Canada Post is implementing operational changes in Toronto with immediate effect to help reducetraffic congestion and gridlock in the city centre, in response to a tough ‘6-point action plan’
introduced by the city’s new mayor.In his plan, presented a month ago and in force since January 1, the new mayor, John Tory, ispursuing a ‘zero-tolerance policy’ on traffic enforcement to crack down on gridlock during rushhour in downtown Toronto. During the morning rush hour yesterday, Toronto Police towed away 29vehicles that were illegally parked. They also handed out 70 parking tags and 12 provincial offencenotices.
Tory also held a press conference yesterday to promote his rigid approach. “Repeatedly violatingthe law and screwing up the lives of thousands of people in this city cannot continue. Our lawshave become a joke and in the process, our traffic has become a nightmare. It’s time to putlaw-abiding people and businesses first in the city of Toronto,” the mayor said.
Apart from towing away vehicles, Tory wants to improve the city’s current road closure reportingby adding “any event that will impact traffic” to the reporting system. In addition, a trafficenforcement team will be deployed, with 40 traffic cameras to be added on arterial roads in thenext few months and 80 more cameras in 2016 to improve communication with Toronto Police in orderto clear road-blocking incidents faster.
Moreover, 100 more traffic signals will be re-timed this year, bringing the number to 350signals instead of the 250 previously planned. Next year, Tory plans to test the next generation ofsmart traffic signal technology at 20 locations. He also wants to introduce more stringent criteriaand higher fees for lane closures by private development projects as well as to speed up publicroadwork with construction taking place from 6am to 11 pm. The early completion of roadconstruction contracts is due to be rewarded with cost premiums in “financially feasible”cases.
As a reaction to the 6-point action plan, Canada Post has announced operational adjustments thatwill be phased in over the coming weeks and months. “We understand that our own delivery vehiclescontribute to traffic congestion,” the postal operator admitted.
“In order to meet the needs of our customers, our employees have to temporarily park vehicles inthe downtown core. They clear out street letter boxes, deliver and collect mail and parcels fromthousands of residential and commercial addresses each day. To help reduce traffic congestion andgridlock in the downtown core, we recognise that changes to operating procedures must be made byeveryone who serves the downtown core,” the company stated.
Canada Post is currently reviewing its pick-up and delivery operations in the centre of Toronto.“In the short term, we are focusing on the changes that we control directly while minimising theimpact on customers. Where possible, we are looking to shift stop-times to off-peak hours between1:00 – 3:00 pm, and again after 7:00 pm.”
Starting this week, the company is implementing additional mail and parcel pick-ups at itscorporate and franchise post offices in the downtown core between 1 pm and 3 pm in order to reducethe time to clear the stores at the end of the day. From next week, it will also introduce laterpick-up times for its street letter boxes on major roads. “We are also looking at changing thelocation and clearance time for almost 400 boxes in the area,” Canada Post added.
As part of its medium term measures, Canada Post has started reviewing the activities that itcan’t control directly such as delivery (including large volume receivers) and pick-ups (bothon-demand and scheduled). It said those changes will likely require adjustments from its customerswith mailroom hours, drop off/pick up locations, pick up times and different modes of delivery(e.g. 1st floor versus all floors, different entrance, etc.). “We are starting those discussionswith our customers as soon as possible.”
The company added that it will continue to work internally with the delivery industry and withthe City of Toronto on practical solutions to help alleviate congestion as soon as logisticallyfeasible.
Tory recognised the efforts of the postal operator to help tackle the congestion in Toronto. “Canada Post is showing some leadership on this. They’re changing the time they clear mailboxes, sothat it is not done during rush hour.”
The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) will also continue to work with the City of Toronto on acomprehensive plan to deal with commercial vehicle operations and delivery in the city centre.However, the OTA advised the city to “revisit” the implementation of the zero-tolerance policy. Inthe meantime, it is working with the mayor’s office on establishing a modern delivery policy todeal with the gridlock.
Over a year ago, Toronto Council has approved a comprehensive, C$57 million CongestionManagement Plan for 2014-2018 that was effectively the basis for Tory’s ‘6-point action plan’. Thisinvolves re-evaluation and co-ordination of approximately 1,000 traffic signals, installation of100 traffic cameras on arterial roads for better detection of problems as well as better managementand use of curb lanes, among others.
According to the Toronto Region Board of Trade, congestion in the Greater Toronto Area costs thecity about $6 billion a year in travel delays, vehicle operating costs and accidents. It expectsthe figure to climb to $15 billion in the coming years if the problem is left unsolved.
