The Greater Toronto Area must merge its public transit properties into a cohesive, unified whole, the CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade has declared.
CEO Carol Wilding, reportedly stepping down from her post at month's end, makes the declaration in the organization's latest transit report, issued Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014.
A new or revamped regional transit authority should be endowed with authority beyond that currently exercised by Metrolinx, the existing umbrella organization overseeing transit in the Greater Toronto Area, including light rail transit projects throughout Ontario province.
"This is the time when all options need to be on the table and need to be debated. We need to look at it from a regional perspective so it certainly should be considered," said Wilding to local media. She added, "As it stands no one knows who has the final word, or when a decision is a decision."
Wilding included criticism of the current debate over Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC) Scarborough Line (in photo above) and its future as either a subway or LRT mode, saying the back-and-forth without results had cost C$100 million (US$91 million) "in sunk costs."
The report by the Toronto Region Board of Trade suggests Toronto, Canada's largest city, develop its own transit governance model based on examples from London, Portland, Ore., and other cities.