Sustainability Through Accessibility: Evaluating the Accessibility of Toronto’s Public Transportation

Abstract

Public transportation is one of the most sustainable transportation options in terms of greenhouse gasses emitted per rider due to the high capacity of transit vehicles. Resultantly the sustainability of public transportation is dependent on high levels of ridership. Increasing accessibility, particularly through affordability and proximity, may encourage public transit ridership. A document analysis was conducted on sustainability documents published by Metrolinx, and the Toronto Transit Commission to evaluate the degree to which these agencies reflect best practices for sustainable public transportation in these documents. Both affordability and proximity were measured on the basis of total instances and proportional document coverage. Results show that these themes were not prevalent in the documents. Specifically, accessibility was found to be prominent, but through the theme of corporate social responsibility rather than affordability or proximity. Thus, this MRP highlights the need to focus on these themes in future public transit sustainability strategies.