Metrolinx Design Audit — Team project
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A case study: Bloomington GO station — an $82.4 million project that yielded a three-level parking garage with 1,000 spaces but only a single train platform seeing 4 trains per day. Built in Ontario's Greenbelt, it has zero bus routes running to it — making automotive the only way to access it.
Framework 2: Costs and Efficiency. Metrolinx operates GO Transit, UP Express, and PRESTO — all currently prioritizing the GTA. Getting to stations has become increasingly difficult as suburbs grow. Many commuters in suburbs must drive to stations, contributing to emissions that undercut the transit system's environmental claims.
Framework 3: Inclusiveness. Despite Metrolinx's stated commitment to accessibility, there are significant gaps. Many GO stations lack adequate ramps, have limited wheelchair access, and offer reduced weekend services that particularly affect people with disabilities and mobility issues who rely on these services.
The audit process involved mapping the full ecosystem of Metrolinx operations, identifying pain points across all three frameworks, and benchmarking against best practices in transit design from around the world. Each framework was examined through primary observation, policy analysis, and case study research.
Key issues were categorized across three dimensions of the Metrolinx system:
For each framework, the team developed evidence-based recommendations that balance environmental sustainability with practical implementation constraints. Research showed that reducing parking requirements from 2:1 to 1:1 could save as much as $2 million per project, while simultaneously increasing space available for residential and mixed-use development — creating more viable transit-oriented communities.
The audit produced a comprehensive Impact Map of design improvement suggestions that reframes Metrolinx's challenges as actionable opportunities across all three frameworks.
With these solutions, Metrolinx can remain true to their brand's intent — to improve the coordination and integration of all modes of transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, championing a transportation system that truly enhances prosperity, sustainability, and quality of life.