Metrolinx is a transportation agency in Ontario, Canada. It is a Crown agency that manages and integrates road and public transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). It was created as the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority on June 22, 2006, and adopted its present name as a brand name in 2007 and eventually as the legal name in 2009. It is headquartered at Union Station in Toronto.
Metrolinx serves as the central procurement agency on behalf of Ontario municipalities for local transit vehicles, equipment and services. It is also responsible for operating the GO Transit system, the Presto card used across the GTHA and by OC Transpo in Ottawa and the Union Pearson Express airport rail link to Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Metrolinx is also responsible for the construction of transit expansion projects worth over $30 billion in Torontoincluding the Line 5 light rail extension into Mississauga in Peel Region, the Ontario Line, the Line 1 subway extension into Richmond Hill in York Region, and the Line 2 extensionfollowing a 2020 agreement with the City of Toronto.
History
The Greater Toronto Transportation Authority was created by legislation and introduced in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on April 24, 2006. The bill was passed and received royal assent on June 22, 2006. In April 2007, a transition team seconded from the Ontario Public Service began work at the GTTA's headquarters at 20 Bay Street in Toronto.
On December 4, 2007, the GTTA adopted the name 'Metrolinx' for public use. At the same time, it launched a new web site, and released the first of its series of green papers on transportation issues, part of the process of creating the Regional Transportation Plan. From June 2008, Metrolinx began using a new logo in printed and electronic communications.
Timeline
2008: December 17: Metrolinx announces that, together with twelve municipalities, it has made a collective bus purchase for 160 buses. 2009: March 30: the Ontario government introduces legislation to merge GO Transit and Metrolinx into a single entity, with "Metrolinx" as its legal name.Bill 163, Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Transit Implementation Act, 2009 , Legislative Assembly of Ontario website, accessed April 1, 2009 The legislation receives royal assent on May 14, 2009, taking immediate effect. This results in the replacement of the previous board structure with a new one comprising 15 private-sector members appointed by the province. The legislation makes other changes to Metrolinx's powers and abilities. GO's trackage used to be owned entirely by Canada's two major commercial railways: the large majority by the Canadian National Railway (CNR) and the remainder by Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Before Metrolinx's creation, GO Transit had only acquired partial ownership of the Lakeshore East, Barrie, Stouffville and Milton lines. However, since its inception, Metrolinx has expanded its ownership of the rail corridors on which GO Transit operates by acquiring nonessential rail lines from both CN and CP. April 8: Metrolinx announces that it has acquired the Weston Subdivision, part of the Kitchener line, then known as the Georgetown line, for $160 million from CN. June 27: GO Transit introduces summer weekend GO train service between Toronto and Niagara Falls. December 15: Metrolinx announces that it has acquired the lower portion of the Newmarket subdivision for $68 million from CN, giving it full ownership of the Barrie line. 2010: March 31: Metrolinx announces that it has acquired a key piece of track from CN for $168 million. This purchase is for a portion of the Oakville subdivision from Union station to 30th Street in Etobicoke just west of GO's Willowbrook Rail Maintenance Facility. July 30: Metrolinx announces its plan to build, own and operate the air rail link between Union Station and Toronto Pearson International Airport. 2011: January 24: Metrolinx and the Regional Municipality of York are awarded contracts for early construction on work on the York Viva Bus Rapid Transit way. March 30: Metrolinx announces that it has acquired the portion of the Kingston line on which that GO trains operate from CN for $299 million, giving it full ownership of the Lakeshore East line. June 16: Together with 12 municipalities, Metrolinx purchases 287 new transit buses. August 24: Metrolinx division GO Transit announces that the Presto card is available across its entire GTHA network. December 19: GO Transit expands its weekday GO train service to include stations in Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph. Construction begins on the Union Pearson Express train line. 2012: January 29: Metrolinx division GO Transit opens the new Allandale Waterfront GO Station in Barrie. March 27: Metrolinx acquires key portions of multiple subdivisions from CN for $310.5 million. This purchase includes the southern portions of the Bala subdivision up to CN's main east–west freight line the York subdivision, part of the Richmond Hill line and a large portion of the Oakville subdivision from 30th Street in Etobicoke to a point just west of Fourth line in Oakville. May 10: GO Transit announces summer weekend and GO train service between Toronto and Barrie. November 15: GO Transit launches the GO Train Service Guarantee, a fare credit policy for train delays. November 29: Metrolinx announces the Next Wave of Big Move projects. 2013: January 5: GO Transit begins serving the new Acton GO Station. March 22:, Metrolinx completes an additional purchase of the Oakville subdivision from CN for $52.5 million. This purchase is for the portion from Fourth Line in Oakville to a point just east of where CN's freight main line joins the Oakville Subdivision in Burlington. April 13: Presto's smart farecard is available across the entire OC Transpo network in Ottawa. May 27, 2013, Metrolinx announces its investment strategy, a series of recommendations for sustaining transit growth in the region. June: Metrolinx has ownership of 68% of the corridors on which it operates, up from 6% in 1998. It has complete ownership of the Barrie, Stouffville and Lakeshore East lines and majority ownership of the Lakeshore West line (to a point just west of Burlington GO station) and Richmond Hill line (to Doncaster Junction, a point in between Old Cummer and Langstaff GO stations). Metrolinx owns comparatively small portions of the Kitchener and Milton lines, a situation that is unlikely to change as the lines are heavily used by freight traffic. June 5: Metrolinx crews begin tunnelling the western underground portion of the Line 5 Eglinton light rail transit line. June 28: GO Transit introduces its biggest expansion in 46 years with 30-minute service on the Lakeshore lines. November 29: Metrolinx opens the Strachan Avenue underpass, allowing GO trains to operate below the road without disrupting road traffic. Metrolinx and the City of Mississauga announce the start of construction for the west segment of the Mississauga Transitway, scheduled for completion in 2016. 2014: February 28: Metrolinx reveals plans to increase train service to Hamilton and build the new West Harbour GO Station. March 31: Metrolinx division Presto announces that one million transit riders are using the electronic fare card across the GTHA and Ottawa. July 17: Metrolinx has purchased stations at Georgetown, Brampton and Oshawa. July 31: Construction is completed on the Union Pearson Express train line. September 24: Metrolinx purchases the segment of the Kitchener line between Kitchener and Georgetown. September 30: Metrolinx enters into a partnership with Ivanhoé Cambridge to redevelop a new GO Bus Terminal to serve as a major transit, commercial and community hub. 2015 February 2: 36 GO stations and terminals begin offering free WiFi, providing coverage to approximately 80 per cent of customers. February 12: Metrolinx announces a major expansion of Stouffville GO Line, adding additional tracks and improving the corridor to increase train. March 10: Metrolinx announces a major expansion of Barrie GO line, adding additional tracks and improving the corridor to increase train capacity. April 24: The new York GO Concourse opens, a major part of the ongoing revitalization of Union Station, adding 50 percent more capacity than the Bay Concourse. June 6: The new Union Pearson Express is launched, linking Toronto's Pearson International Airport with Union Station via a 25-minute two-stop express train. July 9: The new West Harbour GO Station is opened in Hamilton in time for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games. 2018: January: Metrolinx claims that their computer systems were hacked by North Korea but does not provide any further details. March 14: The Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility is substantially completed. 2025: November: Metrolinx hands over operations of Line 6 Finch West, which opens in December 2025 after construction began in 2016, to the TTC. December: Metrolinx hands over operations of Line 5 Eglinton, which opens in February 2026 after construction began in 2011, to the TTC.
Responsibilities The Metrolinx Act, 2006, formerly known as the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority Act, 2006, describes two of Metrolinx's primary responsibilities as being: to provide leadership in the co-ordination, planning, financing and development of an integrated, multi-modal transportation network that conforms with transportation policies of growth plans prepared and approved under the Places to Grow Act, 2005 applicable in the regional transportation area and complies with other provincial transportation policies and plans applicable in the regional transportation area, and to act as the central procurement agency for the procurement of local transit system vehicles, equipment, technologies and facilities and related supplies and services on behalf of Ontario municipalities.
The Big Move regional transportation plan The Big Move: Transforming Transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area was one of Metrolinx's first deliverables. It is a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) including a rolling five-year capital plan and Investment Strategy for the GTHA. The plan builds on 52 GO train, subway, light rail and bus rapid transit projects proposed by the Government of Ontario in its MoveOntario 2020 plan announced on June 15, 2007, and includes new projects to support them.
A draft version of the Big Move was provided to Metrolinx on September 26, 2008, and a final version was approved on November 27, 2008.
Progress Planning and construction is underway for some projects supporting the Regional Transportation Plan.
The three levels of government have provided $16 billion toward the first wave of projects, which are already underway. The next wave of projects were still in the planning phase at the time of the Big Move's release, and still subject to funding. Some of these projects have since attained approved funding, while others have not.
Funding investment strategy The Metrolinx Investment Strategy, released in May 2013, proposes a series of 24 recommendations as part of a four-part plan to integrate transportation, growth and land use planning in the GTHA, maximize the value of public infrastructure investment, optimize system and network efficiencies, and dedicate new revenue sources for transit and transportation. These recommendations included revenue tools and policy recommendations.
Metrolinx also advised that funds raised by all the new taxes would be put in a dedicated transportation trust fund, one that would be administered by a board separate from Metrolinx.
The Investment Strategy was given to the government for consideration in 2013.
Wayfinding standardization