Toronto creates transit expansion office

The city of Toronto late last week announced plans to establish a transit expansion office.

The first of its kind for Toronto, the new office will play a key role in providing end-to-end oversight of transit expansion projects as they advance through their lifecycles, city officials said in a press release.

The office also will oversee and facilitate all processes related to transit expansion initiatives, and ensure that the city's interests and priorities are incorporated.

In addition, the office will serve as a single point of contact for all city divisions, the Toronto Transit Commission, Metrolinx and other agencies to coordinate municipal programs and services needed to advance transit projects, city officials said.

Over the next 10 years, Toronto officials will be working closely with Metrolinx leaders to implement the SmartTrack Program and GO Transit expansion program, they noted. The city will continue to advance other priority transit projects, including the proposed Relief Line subway route and the Bloor-Danforth subway extension into Scarborough.

"We are building a connected transit network that will help people move around our city," said Toronto Mayor John Tory. "We are reorganizing the city government to ensure we have an office focused on getting our major transit projects built as soon as possible."