GO Housing
And the opportunity for a healthier, more equitable region
Regional Express Rail
In 2015, Metrolinx started a $15 billion regional plan to electrify core segments of the GO Train network turning them into what is called Regional Express Rail (RER). These segments of track will have trains running every 15 minutes in both directions at faster speeds than currently possible. It’s a big (and overdue) investment to modernise regional transportation in the Greater Toronto Area. One lingering problem with the system is how the station sites are used. GO Transit is currently the largest provider of parking in North America with over 70 000 parking spaces. Metrolinx’s parking plans show that they intend to build 14,000–17,500 additional parking spaces by 2032 to meet increased demand that comes from better transit service. At an average cost of $8,000 per surface spot and $40 000 per spot in a parking structure, Metrolinx will be spending between $140 million and $560 million of public money on parking spots in the next 12 years (plus maintenance). Parking spaces which are currently free to use. This work comes despite their own stated goals of shifting the GO Train from purely commuter rail to a true Regional Express Rail system. Metrolinx intends to double ridership and increase the rates of walking, cycling, and public transit between GO stations and peoples homes. Firstly, if we want this why is transit so expensive (anywhere from $3.70 to $13.00 per trip) while parking is free. If we want more transit riders and less drivers, then shift the cost burden and charge for the true cost of parking.
It also got me wondering, if Metrolinx wants more people walking, cycling, and using local transit to get to the stations, why not create housing at station sites? Thousands of affordable housing units could be built for the price of the planned new parking alone at transit oriented sites across the GTA. The eye test suggests there is space for thousands of residents plus parks and shops at these sites. So how big is the opportunity?
Whitby’s most transit-rich land is home to 11.2 hectares (112,313 sq.m) of surface parking that is largely unused outside of peak commuting hours.
Understanding the Scale
My assessment of square hectares of every existing station on the planned electrified Regional Express Rail system brings to light the scale of opportunity these sights have for GTA-wide housing, employment, and park space. Existing surface parking operated by the provincially owned organization at sites on Regional Express Rail (indicated in green on the map below) amounts to around 126 hectares. Thats over 1.26 million square meters or 13.5 million square feet.
The space available is broken down by train line:
Lakeshore East (to Oshawa): 42.2 ha
Lakeshore West (to Aldershot): 51.8 ha
Barrie (to Aurora): 12.9 ha
Kitchener (to Bramalea): 6.8 ha
Stouffeville (to Unionville): 12.3 ha
How Many People Can Live on the Land?
A Ryerson City Building Institute Report suggests that the minimum density around regional express rail should be 150 residents and jobs per hectare. With this density as our baseline, a minimum of 19 thousand people could work or live on the existing surface parking lots alone.
150 people/hectare is a nice density for low-rise walkable, residential neighbourhoods that can support transit and shops (think Trinity Bellwoods in Toronto or Durand in Hamilton) but does not satisfy the opportunity that the prime sites have to create regional hubs. On another end of the spectrum, 400 residents and jobs per hectare constitutes the density for an urban centre (think Yonge-Eglinton- but with less towers and more mid-rises). At that density, the surface parking lots alone would have over 50 thousand people living and working on them. These numbers come to represent extremes with the truth somewhere in between as each site can support different density. Let’s not forget that these scenarios do not consider the immense opportunities for density in the immediate areas surrounding the parking lots.
Imagine somewhere between 20–50 thousand people living and working on provincially operated land that is currently surface parking across the GTA. This not only increases the share of people walking to the GO but creates employment/culture/recreation/shopping destinations so that transit flows both ways and outside of commuter hours. The destinations need to match the transit service so trains aren’t running empty and the service can make more money. New dense transit oriented neighbourhoods will also increase demand for local transit, which creates better service and gives existing neighbourhoods better local transit options to access to GO Train.
Starting in Oakville
Oakville Station connects to local bus routes and VIA rail. The station is between 10–25 min walk to Oakville’s Downtown/Lakeshore Boulevard, the waterfront, Sheridan College, Kerr Street District, Oakville Town Hall, and Oakville Place Shopping Centre. The station is in close proximity to existing grocery stores, schools, natural areas, pharmacies, and surrounded by tens of hectares of strip malls, which is land ripe for intensification. Sites like Oakville should be treated as their potential for urban centres with densities upwards of 400 residents and jobs per acre. At that density, Oakville Stations surface parking lots could be home to 4,300 jobs and residents. All of it less than 300 meters (~4 minute walk) from the station entrance. It’s not hard to imagine 10 000–15 000 people within an 800 meter walk (~12 minutes) of the station without displacing a single resident and massively increasing the amount of available retail space for existing businesses to occupy. All of this in a city with some of the highest housing prices in Canada.
Oakville’s GO Station
While Oakville strikes me as the most obvious opportunity, nearby sites like Burlington and Clarkson, as well as Unionville in Markham, Maple in Vaughn, Weston in York (Toronto), and Kennedy in Scarborough (Toronto) can help re-centre cities and boroughs with urban centre densities.
The Call for Action
The province needs to take action with density minimums around station areas. Broad, provincially led zoning reform that permits backyard houses/laneway suites, duplexes, triplexes, and neighbourhood scale apartment buildings in all residential lots within an 800 meter walk of a GO Regional Express Rail station. Rezone existing light industry and commercial use/strip malls within 800 meters of stations to be to be mixed use and medium-high density. As for the actual surface parking lots- build affordable housing. Build public housing on 35% of the land while selling 35% to the market to pay for new streets, parks, transit and public facilities, which should occupy the final 30% of land use. These steps can create tens of thousands of market driven apartments, thousands of affordable housing units, thousands of temporary jobs, and thousands of long-term jobs. The GTA is expanding, there is not enough surface parking to handle the growth that is coming over the next 30 years. Put people near transit and slow the rate of growth in ex-urban areas to save farmland. All this can be done in support of reducing road congestion and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. Fill the development gaps that car dependency has put in our towns and cities and leave the parking to those who need it. Make it possible to walk to work while supporting the health of our transit systems. Build affordable housing to create a more equitable region.