Reference no: EM132866070

This project may be done in a group. You are writing a report, so Word is appropriate.

The Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area (GTHA) is 6.5 million people resident in multiple cities, towns, and regional governments. Tihis is about 45% of the total population of the province of Ontario, and is more than 50% of the provincial economy. The provincial government is afraid to create structures to coordinate this region, as these could easily become the nucleus of a separation attempt separating this economic powerhouse from the mass of Ontario that is not as wealthy.

However, under Canada's constitution, road and public transport are the responsibility of the provincial government, which chose decades ago to give that responsibility to the cities and towns. (This is why Mississauga and Brampton - both in Peel Region - have their own bus systems, and why neither of these are part of the TTC.)

People want to go where they need to go. They want a unified system of trains, subways, LRT, streetcars, BRT and buses, plus viable roads for driving, to get around the region quickly. The province has created an agency to plan for the future and to build certain new projects (Metrolinx), plus to run the fare collection system (Presto). But not many people are happy with the results.

Just to add to the problem, new construction is usually paid for 1/3 by the province, 1/3 by the municipality ... and 1/3 by the federal government. All of these have their own election cycles. All of these have their own budget problems. Getting things done - and staying with the plan when governments change - adds to the complexity and many, many delays.

How should Ontario solve this problem?

You should research the elements online - Metrolinx, of course, but also other websites - and answer the question "how should Ontario build a transit agency that can deliver quickly across the GTHA"?