New thinking is required to deliver on transit funding
Everyone is on board with building more transit in the GTA. But it must be planned and delivered so that we maximize the return on our public investment for decades to come.
The question is: how do we do that?
Transit has to be built with a longterm view. It has to be the right kind of transit in the right place and it must have a sustainable funding source beyond its construction phase.
Everyone who benefits has a responsibility to help pay for it. The most sustainable model encourages development and intensification along transit corridors to allow the maximum number of people — and businesses — to make use of the infrastructure and benefit from it.
Recently, BILD participated in a roundtable discussion with repre- sentatives from the development, commercial, university, community and transportation sectors to examine barriers to development along major corridors where transit projects are being planned. Everyone agreed that transit needs development to be viable.
The biggest obstacle to the promotion of development occurring along a transit corridor is the lack of zoning to support the type of intensification needed to bring enough people and jobs to the area.
To make it even more challenging, there are often development disincentives such as high fees and taxes and long timelines. Community pushback can also derail development projects.
Right now, homebuyers are paying their fair share for new infrastructure projects such as transit, through development charges and other government fees paid as part of a home purchase. On average across the GTA, these fees and charges amount to one-fifth of the cost of a new home and the largest contributor is development charges. Sometimes, there are development charges specifically for transit.
It is important that new homebuyers don’t pay a disproportionate amount, especially because the surrounding neighbours stand to benefit from new transit infrastructure.
For any new transit projects, the provincial government has put a mechanism in place so that municipalities have to analyze the need and justify the cost to build and operate new transit and transportation infrastructure now and in the fu- ture. Called asset management plans, they will bring accountability and transparency to how public funds will be spent and more certainty that comes with a viable transit plan and better decisionmaking around building, operating, maintaining, renewing and replacing infrastructure.
Some other municipal sectors already use these types of plans, such as the water sector and the social housing sector. It’s now time for the transit planning sector to do so as well because as part of creating these plans, municipalities are required to examine a variety of funding options.
It’s not a time for small plans and every funding mechanism available should be considered to ensure that these large transit investments are maximized to the fullest. Bryan Tuckey is president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and is a land-use planner who has worked for municipal, regional and provincial governments. Find him at twitter.com/bildgta, facebook.com/ bildgta and bildblogs.ca