Item - 2021.EX22.3

The Executive Committee recommends that:  

1.  City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to add one consultation meeting in the north west area of the City to the four District-based Virtual Public Meetings outlined in the revised report (March 23, 2021) from the General Manager, Transportation Services, in both Phase 1 and 2, in consultation with the local Councillors.

2.  City Council amend the Consultation Plan by:

a.  deleting the word "five" and inserting the word "eight" under the bullet Feedback Survey on page five of the revised report (March 23, 2021) from the General Manager, Transportation Services so that it now reads as follows:

Feedback survey: An online survey will be the primary tool used to gather public opinion on the focus and weighting of evaluation criteria and input on additional evaluation criteria. The survey will remain open for a total of eight weeks. The comment period will close two weeks after the final district-based meeting;

b.  amending the bullet One-window contact on page six of the revised report (March 23, 2021) from the General Manager, Transportation Services so that it now reads as follows:

One-window contact: The public and stakeholders will have the option to submit questions and comments by phone, email, mail and petitions. Staff will track and respond to all comments and questions.

3.  City Council request the General Manager, Transportation Services to: 

a.  report on the number of participants per ward as part of the consultation and public meeting process; and

b.  ask residents if they are in favour, opposed or need more information on busways in general and specific bus ways under consideration, as part of the public consultation process.

4.  City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to report back to City Council on the outcome of the consultation and final Surface Transit Network Plan program in the fourth quarter of 2021.

This report details the proposed approach for public consultation of the Surface Transit Network Plan (STNP) and responds to Recommendation #2 of EX18.1 - Surface Transit Network Plan Update, adopted by City Council with amendments on November 25-26, 2020.

The Surface Transit Network Plan is a roadmap to guide the planning, implementation, operation, maintenance, and monitoring of Toronto's transit priority measures. The development and delivery of the Surface Transit Network Plan will involve a three-phased consultation approach. Consultation in Phases 1 and 2 will focus on the evaluation framework used to identify and prioritize surface transit corridors and develop the plan. 

Once Council approves the Surface Transit Network Plan, City staff will undertake corridor-specific studies to determine the feasibility, benefits and impacts of various transit priority measures, informed by community consultation (Phase 3).

In this third phase of consultation, more localized and targeted consultation will be undertaken along individual corridors to gather public input on the proposed transit priority measures for all road users and any potential relocation or removal of bus stops in conjunction with the TTC. The form and frequency of these corridor-specific consultations will be determined at a later stage of the project.