impact how we grow As a complex region, we need to understand what’s happening in, around and outside of our region to appreciate how our choices will shape our communities For decision making, we need simple information on complex relationships – where and why travellers are using the network and how often Network demand and trend analysis activities, including the Commercial Vehicle Survey and Transportation Tomorrow Survey provide us with critical data on system use Our data models need to continue to be responsive and flexible to answer varied questions and support the development of solutions to our transportation challenges