Bus Priority Plans Could Be Accelerated in Toronto

Political will is building behind the idea of improving bus infrastructure to support frontlines workers in the most heavily effected parts of Canada's largest city.

1 minute read

June 16, 2020, 6:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Public Transit

Gregory Desrosiers / Shutterstock

"There's a call at Toronto's city hall this week to ramp up a plan to create buses-only lanes on some busy suburban streets as a way to help tackle COVID-19's impact on the city's vulnerable neighbourhoods," reports Michael Smee.

As of this writing, two Toronto city councillors are expected to introduce a motion "to accelerate their plan to ban cars and other non-TTC vehicles from curb lanes in five busy corridors that serve a handful of priority neighbourhoods," according to Smee. The existing plan to expand bus priority in the neighborhoods of Scarborough and North York, both disproportionately suffering the effects of COVID-19, was intended to be deployed over five years. 

Toronto would join New York City in expanding bus priority during the pandemic, after the U.S. city announced plans recently to add 20 miles of bus lanes and busways to provide alternatives to automobile travel in the wake of the pandemic. Toronto already has a track record of success in converting streets to transit priority, with the example of King Street


Monday, June 15, 2020 in CBC

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