Abstract Manager

The City of Brampton, like many cities across North America, grew with the rise of the automobile in the early 20th century and rapid suburban growth led Brampton to become a largely car-centric city with low-density neighbourhoods, long travel distances, and a transportation network designed primarily to move cars. Increasing vehicular capacity required widening existing roads, as this was the preferred solution to provide access to sprawling low density development. Today, general purpose lanes on municipal roads occupy 5% of Brampton’s total land area. While this mode supported past growth, it cannot accommodate the scale, complexity, or sustainability demands of Brampton’s future growth.

As a rapidly growing municipality, Brampton is transitioning from a suburban to an urban context. Guiding this growth is the Brampton 2040 Vision, Brampton Plan and Brampton Mobility Plan. These plans focus on a future for Brampton that is supported by a well-designed multi-modal transportation network that prioritizes an equitable people-first approach.

The Multi-Modal Level of Service (MMLOS) framework is designed to evaluate the trade-offs between different transportation modes. The framework takes into considerations the suburban nature of Brampton and recognizes that it is still in a transition phase. It outlines interim and final targets for different road contexts, spanning between suburban, urban and employment districts, highlighting that each road has a different function based on surrounding land use and will consequently have different priorities that need to be evaluated.  

The framework ensures that infrastructure decisions are context-sensitive and align with the sustainability, accessibility and equity goals of Brampton, evaluating trade offs and shifting from vehicle-centric planning to a more inclusive approach that prioritizes Brampton’s pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.

Each performance metric is weighted based on Brampton’s priorities. The framework is used to evaluate all modes of transportation by considering pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, trucks and vehicles. For each mode, the level of service is measured along segments and intersections, with the exception of Transit which is also measured at Transit Stops along the route.

The MMLOS framework provides a structured method for evaluating and guiding the design of the City’s transportation network to support all modes of travel. It supports the City’s objective of creating context sensitive streets that are safer, accessible, and encourage sustainable modes, shifting the focus form vehicle-centric planning to a more inclusive approach that prioritizes moving people over vehicles.