[Dr. Snoot]

Staff can stand up to Councillors if they have a backbone.

Councillors cannot fire staff. Though they can certainly help/hurt some people in their careers.

I understand the sentiment, but this is more difficult than you might imagine.

In my experience, most of the time, staff propose the technocratic solution. However, often they are constrained by what Council has previously directed them to address in a subsequent report, whether rational or not. The biggest problem (IMHO) is that the City Council process does not provide staff any opportunity to provide input, unless specifically asked a question. Often they are asked no questions. Half the time, a Councillor will come up with a motion on the fly, without notice, without consulting staff on its clarity or impact, and it is adopted without debate. What's left is a mishmash of directions, an incomplete scheme, or directions to report back on a set of incoherent issues.

I believe that Councillors should be prohibited from proposing new motions without 48 hours of advance, public notice, unless it is an amendment of an existing motion or an emergency. This would provide an opportunity for at least some consideration by staff and a more rational debate. Staff Reports are circulated well in advance of City Council and have often been before committee, so there is no reason this can't happen except for unpreparedness or because a motion is proposed last-minute for political reasons.

The whole situation is, in fact, very disheartening for staff.

 

[christiesplits]

The report reads like it was written by a bunch of C-Suite execs who drive their BMWs to work everyday from Oakville.

Every recommendation is centered on the supremacy of the car.

 

[Mihairokov]

The report reads like it was written by a bunch of C-Suite execs who drive their BMWs to work everyday from Oakville.

Actual business owners are too busy actually working to contribute to this white collar report.

 

[lead82]

The report reads like it was written by a bunch of C-Suite execs who drive their BMWs to work everyday from Oakville.

Every recommendation is centered on the supremacy of the car.

That’s because it was written by folks just like this: look at the folks on the TBOT that wrote the report and tell me those are not luxury car driving executives.

 

[christiesplits]

I think Shawn Micallef nails it in his response to the report.

There is an unseriousness to following political whims like this that undermines actual small businesses, too. Breaking Gridlock takes aim at CafeTO, perhaps the most successful transformation of Toronto public space in decades, one of the few good things to come out of the pandemic and something that’s been great for local businesses. The report also takes special interest in Bloor Street and the bike lanes, despite the Bloor Annex BIA supporting them as many of their customers arrive on bike. The report sees the city as a place to get through, rather than live.

There’s so much the Board of Trade could advocate for, but the task force was flawed from the start considering who they installed on it.

Shawn Micallef: How the Toronto Region Board of Trade got lost in traffic

The only thing that will make getting around Toronto better is fewer cars and more people taking public transit, cycling or walking. There is no other way.

www.thestar.com

 

[drum118]

The only way you are going to get more traffic moving, the Cities need to stop building towers with parking in them. At the same time, you need to remove all on street parking and enforcing one car per house that don't have rear parking. If there is rear parking, use or have your vehicle tag and tow. Cities were built for people, not cars.

Most of all, where does the BOT and Ford put the 1.5-2 million more cars by 2040 with the growth for the GTA that is to be about 3 million more than today??

Like it or not, time to toll the road into the city and remove all HOV lanes not related to Transit.

City of Toronto need more subways/LRT/BRT to move the public with transit having power over traffic to move those riders.

The bike lanes are not the issue for traffic flow, it the single driver who think they have the right of way when its the pedestrians and cycles.

All construction sites need to remove the need to close a lane or street to building X with the city enforcing it with huge fines, not a slap on the hand.

During the winter months with snow storms, no parking is to be enforce that will block any traffic movements to the point they are tag and tow once a transit driver informs dispatch and the cost is not a slap on the hand if there is on street parking. You will get drivers disobeying the no parking signs like they do today to gab a coffee, food, cleaning and so on without a thought what impact their parking will do to traffic or transit.

All road work must be done on a 7/24 base to reduced the need to close lanes or a road regardless of the noise..

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Breaking Gridlock: The Province Must Finish the Job on Congestion​

See https://bot.com/News/The-Province-Must-Finish-the-Job-on-Congestion

Today (March 19, 2026), the Toronto Region Board of Trade released Breaking Gridlock: Finishing the Job through Provincial Action, a new report outlining the provincial actions that can reduce congestion quickly and at scale.

This work builds on last year’s Breaking Gridlock Congestion Action Plan, developed by the Board’s Congestion Task Force. The City of Toronto moved quickly to adopt several of those recommendations. The next step is provincial action to address congestion across the region.

The report identifies five immediate actions the province can take:

1. Amend the Highway Traffic Act for Additional Automated Enforcement
   Automated enforcement for blocked intersections will help prevent gridlock and keep traffic moving.
2. Reduce Lane Closures on Provincial Projects
   Better coordination and making 24/7 construction the norm can reduce the impact of major infrastructure work.
3. Address Critical Bottlenecks Through Provincial Coordination
   Targeted upgrades, improved lane design, and tools like ramp metering can address key chokepoints on highways.
4. Support Seamless Regional Transit Integration
   Aligning service, schedules, fares, and trip-planning across transit agencies can create a seamless regional network and encourage more people to choose transit.
5. Support the Rollout of a Comprehensive Smart Signals System
   Upgrading to smart signals will improve traffic flow, reduce transit delays, and maximize the impact of provincial transit investments.

Read the full report and recommendations here

Blocked intersections could be helped greatly by using nearside traffic signals, like they have in Europe. Currently, the farside traffic signals tell drivers that on a red signal, you shouldn't enter the roadway on the farside of the intersection. With a red signal on a nearside traffic signal, drivers would know not to enter the intersection, period. (Why are stop signs on the nearside of intersections, and not on the farside?)

 

[DSCToronto]

We need a congestion charge, far less street parking and TTC who actually manage schedules or headways. The latest proposals will make very little difference.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

We need a congestion charge, far less street parking and TTC who actually manage schedules. The latest proposals will make very little difference.

Along with priority of traffic signals and regulations towards public transit, cyclists, and pedestrians, not the single-occupant SUV.

 

[TwoWheelPoli]

Breaking Gridlock: The Province Must Finish the Job on Congestion​

See https://bot.com/News/The-Province-Must-Finish-the-Job-on-Congestion



Blocked intersections could be helped greatly by using nearside traffic signals, like they have in Europe. Currently, the farside traffic signals tell drivers that on a red signal, you shouldn't enter the roadway on the farside of the intersection. With a red signal on a nearside traffic signal, drivers would know not to enter the intersection, period. (Why are stop signs on the nearside of intersections, and not on the farside?)

I don't trust anything coming from the BOT these days; especially with their current CEO being a Doug Ford lackey. The only proven way to break gridlock is to provide viable alternatives to driving - walking, cycling, and transit - as well as encouraging remote work when possible and making driving less attractive through congestion pricing or tolls. Stuff which the Ford government has ZERO interest in.