Tracks to Success: Are Canadian rapid transit pro-jects likely to generate TOD?

Abstract

Canadian rapid transit networks are undergoing an unprecedented phase of expansion. These investments have been justified by federal, provincial, and municipal officials as a necessity in order to improve the sustainability of auto suburbs through transit-oriented development (TOD). However, TOD is difficult to implement and requires more than just transit infrastructure. This research aims to examine to what extent the institutional contexts of Canadian cities are likely to generate high-quality TOD. Through documented evaluation and interviews with local experts in a selection of case studies in Canada based on Bertolini &Thomas’s 2015 framework, this paper aims to fulfill this objective and extract lessons which can inform the success of future projects in the Canadian context. The findings indicate that those cases with a greater integration of land use and transport planning score higher and are more likely to generate successful TOD