Investigative Report on Congestion in Toronto
Toronto is one of the most congested cities in North America and only second to Vancouver in terms of congestion among Canadian cities. Congestion has been a major issue in Toronto for a while; the Vital Signs 2016 report indicates that congestion is still an issue in Toronto despite the local government coming up with several policies and strategies of dealing with the same (Vital Signs, 2016). The strategies have lowered congestion insignificantly. Congestion is a problem of every citizen of Toronto and the greater Ontario and is contributed to by all these people. This paper is an investigative report of the various factors that contribute to congestion in Toronto and how ardent adherence to the values of various legislations relevant to the traffic situation in the city should have helped curb congestion.
Congestion in Toronto has been attributed to many factors. Of these factors, constant population growth seems to be a dominant one. The number of people in Toronto is always increasing either by birth or migration. By 2015, the population of Toronto was 2,826,497, which was an increase from 2,503,281 (Vital Signs, 2016). At the same time, as the economy improves, so does the number of people with cars hence worsening congestion (Ballingall, 2015). This also explains why the various policies and strategies by the local government have not been so effective. Population increase is the only explanation why despite the increase in the number of people biking or walking to work in Toronto, congestion is still a menace.
Second, as the population increases, so do construction activities in the cities. There are so many constructions either by the local government or by private developers that are ongoing in the city. The constructions include buildings, waterways, electrical installations and many others (Vital Signs, 2016). Many times these constructions affect major roadways. It is not surprising to find people digging a manhole in the center of a major city highway. These construction activities invariably lead to closure or effective narrowing of major city highways hence congesting the alternative routes (Proost & Van Dender, 2012). This gives a general outlook of congestion in the city.
As with any other issue of major public interest, local politics have taken their toll on the congestion situation in Toronto and have seemed to worsen the situation. The issue has been a bait for politicians for earning relevance and popularity among the residents of Ontario as is well observed by Grubel (2016). In recent times, the main issue of politicization has been the intervention strategy- should Toronto go for Subways or Light Rail Transit (LRT)? Both strategies can be beneficial if they are used well. However, the congestion issue in Toronto cannot be solved by LRT alone; subways are needed direly (Vital Signs, 2016). In fact, it has been argued that the conspicuously deficient Toronto subway map when compared to the subway maps of other big cities across the world greatly contribute to the congestion problem in Toronto. Politicians and politics have insisted on LRT at the expense of subways hence contributing to the worsening congestion in Toronto.
Even though traffic can be a major scare in any big city, the city leadership ought to act fast and deal with this issue before it gets too severe. However, in Toronto, this has not been the case. Poor traffic strategy should also receive a sizeable share of the blame for causing traffic congestion in the city (Kang, Scott, Kanaroglou, & Maoh, 2009). Poor traffic strategy is epitomized by the poor TTC system in the city. Streetcars as the main transit in the city sound like a joke, a bus would definitely carry more people at one time hence reducing the amount of traffic in the city. Moreover, a poor parking system along busy streets leads to as much as two lanes of a four-lane road being used for parking as vehicles load and unload. This effectively narrows the road and causes slowing of traffic as the vehicles pull over hence congestion (Kang, Scott, Kanaroglou, & Maoh, 2009). It is also not strange to find people pulling over carelessly in the middle of a street in Toronto. A good traffic strategy should look to provide sufficient parking places and create enough loading space on busy streets to prevent parking on the roadsides which effectively narrows the roads (Kang, Scott, Kanaroglou, & Maoh, 2009; Su, 2012). A good traffic strategy should also clearly spell out the penalties that those who are found guilty of parking in unauthorized places should be charged so as to discourage drivers from committing this vice.
Having looked at the current traffic situation in Toronto, it is now time to look at the relevant legislations and how they relate to the traffic problem witnessed in Toronto currently. The first of these is the City of Toronto Act of 2006. Part III of these document is the most relevant to the congestion status in the city (Longo & Mascarin, 2008). The section documents the proposed passenger transportation systems for Toronto explicitly. According to the Act, road transport in the city is supposed to be done mainly by large vehicles like buses so as to reduce the number of small cars getting into the city center (Longo & Mascarin, 2008). However, this has not been adhered to strictly as passengers’ cars remain the most important form of public transit within the city. The act also gazettes the identified parking areas in the city and explains explicitly how parking tickets can be accessed by citizens (Vital Signs, 2016). Moreover, charges for parking in the wrong places have been mentioned at the procedure for with which the municipality of the city will impound vehicles found parked in the wrong places clearly stipulated (Longo & Mascarin, 2008).
However, several constraints underlie the failure of this legislation in solving the traffic situation in Toronto. First, the parking space provided is definitely not sufficient for all drivers who wish to park hence forcing some drivers to park in unauthorized areas and thus contributing to traffic congestion (Longo & Mascarin, 2008). Second, the traffic department has been far too complacent when dealing with vehicles who park in the wrong places or public service vehicles trying to force their way past the stipulated places. Lastly, the parking tickets which were supposed to be very accessible to any drivers wishing to park are not as accessible as initially planned (Longo & Mascarin, 2008). This forces some drivers who are in a hurry to park in unauthorized areas.
The City of Toronto Act is generally aimed at environmental conservation. The act generally encourages residents to use public transport, bike or walk to work so as to reduce the number of motor vehicles hence air pollution due to the cars (Vital Signs, 2016). The Act also explains explicitly the procedures that private developers should use when planning to do repairs to their own properties within the city. This is meant to ensure that any work or repair or new construction does not interfere immensely with the activities of other city residents (Vital Signs, 2016). Implementation of this has also proved to be erratic thus the traffic congestion that results from construction activities.
The Provincial Policy Statement of 2014, is a detailed document outlining the various policies that the administration of Ontario has put in place to ensure proper use of land and prevention of environmental pollution in Ontario (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2016a). Part of the proposals of the PPS on the ways of curbing congestion is the use of public transport more than private vehicles to work. The PPS also encourages residents who can manage it to bike or walk to work. Apart from the obvious environmental benefits, biking or walking to work will also benefit their own health massively (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2016a). According to Poulos, Hatfield, Risse, Grzebieta, and McIntosh (2012), biking to work can have massive health benefits to the cyclers as well as good influence on the environment.
The Toronto Official plan is a strategy outline for the city of Toronto which came into effect in June 2015. The first chapter of the document outlines the vision of the city’s administration which is to ensure prosperity and sustainability of the city in the long-term by promoting economic activities and curbing environmental pollution (Toronto Official Plan, 2015). Controlling congestion is a key aspect of this vision since congestion causes time wasting hence derailing economic activities and directly enhances the use of more fossil fuels and release of smoke in a small area hence environmental pollution (Proost, & Van Dender, 2012). The document outlines an important strategy to enhance the development of the city – integration of land use and transportation sector (Toronto Official Plan, 2015). The specifics of the legislation in this regard will go a long way into enhancing the construction of subways in the city as a way of curbing traffic congestion. Chapter five and six outline city planning strategies. The strategies are aimed at clearly demarcating residential from business centers and clearly mapping out roads as a way of preventing traffic congestion in the long-term (Toronto Official Plan, 2015).
The Greenbelt plan for Ontario is an official document that outlines the long-term strategies that will enhance proper utilization of resources and minimization of pollution and climate change in Toronto City and the wider Ontario (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2016b). The transportation sector emerges as a key area in the implementation and ultimate success of this plan. Traffic congestion has been identified as a major contributing factor to the amount of environmental pollution that results from the transportation sector (Kang, Scott, Kanaroglou, & Maoh, 2009). Though other strategies like encouraging the use of unleaded fuels are important, reducing traffic congestion is key to the longevity of the natural environment and prevention of climate change in Toronto (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2016a). As earlier alluded to, traffic congestion leads to more use of fossil fuel which not only pollutes the environment but also epitomizes misuse of natural resources. As a way of enhancing the proper use of natural resources including land, building of subways is key to the Greenbelt plan. Subways will also effectively reduce traffic congestion hence environmental pollution.
The reviewed Municipal Act of Ontario came into effect in January 2007. The act is aimed at allowing the municipalities of the cities and towns of Ontario to carry out their activities of delivering service to the people of Ontario without being impeded by the provincial administration (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2007). Of the main pillars of this legislation is the jurisdiction of the municipalities in matters transport. The provincial administration is in charge of traffic control by sending traffic police officers who control traffic while the municipalities like one of Toronto are in charge of other issues including parking areas and processing of parking tickets. Differences between the municipality and the provincial administration can only worsen the situation in an already congested city like Toronto. The legislation encourages mutual respect and collaboration between the provincial administration and the municipality to enhance smoothening of the traffic situation in the city (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 2007). Good collaboration between police officers and municipality official would, for example, ensure that traffic offenders are apprehended and penalized appropriately regardless of the side of the administration which originally noticed the offender.
From the detailed report by various agencies and researchers, Toronto needs new strategies to curb the traffic congestion issue. However, as shown by this investigative report, the strategies and legislations that are already in place are sufficient to curb the situation. The only reasons why the strategies have not helped as much as they could is poor adherence to the principles of the strategies and complacency in their implementation. All the strategies that have been proposed by scholars and organizations fall in the core principles of the legislations analyzed above. In conclusion, full implementation of the various legislation and guidelines that have been discussed above can solve the congestion issue in Toronto permanently. Curbing congestion will ensure environmental longevity, prevention of climate change and proper economic development of Toronto.
References
Ballingall, A. (2015, October 9). Congestion in Toronto still a headache: report | Toronto Star.thestar.com. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/10/09/congestion-in-toronto-still-a-headache-report.html
Grubel, H. (2016). Canada’s New Immigration Policies 2016: Good Politics, Bad for the Country. Bad for the Country (May 4, 2016). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2775454
Kang, H., Scott, D. M., Kanaroglou, P. S., & Maoh, H. F. (2009). An exploration of issues related to the study of generated traffic and other impacts arising from highway improvements. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 36(1), 67-85.
Longo, L. F., & Mascarin, J., (2008). A comprehensive guide to the City of Toronto Act, 2006. Markham, Ont: LexisNexis Canada.
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (2007). Municipal Act. Retrieved from http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page184.aspx
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (2016a). Provisional Policy Statement 2014. Retrieved from http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=10463
Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. (2016b). The Greenbelt Plan (2005). Retrieved from http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page189.aspx
Poulos, R. G., Hatfield, J., Rissel, C., Grzebieta, R., & McIntosh, A. S. (2012). Exposure-based cycling crash, near miss and injury rates: The Safer Cycling Prospective Cohort Study protocol. Injury prevention, 18(1), e1-e1.
Proost, S., & Van Dender, K. (2012). Energy and environment challenges in the transport sector. Economics of Transportation, 1(1), 77-87.
Su, Y. (2012). Modelling the future of land use, transportation and the environment in the Windsor CMA, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved from http://scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6599&context=etd
Toronto Official Plan, (2015). Toronto Official Plan. Retrieved from http://www1.toronto.ca/planning/chapters1-5.pdf
Vital Signs Report, (2016). Toronto’s Vital Signs Report. Retrieved from http://torontosvitalsigns.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/WEB-OP-TorontosVitalSignsReport2016FINAL.pdf
