New task force aims to address Toronto’s traffic congestion woes

What can fix Toronto's traffic troubles? The Toronto Region Board of Trade says congestion costs the city an estimated $11 billion annually in lost productivity.

The Toronto Region Board of Trade has launched a new task force to tackle worsening traffic congestion in the city.

In a news release issued Wednesday, the board of trade said the task force will work to identify “practical, high-impact solutions for Toronto’s congestion crisis.”

“Despite generational transit investments and short-term fixes, including new traffic agents on the ground and better use of real-time data, the city’s gridlock has reached a tipping point,” the release read.

According to the board of trade, the task force has started a dialogue with Mayor Olivia Chow and City Manager Paul Johnson to address the challenges facing Toronto commuters.

“Both expressed their commitment to addressing this critical issue and agreed that collaboration with the business community is both necessary and welcome,” the release read.

The task force consists of 19 senior business leaders with a “significant presence” in Toronto.

“Toronto’s congestion crisis is lengthening traveling times for people, goods and services to painful levels, eroding our city’s livability and seriously undermining business competitiveness. It’s affecting our global reputation and costing over $11 billion annually in lost productivity,” Giles Gherson, the president and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, said in a written statement.

In a report published last month by navigation and location technology company TomTom, Toronto topped the list of most congested cities in North America, beating out both New York and Mexico City.

In its annual traffic index, TomTom found that Toronto ranked third on a list of the most congested cities in the world, behind only London and Dublin.

The index revealed that it takes Toronto commuters an average of 29 minutes to complete a 10-kilometre trip, 50 seconds longer than it took one year prior. It also found that Torontonians lost an average of 98 hours in 2023 due to rush-hour traffic.

“Our task force of business leaders has a strong history of problem-solving and implementing bold solutions,” Gherson said.

“They are here to take action, and by the end of the year we will provide solutions to the city that will have a real impact on how people and businesses move across our region.”