Highway 407 Electronic Tolling System
[Source: C. Moy on Flickr]

The Draft Investment Strategy released by Metrolinx sets out a funding framework to deliver  $50 billion in transportation improvements over 25 years. Metrolinx is looking for your feedback. This is your region and your future. I encourage you to weigh-in on what is proposed.

Todd Litman’s recent post on planetizen discusses the costs of different modes of transportation. One conclusion is that “if a typical household shifts from driving everywhere (what we call, automobile dependency) to multi-modalism (using a combination of travel modes) and so is able shed one vehicle, the savings typically average about $5,000 annually. If these savings were invested each year over a typical 45 year working career, the household will retire about a million dollars wealthier.” There’s motivation for ya!

Research by Metrolinx finds that on average, people in the GTAH spending about $70 per week on transportation. Initially, the projects in the Regional Transportation Plan will cost about $155 per year per person in the GTHA, and reach $470 per year per person in 2033. When you break it down like this, $50 billion doesn’t sound so bad.

QUESTION: How much do you spend on transportation within the GTHA in a given week on items such as gas, parking, transit fares, cabs and tolls?  How much more would you be willing to pay per week in order to reduce your travel time, improve the reliability and predictability of your travel time, and/or improve the quality of your travel experience?

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(Click image above for hi-res version)

As some of you already know, I have had the honour of sitting on Metrolinx’s Regional Transportation Plan Advisory Committee – a group of community representatives committed to providing the Metrolinx board with advice on the direction of the plan and analysis of the comments received by the public. In addition, we are committed to ensuring that the regional transportation plan public consultation process reaches everyone who has something to say. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for keeping the discussion alive, and I encourage all to continue offering ideas to make this plan the best it can be. There is are plenty of ways to get your voices heard, including the online portal, formal open houses to come this fall, and, of course, Metronauts events and the blog. Keep your eyes and ears open, as we’re about to enter a very exciting phase of the process.

Before I talk about the subject of this post, please keep in mind the following:

As I write this post (on thursday night), the draft plan has not yet been approved by the Metrolinx board of directors. As we saw with the white papers, the board could decide to delay the release to make modifications. I will be sure to update this post to reflect the formal decision of the board on Friday September 26th.

So here we go:

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This morning I attended the Metrolinx media preview of the draft Regional Transportation Plan (“RTP”) and Investment Strategy at the Delta Chelsea in Toronto, where chair Rob MacIsaac presented and took questions. Here’s how Metrolinx framed the media event:

The Big Move: Transforming Transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

The headlines tomorrow will probably read something like “Metrolinx defers controversial revenue measures”. The most significant new information is that the Investment Strategy to fund Phases 1 ($750 million) and 2 ($17.5 billion) of the RTP through 2015 will be funded from existing commitments of Ontario provincial funding. Around 2013, the whole investment strategy for Phase 3 will be revisited, including consideration of the full gamut of revenue tools that were the source of some controversy during recent leaks. Rob MacIsaac explained that the people of the GTA and Hamilton need to see some real change on the ground before they will back any new ask for additional public investment.

Andrae was there, and he’ll be doing a more thoughtful post on the contents of these draft plans for Friday.

This post is about me watching the watchers. How does Media think about and inform the majority of the public who will never attend a public meeting or download a PDF? Most citizens will never dive into planning documents with gusto.  I think the questions that were asked provide some clues to how the media will frame this next period of conversation around Metrolinx plans.

My reflections and analysis after the jump… (more…)

The long awaited day is almost here with the release of the Draft Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan and Investment Strategy. The plan will be previewed to the media on Tuesday before being presented to the Board at its meeting on September 26th. The press release for the RTP media preview event is available here.

UPDATE (Sept. 23, 10:45am): The Draft Regional Transportation Plan is now available online here

UPDATE (Sept. 23, 12:00pm): The RTP Draft Investment Strategy is also online here

Without going into specific projects, what do you hope to see in the draft plan?