We, the undersigned, urge John Tory - the Mayor of Toronto - and the Toronto City Council to invest into substantial development of the GTA's transportation systems in order to reduce average commute times by 30% by mid-2025.

     Canada’s transportation systems cannot keep up with the population growth of Toronto and its infrastructure. Important needs of transport such as going to school or to work are limited due to the lack of systems and organization of Toronto’s transportation system. Now, people consider it a common risk of being late when using public transport, and a habit to arrive at the stations late because they are used to common delays. Furthermore, people commuting in their own vehicles struggle due to the traffic that is only going to get worse due to rapid population growth. Because of this, Toronto has been shockingly ranked the 6th worst city globally for commuting and 1st in North America.

     This is an issue tied all throughout Toronto and the GTA, with the underground subway system to train rails, and bus routes. Not only is it associated with infrastructure, but also with people.

     Everyone who commutes in Toronto and populated areas of the GTA is involved with this issue. Groups affected by this issue include students that commute to school (mostly university and college), as well as people that commute to work. Because of intense traffic, anyone that needs to go anywhere is affected.

     Toronto is Canada’s most populated city with over 2.8 million people, projected to grow to 7 million by 2050. In about 30 years, that is an increase of 4.2 million people. The GTA however, already has a population of 5.928 million in 2016, so it is very close to a significant 6 million people now. It is a major concern that Toronto’s public transportation system will not be able to sustain this population growth. Toronto’s public transportation system is working hard to sustain its demands, however, this has only caused it to become less efficient and more time-consuming, keeping people from using it. Due to sacrifices of comfort, practicality, and more expenses, people do not prefer public transport as a regular method of transportation.

     It is a significant issue because people are forced to wake up at unreasonably early times and sacrifice their time and their sleep due to unorganized transportation systems. Some may argue that people can simply commute to work with their own cars but with this brings fuel, insurance, and maintenance costs for their vehicle, and expensive parking in Toronto. In addition, traffic is intense on the road. People may also arrive at work or class late because of their dependence on public transportation, and that time may be valuable and not worth losing.

     It is also an issue because due to the lack of organization in the system, people are always at risk of being late to places the commute to and that is ethically not acceptable. Furthermore, traffic causes greater fuel use and less fuel efficiency in vehicles, and this contributes greatly to climate change and smog in the city, which has recently become an issue in Toronto. This, in turn, risks the health of the people there, especially the elderly.