Ontario Transit-Supportive Guidelines

As commuting distances increase, efficient, effective transit service becomes increasingly important. In order to make transit efficient and increase ridership, we must reconsider how cities and towns grow. Concentrating densities and a mix of uses in and around transit stops and stations is necessary to place more people close to transit at both ends of their trip. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has developed the Ontario Transit-Supportive Guidelines to support continued progress in building more compact, transit-supportive communities. The Guidelines bring together the most current thinking on transit-supportive urban planning and design and best practices in transit planning and delivery of customer-oriented transit service. The document emphasizes the inter-dependent relationship between transit ridership and land use patterns: that higher density communities need dependable transit systems to thrive, and in turn, transit systems rely on transit-supportive land uses to sustain and increase ridership. The Transit-Supportive Guidelines were released as draft in January 2011, completed later in 2011 and published, following translation and accessible formatting, in January 2012. The Guidelines include over 50 guidelines and almost 450 strategies, with detailed guidance to assist communities of all sizes in promoting development patterns that make transit less expensive, less circuitous and more convenient. The Guidelines also include, for the first time, strategies to enhance the service and operational characteristics of transit systems to make them more attractive to potential transit users through a range of tools, management approaches and technologies. This project was nominated fo rthe TAC 2011 Sustainable Urban Transportation Award. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD record number 201211RT334E.