Halifax Transit

[Nouvellecosse]

Yes, even though Toronto's CMA has a greater proportion of commutes by transit than Hfx, it's still far from a poster child in that regard. It's doing better than a number of NA examples but in an international sense, not so much.

But although Toronto needs work in terms of bringing higher order transit to more parts of the city and metro area, it isn't really that bad. People don't need to live right along a subway line in order to have it benefit them, as long as they're within a reasonable catchment zone, like a 10-15 minute bus ride which may be several km. And the way the population is distributed, there are many people who are. There are also many people near a streetcar line in the inner city which is a higher order of transit and although slower than metro or commuter rail, the distances being covered aren't that huge either.

Unless a city is very dense it's pretty expensive to have a rail transit line within walking distance to everyone. If we manage to bring a subway/metro line or decent frequency commuter rail line within 3-4km of everyone in the GTA I think we'll be doing ok.

In Toronto's case, one of the biggest issues is capacity. There is no lack of people with access to the subway and streetcars networks and parts of the systems are too crowded. The new rolling stock are helping to relieve the issue on the streetcar lines but on the subway although rolling stock and signaling upgrades are helping, another line is really needed. Money has also been committed to upgrading and electrifying GO so I think Toronto will be in decent shape going forward.