Lost in the world of billion-dollar transit
expansion plans are the vast potential benefits of small improvements. There
are thousands of locations throughout the city where buses are forced every day
to wait behind lines of cars blocking a bus stop or filling turning lanes. For
a pittance in comparison to the cost of OneCity or MoveOntario 2020, the city
could add queue-jump lanes, transit priority signals, and dedicated bus turning
lanes that could save several minutes off transit riders’ daily trips.
The ideal source for these improvements is
the people who experience the problem areas every day: bus drivers and regular
riders. They know exactly what locations consistently delay their trips, so a
comprehensive survey could quickly identify these spots throughout the city.
These kinds of small projects are less glamorous than a new subway or light
rail line, but they can significantly improve the reliability and speed of
surface transit while we wait for the big infrastructure plans to be completed.
A left turn bus bypass lane on southbound McCowan Road onto eastbound Ellesmere Road, would easily save me and the 12,000 other daily riders of the 38/133 bus routes 5 minutes or more on our daily commutes. Particularly at rush hours.
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