Why Capital Investment in Infrastructure Alone Won’t Guarantee Transit Growth

 Better Customer Service, Improved Governance and Predictable Finance are Integral to the Future Success of Regional Transit

Thursday, November 18, 2010 at Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel Lunch Provided

WHO: Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO)

Dr. Richard M. Soberman, Study Author, Trimap Communications Inc. and

Professor Emeritus, Civil Engineering, University of Toronto

Andy Manahan, RCCAO Executive Director

WHAT: Complimentary lunch and briefing on Independent Study Results

Delivering Transit Service in the GTHA: Where We Are is Not Where We Want to End Up

By: Richard M. Soberman, Trimap Communications Inc.

Soberman’s analysis suggests that more than significant investments in transit infrastructure will be required for future growth and success. This includes:

A major emphasis on putting the customer first;

A commitment to strategic planning;

      A ‘top-down’ cultural change in individual transit agencies;

        Improving customer satisfaction through greater employee empowerment;

New and improved models of governance;

Fiduciary responsibility of individual Board or Commission members to act in the best interests of the entity they govern;

Guaranteed streams of funding over predictable time periods;

Evolution from application based, time-limited, project-oriented infrastructure funding to entitlement based, long-term, plan-oriented financing;

       Road pricing as a means of altering travel behaviour and generating funds.

WHEN: Thursday, November 18, 2010 from 12 noon – 1:30 pm

WHERE: Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel

525 Bay Street, Salon I

WHY: Throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), hefty investments in public transit are being promoted as the only way for dealing with congestion, the ills of increasing automobile dependence, sustainability, global warming, and containing urban sprawl. Over the next 10 years, capital investment in transit will be substantial and Metrolinx predicts that there will be a 132 per cent increase in ridership over the next 25 years (compared to 15 per cent in last 20 years). This type of significant change involves far more than making new infrastructure investments: customer service, strategic planning, and governance will have to be dramatically improved in order to maximize the competitive advantages of public transit for choice riders.

General