Rapid transit is fundamental to livability: IMFG study

Toronto is an emerging global city, states a new report from the Institute for Municipal Finance and Governance and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Yet failure to build rapid transit in a rapidly growing city like Toronto is one of the region’s biggest impediments to inclusive development and prosperity.

Authors Matti Siemiatycki, associate professor in geography at the University of Toronto, and Drew Fagan, professor of public policy at the Munk School, make several recommendations:

• Let evidence drive decisions and make the evidence public
• Ensure the GTA has predictable, stable long-term funding
• Establish a mechanism through which the costs-benefits of a project are reviewed by an independent agency

“There is consensus across the GTA about rapid transit’s fundamental importance to prosperity and livability and the need to plan and produce it more intelligently, more quickly, more coherently, with greater foresight. One of the fastest-growing regions in North America, and one emerging onto the global stage, requires no less.”