Toronto
UMR Index
Score: 60.7%
Sustainable Mobility
Score: 51.5%
Public Transit
Score: 49.6%
| Population | 6.6 million |
| Surface area (km2) | 2,344 |
| Population-density (people/km2) | 2,804 |
| GDP per capita ($) | 42,836 |
What Toronto Does Well in Urban Mobility
Toronto is committed to mobility innovation with its strong, multimodal transit system and government investments in electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and connected and automated (CAV) technologies. The city aims to have 850 public charging points by the end of 2025. Separately, Ontario in June 2023 built EV fast chargers along the province’s busiest highways that are local to Toronto.
The city possesses leading, high-quality infrastructure, from extensive and interconnected roadways to manufacturing, warehousing, and other supply chain infrastructure. Ontario is undergoing several road construction projects in Toronto, namely highway extensions, as part of a US$135 billion infrastructure scheme.
Urban Mobility Readiness Index, Sustainable Mobility and Public Transit scores
Challenges and Opportunities for Toronto’s Transportation System
Toronto lacks a dedicated app that would seamlessly integrate its multimodal public transit system. And yet, Toronto’s public transit system was rated as the most efficient by the World Conference on Transport Research Society in 2023 – and received a similar award from the American Public Transportation Association in 2017.
The city is not home to a thriving active mobility sector with challenges to on-the-go residents who struggle to navigate the city's limited walking and cycling infrastructure. However, Toronto aims to finish approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) of new bikeways, as well as enhancements to existing routes, by 2024. Its underground walkway network is an innovative method to support pedestrians during the winter months.
Dimensions of the Urban Mobility Readiness Index score
How Toronto Can Improve Its Public Transportation and Sustainable Mobility
With over half of Toronto's trips completed via personal cars, the city lags behind its peer New York. Toronto residents own more than twice as many cars on average than New Yorkers. The city can discourage car usage by introducing car-free zones to heavily walked areas and by limiting car parking. The city could offer alternative mobility options by promoting public transit, active mobility, and shared mobility such as car-sharing or ride-hailing. Toronto can improve its active mobility infrastructure by expanding its bike lanes, increasing its affordable and reliable bike-sharing program service areas, and heightening traffic enforcement.
Many of Toronto's residents have lengthy walks to subway stations or bus and streetcar stops. To improve station density and encourage ridership, the city could add routes and stops for buses and streetcars to help connect residents with subway stations and other destinations – a cost-effective improvement that would help lower walking distances and overall commute times. In the long term, extending existing subway lines and adding new line options will be key to building out the city's public transit offering, but that effort will be a time-intensive and expensive undertaking.