SMART COMMUTE INITIATIVE - GREATER TORONTO'S SHOWCASE FOR TRANSPORTATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) covers approximately 8,500 square km. and houses some 5.6 million residents and 2.75 million jobs. The area continues to experience significant growth with an average annual rate of population increase of around 100,000. Disturbingly, trends indicate that the growth in vehicle trips will be even greater than the rate of population growth as people continue to suburbanize, own more cars and make more trips over longer average distances. Projections estimate that vehicle travel in the GTA could increase by as much as 55% over the next 25 years. The GTA comprises 30 regional and local municipalities. At the heart of the region is the recently (1998) amalgamated City of Toronto that has a population of 2.4 million and which is the most densely developed part of the urbanized area. Beyond the City are the more suburban, lower density urbanized parts of the Regions of Halton, Peel, York, Durham and the amalgamated City of Hamilton. Overall, GTA residents make 11.5 million daily trips, 9.2 million (or 80%) of them by auto as either driver or passenger. In the City of Toronto, where local transit use (TTC) is higher, the comparable auto share of daily trips falls to 68%. The City of Toronto has a density of population (c.3,700 persons per square km.) which falls somewhere between the higher densities of typical European cities and the lower densities characteristic of North American ones. However, there is continued pressure for urban sprawl in the GTA and over 600 square km. of land were urbanized between 1976 and 2001, with a further 1,000 square km. projected to be urbanized by the year 2031 if current trends persist. The average number of vehicles per household in the GTA is currently 1.39, though this number dips as low as 0.8 in the inner part of the City of Toronto. Daily trip generation rates (currently 2.5 trips per adult) and average trip lengths have been increasing over the 1986 - 2001 period, while transit modal shares throughout the region have remained stable or have marginally declined. The region's transportation system is already not keeping pace with growth and, unless measures can be undertaken to curb the demand for vehicular travel, the situation will only become more unsustainable. It is against this background that the GTA municipalities (local and regional) are seeking to seriously revive and expand the application of Travel Demand Management (TDM) strategies to address the growing transportation challenges they are facing.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0935403876
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Full conference proceedings available on CD-ROM.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Cheah, L
  • Hyland, J
  • Stewart, G
  • Musters, J
• Conference:
  • ITE 2004 Annual Meeting and Exhibit
  • Location: Lake Buena Vista, Florida
  • Date: 2004-8-1 to 2004-8-4
• Publication Date: 2004

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 7p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Management; Passengers; Population density; Smart growth; Suburbs; Transportation planning; Travel demand management; Trip purpose; Urban areas; Vehicle miles of travel
• Geographic Terms: Toronto (Canada)
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00980236
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0935403876
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 29 2004 12:00AM