A Green Way Forward

By its very nature, providing reliable, safe and accessible public transportation brings environmental and social benefits. These benefits include reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved air quality, less traffic congestion, and broader access to jobs, markets, education, healthcare, and social opportunities.

At Metrolinx, our mandate is transforming mobility across the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH). 

The Regional Transportation Plan guides work being done to provide an integrated transportation system that contributes to a high quality of life, a strong, prosperous and competitive economy, and a protected environment – now and in the future. Advancing this work remains our priority and a significant way that we contribute to sustainable development. We also want to ensure that we embed sustainability into our culture, processes, policies and decision-making processes. The Metrolinx Sustainability Strategy (2015-2020) builds on The Regional Transportation Planby focusing on how Metrolinx can plan, develop and operate to achieve meaningful progress toward sustainability in areas that are not addressed in existing Metrolinx strategies and plans. It helps us think differently about how we build infrastructure, manage our operations, and serve the growing communities of the GGH. It also gives us a common understanding of how we will measure and track our sustainability efforts.

We invite you to download the Metrolinx Sustainability Strategy and engage in our sustainability journey by sending your feedback and comments directly to sustainability@metrolinx.com.

Download the Metrolinx Sustainability Strategy (2015-2020)

In the 2015-2020 Metrolinx Five Year Strategy, Metrolinx committed to achieving full signatory status for the International Association of Public Transport’s Sustainability Charter by 2016 and Gold status on American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Sustainability Commitment by 2017. In April 2015, Metrolinx became one of twelve North American public transportation agencies to achieve APTA’s Gold sustainability status, two years ahead of our commitment.

Our Sustainability Goals

The Sustainability Strategy focuses on five priority goals. Within each goal, actions and measures of success for 2015 – 2020 have been defined. Beyond 2020, we will continue to maintain our commitment to sustainability and continuous improvement.

Planning for Resiliency: Toward A Corporate Climate Adaptation Plan

The Metrolinx Sustainability Strategy (2015-2020) commits Metrolinx to establishing a Corporate Climate Adaptation Plan by the end of 2017 and the Planning for Resiliency report is an important step towards this goal.

The report outlines the broader context and rationale for climate resiliency and adaptation and documents Metrolinx’s experience to date with extreme weather events and examines how we have managed the impacts through reactive and proactive responses. The report also describes climate change projections that can be applied across the GTHA, most notably up to the year 2050, and details global best practices for developing measures to build resiliency to climate change and extreme weather.

Download Planning for Resiliency: Toward a Corporate Climate Adaptation Plan

Download the Climate Adaptation Strategy

Innovation and New Mobility

Metrolinx is playing a critical role in building and expanding the regional transit network of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. We must be open to thinking differently about how we plan, build, operate and connect to remain at the forefront of a sustainable urban transit system.

Our innovative thinking focuses on helping people move around the GTHA and access transit as seamlessly and efficiently as possible. Many of our parking lots are at or nearing capacity, and we need new ways of getting people to our stations to accommodate growth. Metrolinx explores how new business models, the sharing economy, technology advancements, and active transportation can improve how people travel and connect to public transit. In partnership with Smart Commute, we are looking at opportunities to support a sustainable and integrated transportation system that emphasizes walking, biking, carpooling and transit.

In support of the review of the Regional Transportation Plan, background research has been prepared to help understand the impacts New Mobility services will have on the region:

• New Mobility Background Paper – WSP (2016)
• Sharing the Road: The Promise and Perils of Shared Mobility in the GTHA – Mowat Centre (2016)
• Shared Mobility in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area: A Backgrounder on industry trends and a summary of stakeholder discussions - Metrolinx (2017)

Creating a Culture of Innovation

Innovation starts with our employees and is embedded in our core values: Serve with Passion, Think Forward, and Play as a Team. Metrolinx fosters new approaches to sharing, recognizing, and celebrating innovation to encourage creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration among our employees.

We have established an employee mentorship program, an awards program to recognize innovation within the organization, an Inspiring Speaker series, and change management training. We also launched Ideas@Work, an internal collaboration platform for all employees to share new ideas and spark discussion on how we can enhance efficiency, increase productivity, reduce costs, and create a safer work environment.

As our journey in sustainability and innovation continues, please connect with us at sustainability@metrolinx.com to provide feedback or share your stories.