The Utah Hockey club posted a video Nov. 24 to social media that showed the team walking to ScotiaBank Arena in Toronto because their bus was stuck in traffic.
The players were late for their team meeting ahead of their game that night versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Walking pregame to get to the rink because there’s way too much traffic,” one player said in the video. “So I think that’s a first. Never seen that before.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to the UHC’s video the following day.
“It is the worst congested city in North America,”, he said. “Even to the point last night of the Utah Hockey Club has to get out of the bus and start walking to the hockey arena. It’s just unacceptable.”
The video came just before the provincial government passed bill 212 which requires municipalities to acquire approval before installing bike lanes if a lane of vehicular traffic will be removed to accommodate them.
The bill also allows for the province to remove existing bike lanes along University Avenue, Young street and Bloor Street in Toronto.
The city opposes the project, and issued a report that estimates it will cost $48 million dollars to remove the $27 million dollar in-lane infrastructure, which the province dismissed.
The city also estimates that removal and reconstruction would take nine months, furthering the congestion. Several cycling advocates in the city are also opposed to the plan.
“The purpose of bike lanes is not just to provide space for cyclists, but to slow down traffic and make the roads safer for everyone,” Michael Longfield, executive director of Cycle Toronto, told the National Observer. “Slowing down speeding vehicles reduces the severity of collisions, not only for cyclists but for motorists as well.”
Congestion has many causes, city official says
Toronto ranks third in the world in cities with the highest congestion according to Tomtom annual rankings index, only behind London, UK, and Dublin, Ireland.
“The cause of congestion in Toronto is constantly changing, it is for different reasons we see the problem evolving, and it is like a moving target,” Roger Browne, director of traffic management for the city of Toronto, told the Toronto Observer.
“As of right now, the heavy focus at hand is construction. Toronto right now, has the most cranes in North America, combined with long-overdue transit infrastructure projects, like the Ontario Line, Eglinton LRT line and our own other projects like the Gardiner [Expressway repairs],” he said.
“The percentage of the road network that is taken away by construction according to statistics is actually in the double digits for Toronto,” Browne said in the city council meeting.
Will a congestion management plan help?
The city recently held a fall update for its congestion management plan at the October city council meeting.
The plan is to increase fees for construction companies to speed up construction and make sure companies do not block roads, as well as introducing automated systems for traffic violations as well as increasing fines for traffic violations.
“The main complaints we have when it comes to traffic congestion is in and around construction zones where they (construction) block off lanes with no work taking place and abandon construction sites for weeks on end,” Coun. James Pasternak (Ward 6, York Centre), said in the meeting. “They use live lanes as parking spots. I do not see this plan addressing those key issues.”
The proposed plan is to target construction companies by making them pay fees and “disincentivize them,” Browne replied to Pasternak.
Don’t “block the box”
Raising fees have also occurred for other traffic matters. The blocking the intersection (“Blocking the box”) fine was raised from $90 to $450 to try and battle congestion. The fine for an improper stop at an intersection for community safety zones has also been raised from $120 to $500.
In addition to raising fines, the city has said it wants to formally request the Ontario government to allow for more automated camera enforcement (AI) for traffic violations like Blocking the box and improper stops.
The final part of the report focused on the traffic agent program, where currently there are around 30 traffic agents in the city who guide the flow of traffic at busy intersections.
“We have seen great success with the traffic agent program,” said Browne. “Spring of next year, we are planning on around 80 traffic agents.”
