page_title: Transportation in Toronto
section_title: Future prospects and concerns
hierarchical_section_title: Transportation in Toronto / Future prospects and concerns
caption_attribution_description: English: Tunnel Boring Machine "Don" was extracted in pieces starting on March 13, 2017. The first piece extracted (see photo) was the machine's cutting face.
context_page_description: Transportation in the Canadian city of Toronto forms the hub of the road, rail and air networks in the Greater Toronto Area and much of southern Ontario. There are many forms of transport in the city, including railways, highways, and public transit. Toronto also has an extensive network of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails and paths.
context_section_description: The regional population of Toronto is expected to reach 7 million people within the next 10 years, up from the current 5.5 million, making it one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in North America. Over the last couple of decades, traffic volumes has been increasing steadily in the Greater Toronto Area. However, road and transit investments have not kept pace with the growth in demand. Urban sprawl is a major factor: some commuters travel significant distances within the city and the surrounding GTA for employment. Downtown-to-suburb and suburb-suburb commutes have been increasing as well, which existing public transit services are not organized to efficiently accommodate. This contributes to congestion, adding to travel times and causing smog. Congestion in the GTA is estimated to cost the economy between 6 and 11 billion dollars each year. One study found that the average commute time in GTA exceeds that of 19 larger or comparably sized cities. Other studies comparing international cities show that Toronto residents on average spend the most time commuting to work in North America and sixth-most overall in the world.
  In March 2004, the Ontario government announced the creation of the "Greater Toronto Transit Authority" (GTTA - not to be confused with GTAA, acronym for the Greater Toronto Airport Authority), renamed Metrolinx in December 2007, with the goal of facilitating improved integration between the city and suburban transport systems. One key element to this integration would be a single fare system, called Presto, to improve the convenience of transfers between different transit agencies. On March 23, 2006, the Government of Ontario announced funding for the extension northward of the TTC's Spadina Subway Line to the York University campus and beyond into the proposed Vaughan Metropolitan Centre in neighbouring Vaughan, York Region. When completed, it will be the first extension of the TTC subway system beyond the current post-1998 municipal border of Toronto. However, Toronto's existing transportation network, particularly public transit, have not kept up with the growth of the city. In the past decade, issues concerning transit funding and expansion have become political football. For example, in 2007, Metrolinx is provided $8.4 billion of funding to construct four light rail lines throughout the City, including light rail lines along Eglinton Avenue, Finch Avenue West, and Sheppard Avenue East, as well as a line replacing Line 3 Scarborough, all of which are expected to be completed and in operation by 2020. However, by 2017, political interference from provincial and municipal levels of government, funding cuts and delays meant that no lines will be complete by 2020, with the initial phase of the Eglinton Line being projected to be the first segment to open by late 2021. Funding for the daily operations of the TTC have become chronically low with the removal of provincial funding by the premier Mike Harris in the late 90s, leaving the City of Toronto as the sole source of operational subsidies.
caption: Extraction of the tunnel boring machine used to build Line 5 Eglinton. Planned as the fifth route of the Toronto subway system, it is expected to open on September 2021.
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