As city council gets set to meet Wednesday to debate Toronto’s transit plan, U of T’s Cities Centre, led by Professor Eric Miller (CivE), has issued an open letter to councillors urging them to consider a plan that answers the needs of commuters.
The letter contains more than 100 signatures – from former Toronto mayor, the Honourable David Crombie, to faculty members at U of T, Ryerson and York University.
“Transit is the lifeblood of our city,” reads the letter. “After several false starts and radical shifts in direction that have disastrously impeded progress, recent events have put the ball squarely back in your court. With up to 1.7 million riders per weekday, the City could not function without an efficient, comprehensive transit system.”
Cities Centre then outlines three recommendations on how to “restore transportation planning in [Toronto] to a sensible path”:
- Return the eastern section of the new Eglinton Avenue rapid transit line to an at-grade alignment;
- Restore other key transit projects to fast-tracked implementation; and,
- Reinvigorate long-range transit planning within the city.
Cities Centre is a multidisciplinary research institute at U of T, which aims to encourage research on cities and on a wide range of urban policy issues, both in Canada and abroad.
