Sustainably yours

GO Transit’s green initiatives help communities and the environment

In July 2013, the massive f looding at the mouth of the Don River was a big wakeup call, not just for GO Transit, but for the whole region. And last year,during a heat wave, GO had to reduce the speed of its trains to make sure the tracks didn’t buckle.

Such incidents represent a new reality, says Leslie Woo, Chief Planning Officer for Metrolinx, the Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transport in the Golden Horseshoe region. Climate change leads to more extreme weather conditions, which can lead to f looding, severe heat and acute cold. “As you can imagine, back when GO started, this was not on anyone’s radar,” says Woo. “We realized we needed to put in place a lot more measures to ensure our system is more climate resilient.”

These new measures include equipping tracks with f lood sensors, improving emergency response and designing rail corridors to better deal with washouts and other disruptions.

LESS IS MORE

GO is also taking steps to reduce its energy use and emissions. As recently as 2009, the transit service had no comprehensive way of monitoring its energy consumption. “We had utility bills in little cardboard boxes all over the organization,” says Woo.

She and her team spent a year collecting all that paper data and digitizing it, letting them track, analyze and cut back on GO’s energy consumption. GO has reduced idling times for trains and buses, switched to LED and motion sensitive lights throughout stations and upgraded equipment with energy savings in mind.

Not only did GO decrease its greenhouse gas emissions, “the annual operating savings have been in the millions,” says Woo.

Metrolinx’s Smart Commute program is a partnership with regional municipalities to help reduce emissions and congestion. The program is implemented at 340 large employers in the GTHA, promoting walking, cycling, carpooling and transit as ways to ease gridlock and have fewer single-occupancy vehicles on the road.

ETHICS FIRST

You may have noticed the spiffy new uniforms worn by GO staff. What you may not realize is that, apart from being more comfortable, the uniforms were designed to maximize durability and come from factories that commit to following ethical practices. (And the old uniforms? Twenty-thousand pounds of them were collected for reuse and recycling.)

It’s part of Metrolinx’s desire to have all of its supplies, from uniforms to paper products, meet sustainability standards. “In the past, that wasn’t in our consciousness, so it wasn’t something we asked for,” says Woo. “But if you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it.”

THE GOLD STANDARD

GO recently upgraded the design requirements for all its stations and maintenance facilities to aim for LEED Gold certification. That means paying attention to the materials being used, the construction methods, energy efficiency and the impact on the adjacent environment.

“We pay very close attention to whether the site is near woodlots or sensitive habitats like creeks or ravines,” says Woo. For example, GO is piloting permeable materials for ground surfacing so that water can reach the soil rather than washing off into storm sewers that f low into lakes and streams.

MAKING AN IMPACT

Last year, Metrolinx signed one of Ontario’s first ever Community Benefits Agreements. The newest innovation in city-building circles, CBAs make large-scale public projects do double duty in Toronto’s neighbourhoods, providing both badly needed infrastructure and local employment.

The basic concept: at least 10 per cent of all trade hours for infrastructure projects must be provided by workers from disadvantaged communities in the neighbourhoods they touch. In the end, says Woo, “we cover so much geography and we are one of the largest infrastructure transformations happening. We can have a great impact, and we don’t take that responsibility lightly.”

“WE PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHETHER [A STATION] IS NEAR WOODLOTS OR SENSITIVE HABITATS LIKE CREEKS OR RAVINES”