News   Mar 28, 2024
 257     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 241     0 
News   Mar 28, 2024
 282     0 

Highway Expansion

Are there regulations that prevent someone from operating a jitney service in the Toronto area? For instance, would they fall under the TTC's "jurisdiction", or under the taxi authority's? (And, I wonder, does the answer change for any of the other Toronto-area municipalities?)
No matter whether they were classified as cabs or public transit, they would be prohibited from operating in the Toronto area for sure, probably the whole province to. If they are public transit, the City specifically disallows competition to the TTC. If they are a cab, then our regulations prohibit cabs from accepting multiple passengers. I think cab companies can only operate certain vehicles as well which is pretty much limited to Crown Vics, Cameries and some vans for a few things. And even if they manage to get around those, we limit the amount of cab permits in the city which would effectively make it impossible for a jitney company to obtain licenses at all. I don't know what the situation is outside Toronto, but it is probably pretty similar throughout the GTA. Its better than Edmonton though, where you aren't even allowed to hail a cab.

EDIT: By 'multiple passengers' I don't mean cabs can't take a group of multiple passengers to multiple destinations. I mean it can't pick up one group of passengers and wait until it gets more passengers from a different group or stop mid route to pick someone else up.
 
Last edited:
I think the elevated ramp from the 410 south to the 401 East should be split to allow south eastern traffic the option of taking the express or the collectors......not only would it be convenient for those commuters it would improve, greatly, the flow of traffic in the east bound 401 as it would end the "lane" dancing that takes place because high speed traffic has been forced into the collectors even though they have no desire to be there or any desire to exit the highway.

Just bumping this because today is a perfect example of why this would help.

The journey time from Bovaird to the 401 on the southbound 410 today was a little over an hour. Why?

Icy conditions caused a serious of accidents on the 401 eastbound collectors.

Apparantly, the express lanes were fine but the collectors were in bad shape. People going south on the 410 are funnelled into the collectors....so they keep piling into the bad area making it frustrating for them and more difficult for the folks trying to solve the problem......if the express were an option (people coming north on the 403/410 can pick express or collectors) the 410 southbound traffic would have an outlet not currently open to them. People managing the road would also have the option to close the collector ramp as the people on it would have somewhere else to go.

Today is not an isolated case (clearly one of the worst days on that combination of road but not isolated) and I think the volumes of traffic warrant an option being in place....for the good of everyone.
 
There should also be a link from westbound 401 express to northbound 410. I hate the lane drift one must take to get to the 410, while the 403 is exempt.

The problem is that there has been little updating of the 401 highway configuration in that direction since the 410 was transformed from a two-lane reliever to a six-lane freeway.
 
There should also be a link from westbound 401 express to northbound 410. I hate the lane drift one must take to get to the 410, while the 403 is exempt.

The problem is that there has been little updating of the 401 highway configuration in that direction since the 410 was transformed from a two-lane reliever to a six-lane freeway.

Considering, though, the amount of warehousing and distribution that occurs in Brampton it is really hard to estimate how much efficiency and gained productivity would be achieved by improving this meeting of 3 - 400 series highways.

My bet would be tons!!
 
There should also be a link from westbound 401 express to northbound 410. I hate the lane drift one must take to get to the 410, while the 403 is exempt.
Not sure the big deal - it's just like any other interchange (except the 403), where you move to the Collectors before getting off.

How about a link from the east-bound 401 to the 403. There isn't one at all. Or the even more frustrating westbound QEW to 403 northbound (between Winston Churchill and Ford Drive).
 
Not sure the big deal - it's just like any other interchange (except the 403), where you move to the Collectors before getting off.

How about a link from the east-bound 401 to the 403. There isn't one at all. Or the even more frustrating westbound QEW to 403 northbound (between Winston Churchill and Ford Drive).


I agree with the first part.....I drive that route about 4 times a week and have never had much difficulty getting off the 401 onto the 410 (well there are crushing volumes on the 410 but I am not sure that any of that has to do with there only being a ramp from the westbound collectors).

I do, however, think that a direct link from the southbound 410 to the eastbound 401 express lanes would be an improvement shared by a whole bunch of people (sb 410 traffic and eb 401 collectors/airport traffic)
 
No matter whether they were classified as cabs or public transit, they would be prohibited from operating in the Toronto area for sure, probably the whole province to. If they are public transit, the City specifically disallows competition to the TTC. If they are a cab, then our regulations prohibit cabs from accepting multiple passengers.

Hum. Are there any good (as opposed to self-interested) arguments as to why regulations shouldn't be changed to allow jitneys? If they were, would we only want jitneys on pre-set routes, or would we allow them to route dynamically according to demand (my preference, plainly)?
 
I do, however, think that a direct link from the southbound 410 to the eastbound 401 express lanes would be an improvement shared by a whole bunch of people (sb 410 traffic and eb 401 collectors/airport traffic)
The southbound 410 traffic enters the eastbound 401 in the left-side of the collectors. All you have to do is hold that lane and it peels off and becomes an express lane without a single lane-change.
 
The southbound 410 traffic enters the eastbound 401 in the left-side of the collectors. All you have to do is hold that lane and it peels off and becomes an express lane without a single lane-change.

Sure, except on days (like today but not exclusively today) where there is "trouble" on the eb 401 collectors and you force all of the southbound traffic into the collectors.....not only does this delay/inconvenience/frustrate those sb folks who are headed east, it exacerbates the problems in the eb collectors.
 
Hum. Are there any good (as opposed to self-interested) arguments as to why regulations shouldn't be changed to allow jitneys? If they were, would we only want jitneys on pre-set routes, or would we allow them to route dynamically according to demand (my preference, plainly)?

I suppose the argument would be made that it would leech passengers from TTC bus routes, reducing the viability of some of it's services. This would disadvantage poorer customers, who would be unable to afford jitneys, with reduced service levels to cope with lower usage. Though this is definitely self-interest on the part of the TTC, it could be argued that the TTC is owned by all Torontonians and harming it's viability would, by proxy, harm Toronto at large. You would also probably get the 'high grading' argument that usually comes out whenever there is talk of private involvement in transit.

(I am personally in favor of letting the operators decide how best to set routes)
 
Sure, except on days (like today but not exclusively today) where there is "trouble" on the eb 401 collectors and you force all of the southbound traffic into the collectors.....not only does this delay/inconvenience/frustrate those sb folks who are headed east, it exacerbates the problems in the eb collectors.
On the other hand, if you allowed both, then in times of problems on the collectors, you'd have an unusually high amount of local traffic entering the express lanes, creating problems there - even though much of it would go to the collects just down the road.
 
I think the whole 401/403/410 interchange really needs to be upgraded. I'm sure when it was built the 410 wasn't very busy at all. But Brampton has seen tons of growth in the last 10 years.
 
On the other hand, if you allowed both, then in times of problems on the collectors, you'd have an unusually high amount of local traffic entering the express lanes, creating problems there - even though much of it would go to the collects just down the road.

At least they would have somewhere to go though....I am not a highway/traffic engineer....but I presume that funnelling them into the express is better than having them sitting idling on the bridge/ramp only to crawl into the very area where the accident is and hindering the clean up efforts?

Honest question......which is better?
 
I think the whole 401/403/410 interchange really needs to be upgraded.

Agree

I'm sure when it was built the 410 wasn't very busy at all. But Brampton has seen tons of growth in the last 10 years.


Disagree.....it was always busy....it has just become crazy critical now!

When that ramp/interchange was built, the population of Brampton was already 300,000 +/- and that is the city's only direct highway connection to the 400 series of highways.....for a suburban, commuter city dramatically underserved (relative to its population) by regional rail, that is a recipe for congestion.......the fact that the population is now 500k+/- and the only industry to really grow in the city is warehousing/distribution just makes it critical....it was always bad.

The most false municipal marketing slogan ever was the City of Brampton's "All Roads Lead to Brampton" campaign.....it really should have been "One Road Leads to Brampton....which Leads to All other Roads!"

The 410 suffers a bit of an image problem. People across the GTA do not hear about the congestion on it because it is nearly never reported. I think that is because the traffic 'copters and planes can't fly over it due to Pearson traffic. So it does not get the "congestion" focus that it has (sadly) earned.

Using yesterday as an example......I got on the 410 at Bovaird and took a wee bit over an hour to get to the 401. The whole way I was listening to 680 news.......their "traffic and weather on the ones", therefore, cycled 10 or so times.........every segment included how bad the 401 eb collectors were but not once did they mention that the 410 was jammed....I suspect it was 'cause they could not see it......so the perception becomes "that road can't be that bad...I never hear about congestion on it"

As a Bramptonian commuter, when I drive to work I touch the 410, 401, 427 and Gardiner.....when we talk about traffic at work over a coffee people are generally (and genuinely) surprised when I tell them that, by far, the 410 is the most congested/difficult part of my daily commute.

I typically leave the office at 7 p.m....even at that time I allow 1 hour to get from the financial core to home....that is broken up as 1/2 hour to get from King and Bay to the 401/410 and 1/2 hour to get to my driveway in the Kennedy/Bovaird area......it would shock people how many times that split works out to be true.
 
Honest question......which is better?
I'd be concerned adding another on-ramp onto the express at that point, just as one lane is about to be forced onto the collectors. A car entering would have to do a lot of lane changes to not be quickly forced onto the 427.

The problem is the highway is just overused. Increased transit and road tolling is probably a better use of money that making the interchange even bigger. It boggles my mind that people would choose to live in one city, and commute to another. Just commuting a few km across Toronto is more than I want to drive most days in rush-hour (and I use transit most days). Increasing the size of the highway will just encourage those that think that such use of the highways is acceptable on a daily basis, to do more so. Metrolinx announced today the EA for the Brampton/Georgetown GO train, including "All-day express GO service between Toronto and Brampton", with a look to start construction in the fall. This would be a much better use of limited infrastructure $.

When that ramp/interchange was built, the population of Brampton was already 300,000 +/- and that is the city's only direct highway connection to the 400 series of highways.....
It was the only direct connection when it was built - but since there are two more 400-series connection; 407 to the east and 407 to the West. And 427 doesn't quite go through Brampton, but it's less than 1 km away ... when I used to work in eastern Brampton, this was the quickest way into downtown.
 
Last edited:

Back
Top