Metrolinx Design Audit
Auditing Ontario's transit agency through the lenses of strategic planning, efficiency, and inclusiveness.
Exploring the ways in which Metrolinx is falling short on their social responsibility at the level of ecological sustainability and social sustainability.
- Context
- Metrolinx · Group Project
- Focus
- Transit Design · Sustainability · Accessibility · Strategic Planning
- Year
- 2024
The Overview
As an agency of the Government of Ontario, Metrolinx's intent is to improve the coordination and integration of all modes of transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Their mission: to champion, develop, and implement an integrated transportation system that enhances prosperity, sustainability, and quality of life.
Read morecontext, supporting figures
Representing the largest transportation investment in Ontario's history, Metrolinx operates three key brands — GO Transit, PRESTO, and UP Express — serving over 100 million passengers annually with 400,000+ trains and buses.
This design audit explores how Metrolinx is falling short on their social responsibility at the level of ecological and social sustainability — specifically through their models of Efficiency, Inclusiveness, and Strategic Planning — and provides potential solutions.
The Challenge
Framework 1: Strategic Planning. GO Train is an essential service for approximately 219,000 weekly riders, connecting communities from Niagara, Barrie, Milton, Kitchener, and Oshawa to Toronto's Union Station. But while any transit system is more effective at traffic reduction and carbon release than single-rider commutes, Metrolinx continues to neglect a key issue in their sustainability claims.
Read moreresearch findings, supporting figures
Transit-oriented communities are a great solution to traffic and climate crises, yet Metrolinx has continuously failed to incentivize passengers to walk, bike, or commute to their stations. Instead, Metrolinx builds stations to prioritize automobiles rather than pedestrians. A striking 67% of commuters living outside Toronto use GO Transit to get to work, yet many can only reach stations by driving — defeating the purpose of public transit.