ABSTRACT
Transit investments have been enhanced with urban planning and design and the arm's length management of government-owned real estate and parking assets, including 'park and ride'. Like other successful cities, a growing challenge for Toronto is the lack of housing affordability, and that problem underpins the motivation for reforming the management of the City's real estate and parking assets. The reform focuses on the inner city, with more opportunities to rethink/repurpose underutilized parking assets with proximity to transit, the capacity for mixed-use, higher-density development, and the ability to minimize parking/costs. The assets include high-value, often under-managed and under-utilized, surface parking lots, including parking assets owned by transit agencies. A progressive and productive view of parking requires a governance model that clarifies the real value of parking assets and the capacity to align the use of these assets with higher-level land use and transportation objectives.
