Transforming Transportation for Canada’s Fastest Growing Urban Region Metrolinx

Metrolinx is the regional transportation authority for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Metrolinx was established in 2006 as an agency of the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. It is governed by a board of directors primarily composed of elected municipal officials who represent the component municipalities of the GTHA. This technical paper discusses the development process for the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for the GTHA. Metrolinx based the RTP on an innovative process to scope, define and prioritize projects using holistic metrics to meet quality of life, environmental and economic goals. The first section of this paper outlines the regional context, and summarizes the vision, goals, objectives and strategies of the plan. The second and third sections then provide a detailed account of the plan development process. The second section describes Metrolinx’s comprehensive consultation with experts, stakeholders and the public. The third section explains the Plan’s transportation modeling. While presented here separately, these two processes, of consultation and modelling, should be understood to be iterative and two interconnected parts of the overall approach for the development of the RTP.