Item - 2026.MM43.22

Councillor Dianne Saxe, seconded by Councillor Jamaal Myers, recommends that:

1. City Council request the Toronto Transit Commission board to request the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, when commenting on a development application, to identify when a proposed development is located in a corridor or network segment where:

a. current or forecast demand indicates insufficient transit capacity based on currently funded plans;

b. additional transit infrastructure, station capacity, service, or accessibility-related improvements may be required to support growth at a reasonable level of service;

c. required improvements are not yet fully funded; and/or

d. the anticipated in-service date of required improvements is not expected to align with projected development occupancy.

2. City Council request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, when reporting to City Council on Zoning By-law Amendments, Official Plan amendments, or other planning decisions in high-demand transit corridors, when the Toronto Transit Commission can reasonably be expected to have in service any infrastructure necessary to appropriately serve the proposed development at a reasonable level of service, taking into account the availability of capital and operating funding, and the time required to construct any such infrastructure.

3. City Council request the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, in consultation with the Toronto Transit Commission, to develop strategies for funding transit infrastructure growth requirements that support City-approved development, recognizing the Toronto Transit Commission also has a priority need to address state-of good repair of existing assets.  

4. City Council request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, to ensure that population growth projections provided to the Toronto Transit Commission for its capacity planning take into account all Planning Act, Official Plan, and zoning changes, as well as committee of adjustment approvals and as-of-right zoning that contribute to intensification.

There is a gap between the rate at which the city is granting development approvals and the rate at which Toronto Transit Commission capacity is funded and can be built. Population growth should be focussed near transit, but without federal and provincial funding, the Toronto Transit Commission cannot build the capacity that those new residents will need. We already have rush-hour crowding problems at undersized stations such as College (built in 1954), where, on average, one-third of peak rush-hour trains are too full for everyone to get on. Rush-hour service disruptions can require crowds attempting to enter the station to be held back.

Without major capacity improvements, that are currently unfunded, these problems are likely to worsen as additional buildings are occupied.

When development applications are received, the city circulates them to the Toronto Transit Commission for comment. The Toronto Transit Commission currently provides comments that are focussed on protecting its physical infrastructure during construction of the proposed development. It has not been the Toronto Transit Commission’s practice to include in such comments the capacity of its infrastructure to appropriately serve the proposed population growth, particularly during peak hours or disruptions.

Instead, the Toronto Transit Commission implicitly relies on the 2019 Capacity Expansion Plan which is unfunded and encompasses only part of the necessary infrastructure. (For example, it does not include wider platforms and staircases at the College station.) There is also no link between the timing of new development and the time that the necessary infrastructure will be in service.