Metrolinx/GO Transit Planned Merger

The new Metrolinx will be created under the yet to be passed the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Transit Implementation Act 2009. The Ontario government will appoint up to 15 members to the provincial transit planning agency’s new board. The new members will include planning, finance and development experts but politicians have been left out of the mix.

Some municipal councillors have voiced opposition to the move but Dalton McGuinty, Ontario’s premier, says the time has come for such an evolution in the region’s transit planning.

McGuinty said to the Canadian Press that while mayors have provided good ideas so far, they’ve done as much as they can and it’s now time to get the private-sector on board.

While he wouldn’t go as far as to say political interests were slowing projects down,

McGuinty did say the change will bring projects on more quickly, reports Canadian Press. He says transit users are impatient for new projects to come online and want those in charge to stop talking about borders.

Robert Prichard, Torstar’s outgoing chief executive, has been named transition advisor for the merger and the transition advisory board includes Metrolinx Chair Rob MacIsaac and GO Transit Chair Peter Smith.

The legislation plans give Metrolinx the teeth and possibly the funding leverage it needs to execute a recently approved regional transportation plan called The Big Move, both transit and infrastructure experts contend.

The Big Move is a $50-billion, 25-year plan for improving transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas. A component of this plan was a $7-billion, five-year capital plan projected to deliver an estimated $33.9 billion in business revenue impact on construction, engineering and transit and $20.9 billion of “indirect impacts” for companies that supply goods and services.

There are more than 1.6 million transit trips a day in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas and GO Transit carries nearly 55 million passengers each year. The province estimates that congestion costs the Greater Toronto Area alone an estimated $6 billion annually.

By Vince Versace who blogs at ondeadline.wordpress.com