Summary

Problem Summary

Scarborough, Ontario is a ‘bedroom community’ where the majority of inhabitants, primarily low-income families and immigrants, live in Scarborough but travel into central Toronto on a daily basis. Over the past 50 years, the public transportation system has not developed to match the rise in population, so buses are often over-crowded. Students are a demographic that is heavily affected by transit overcrowding. At York University, a large school about 30 kilometres west of Scarborough, 40% of students report spending over 2 hours in traffic each day [1]. The commute to York from Scarborough city centre requires at least one transfer, and would take at least 1.5 hours in ideal traffic conditions [2].

Bus overcrowding affects various stakeholders such as students, the TTC, York University, and other Scarborough residents. To ensure all the stakeholders are positively affected by the solution, a set of design criteria have been implemented to ensure the solution would increase rider satisfaction, decrease travel time, maintain user costs, and decrease reliance on cars.

Solution Summary

We suggest adding a new route, serviced by electric buses, to the existing York Shuttle program between York University and Scarborough City Centre. This solution would be relatively easily implemented and accepted, as it involves simply expanding an existing service. The use of electric buses, which are cleaner, quieter, and less reliant on fossil fuels compared to diesel buses, helps to make the solution socially and environmentally sustainable.

The shuttle service would directly address the needs of York University students living in Scarborough, while indirectly benefiting other residents by reducing overcrowding on Scarborough buses. The increased reliability of the proposed system would provide a benefit for students and for York University. Local NGO’s invested in transportation are also very likely to support the proposal.

Practical Humility Clause

Due to limitations on available data, time, and resources, the proposed solution is reliant on assumptions made in the following areas:

Student information: The number of students to access the shuttle service and the proposed shuttle departure times that work best with student time tables.
Infrastructure, by-laws, and best practices: The process of constructing bus charging and storage stations on York University campus and choosing bus stops that will not interfere with existing transit systems.
Finances: Many assumptions related to bus, maintenance, and labour costs were made to develop a rough cost estimate for the proposed solution.