Halton mobility strategy - connecting the regional network

NRU
Feb. 15, 2017
By Andrew Cohrs

n an effort to increase GO Transit ridership and leverage provincial transit dollars, Halton Region is developing a mobility management strategy to coordinate transportation, infrastructure and planning at a regional scale.

“We haven’t looked at an integrated network before and this is basically working together with all the transit authorities [in] all four municipalities... We are trying to avoid what happened to Mississauga and Brampton. We are trying to plan out where the transit is going before the growth even happens,” planning and public works chair councillor Colin Best told NRU.

The mobility management strategy is a joint initiative among the region and its four local municipalities. Led by WSP | Parson Brinckerhoff in coordination with regional and local staff, the strategy is intended to guide the development of a region-wide inter- and intra-transportation network over the next 25 years to 2041. It will identify infrastructure requirements and transit priorities throughout Halton.

With Burlington, Oakville and Milton operating their own local transit services, the strategy does not deal with transit within local municipalities but focuses on transit between Halton municipalities and connections to major transit hubs outside of the region. Best says that since Halton is expected to grow to 1-million residents by 2041, transit services need to be coordinated and planned at the regional level.

The strategy proposes a grid network identifying 192 km of transit corridors. These connect existing and planned destinations within Halton such as urban growth centres, employment lands, major transit stations and social services.

Public works commissioner Jim Harnum told the planning and public works committee last week that the strategy is critical to achieving the region’s goal of increasing its transit modal split from its current 7 per cent to 20 per cent. It will also strengthen the region’s business case when it approaches the provincial government for transit funding and when discussing the prioritization of Metrolinx projects.

“By adopting this [strategy], this gives us a firm mobility plan that has goals … that are real with timelines [so] we can now go to the province and Metrolinx and we can push them on their 25-year plan, we can push them on the RER, [and] 15-minute service. We can say that we have a plan and that we need to be a part of the discussion,” Harnum said.

However, the timing and type of transit improvements needed has yet to be to be decided. The strategy includes funding recommendations for studies to be completed throughout 2017. It earmarks $750,000 to determine the priority of identified transit corridors and $2.8-million to local municipalities to conduct local transit service reviews, active transportation access studies, infrastructure assessments, and land ownership and building parcel evaluations.

Chief planning official Ron Glenn told the planning and public works committee that the region’s focus should be on increasing ridership, not coverage.

“[We will need] business case scenarios for each one of the corridors... to assess where [they] fit... within the region... to deliver regional intra- and inter-regional transit service... There’s going to be some of those networks... that will be a very high priority and there’s going to be some that are a very low priority... Are we looking at ridership capture or are we looking at coverage? Ridership capture is really where we want to [strive for].” The strategy will be considered by Halton regional council today.