Toronto – The Gridlock City Part 3

This post is republished from my new blog site, Better Urban Planning, which features news and opinions on urban issues.

Traffic congestion and gridlock are issues every densely populated city faces, not just Toronto. I talked about how taking my car was a better alternative than taking public transit in my Toronto – The Gridlock City Part 1 post.

In Part 2, I talked about how poor urban planning, lack of government funding and special interests contribute to the $200 billion that Toronto and other municipalities need to repair and upgrade their existing road and public transit infrastructures. In this post I’ll talk about some possible solutions to ease congestion and gridlock in Toronto.

Toronto has been classified as a world-class city, but it hasn’t kept up with the aging infrastructure to sustain its exceptional growth. Urban regions around Toronto known as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) – which is currently expanded to include Hamilton (GTHA) – are struggling to maintain their own infrastructure. This is due to the influx of people buying homes outside Toronto, as the average home price in Toronto has reached $1.017 million. Compound that with people driving to work in polycentric business centres along the fringes of Toronto and cities like Brampton and Mississauga. These centres are underserved by public transit. Add in an aging TTC and GO Transit public transit system that is underfunded, and you have total gridlock, not to mention the degradation of social welfare. In other words, less quality of life and spending more time on family and social recreational activities.

But what are the solutions to fixing gridlock and easing congestion?

There is no way to completely eliminate gridlock. Many people believe building more roads is a possible solution, but induced demand would lead expanded roadways back to their original congested levels.

Build it and they will come

A model showing how induced demand works. Typically, traffic volume levels off and reaches an equilibrium over time, but when new capacity gets added, the volume increases to fill it, before reaching a new equilibrium. (Victoria Transport Policy Institute)

This is because extra lanes can attract new drivers who would not have otherwise driven. A few examples of induced demand are the $2.8 billion project to widen Houston’s Katy Freeway to 26 lanes, making it the widest freeway in the world. The other example is the $1 billion widening of I-405 in Los Angeles. The commuting times on the Katy Freeway increased 51% after its 2012 opening, while L.A’s I-405 congestion was back it’s original level within 5 months.

One recent solution was to introduce congestion pricing through a High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane, Stockholm’s city zone toll, or full highway tolls like the 407. Now, many people argue that it penalizes the poor or that they already pay enough in fuel and property taxes. I support paying a reasonable toll fee. As long as it means a stress-free drive, shorter commute times, and revenue is strictly recycled back into maintaining the roads, with the rest funding public transit. I am sure many others would agree. You can look at the recommendations that Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission in their summary report (you can view/download the full PDF report here).

Time to Pay the Piper

HOT lanes can replace High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes without building an extra lane and keep costs minimal. HOV lanes are often underutilized and actually wreak havoc, causing more gridlock because they are placed in the far left lane. Most drivers don’t plan ahead by changing lanes progressively 3 or 4 km before their exit. If you have ever driven on the QEW between Oakville and Burlington, you will know what I am talking about. During rush hour, traffic comes to a dead stop on all lanes – including the HOV lane – before each exit because someone needs to cross 4 lanes 200 metres before their exit. I am not a civil engineer, but HOV lanes should be in the right lane to improve traffic flow.

Jonathan Hall from the University of Toronto provides a very technical explanation on how introducing time-varying toll lanes to half the lanes could gain $1,700 per road user per year in social welfare benefits without hurting any road user. If you include all the US highways, that would translate to $30 billion per year. In a nutshell, it basically explains how everyone benefits from reduced commute times. If drivers are willing to pay for an express ride during peak rush hours, it frees up capacity on non-toll lanes for those less fortunate and with inflexible work schedules. It benefits those who can’t afford the toll lanes by not having to leave earlier before peak rush hour. And those who have flexible work schedules have the option to use the toll lanes or free lanes as volume is decreased during non-peak rush hours…which brings me to my next solution.

Times are Changing

We are in a transition period from the Industrial Age to the Creative Age, according to Richard Florida in his book “The Rise of the Creative Class.” Many manufacturing jobs are now outsourced to China and other countries outside North America. Jobs are concentrated in the Professional, Financial, and Creative (Communication, Marketing, and Information Technology) fields. These types of jobs are not your typical 9-to-5 or 8-to-4 jobs. But companies are still structured around those hours. More importantly, most of these jobs can be done remotely, or what is known as telecommuting.

Governments should provide tax credits to encourage employers to offer more telecommuting incentives. This would get more cars off the road and reduce transit overcapacity, particularly in Toronto. The shift to non-traditional work structures is becoming more evident as more millennials enter the workforce. They prefer non-micromanaged work environments, and as a bonus, they are not really interested in purchasing cars or SUVs. They prefer taking bikes and living very close to work. Widening roads may not be necessary in most urban centres, as traffic volumes should decrease over time with the workforce's generational shift. Unfortunately, this does not account for a barrage of new immigrants settling in urban centres, especially in the GTHA.

Meanwhile, some companies such as Manulife, Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust, and Telus are reducing their office space to cut real estate costs and increase mobility for their workforce. There has also been an upsurge in Shared or Coworking Spaces that provide workspaces at a fraction of the cost of a downtown office. Technology is also advancing, and many IT functions have moved to the cloud. There is absolutely no need for employees to work in an office.

Needing a Government Hand

Municipalities in smaller communities should offer incentives for employers to move offices to their town or city instead of the concentrated area of Toronto's downtown core or the industrial pockets of Mississauga and Brampton. This would boost the local economy and provide more social welfare benefits.

Provincial and Federal Governments should provide more funding for mass transit to connect major urban centres and many communities. Richard Florida posted an interesting article in The Atlantic back in 2009 about Mega-Regions and High-Speed Rail. He identified major urban corridors and calculated travel times between them by car and by high-speed rail at 155 mph. Interestingly, during my research for this post, China proposed building and paying for a high-speed rail line from Beijing to Vancouver and even offered to extend it across Canada. With almost 20,000 km of track laid since it first started offering high-speed service, I am left scratching my head about why Canada and the US don't have any high-speed trains in major urban corridors. Some would say it’s the tight reins that the oil and automotive industries have on governments. I would be one of them.

At the time of this post, the China stock market has been a rough ride. Some talk suggests globalization is imploding because of it, as China turns its attention to its domestic economy and lowers exports. As currencies around the world plummet, now would be a good time for Canada to focus inward and develop a cohesive plan to build local economies within our own borders.

All levels of government need to commit and lock in funding for road infrastructure and public transit. Interest rates are at the lowest level in over the last century. Borrow money and lots of it! The return on investment is regaining lost productivity and moving goods and services, thereby employing hundreds of thousands of people on mega projects with enormous spin-offs.

To summarize, Governments will need to make a tough choice in introducing toll lanes, and commuters will have to pay for value-added commuting. Businesses will need to embrace changing times and change their mindset in how we work. Most importantly, we need firm funding commitments and careful planning from all levels of government. With all these things in place, we can all improve our quality of life, which benefits everyone, instead of sitting in traffic or feeling like sardines.