TORONTO - An assortment of projects that could lighten the load on Toronto's overtaxed transportation system was announced by the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority on Friday.
The package would increase capacity on the city's Yonge-University subway line with improved signalling technologies and new, larger subway cars.
Rob MacIsaac, chairman of the transportation authority, says each of the projects will have visible, tangible benefits for people using the system.
The proposed changes include newly-automated signals on the Yonge-University line and the new subway cars, which the board says would increase capacity 15 per cent by 2012.
The city would also kick-off investment in a new light rail transit system for Toronto's major streets, a fast-track bus connection on a section of Yonge Street, and a new transit hub for Pearson International Airport.
The projects, 14 in all, are being forwarded to the provincial government for funding consideration.
MacIsaac says they are also counting on support from the federal government, whose support will be necessary to meet the authority's environmental and economic goals.
