Abstract Manager

Canadian cities are increasingly embracing rapid transit and multimodal corridor strategies to improve mobility, climate resilience, and overall network performance. Over the past decade, AECOM has collaborated with major municipalities and transit agencies across Canada to advance Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and bus‑priority initiatives that enhance travel times, reliability, and corridor efficiency. This presentation distills lessons learned from these programs and incorporates international best practices informed by Khawar Ashraf’s experience with Transport for London’s extensive bus‑priority systems and Marisa Espinosa’s client-side leadership in San Francisco and Vancouver, where community-centred mobility improvements have been central to project success.

Across projects such as Edmonton’s BRT network, Mississauga’s BRT corridors, York Region’s Viva BRT program, and Toronto and Durham Region’s bus-priority initiatives, AECOM’s work demonstrates how integrated transit corridor planning can shift mode share and elevate service quality. Achieving these outcomes requires thoughtful technical analysis, robust design, and collaborative governance. Project development also demands open dialogue on trade-offs, balancing transit priority with active transportation, goods movement, local access, and placemaking, while navigating constrained rights‑of‑way and evolving urban conditions.

Building on longstanding Canadian and TfL experience with targeted bus‑priority tools, including signal priority, tactical lane reallocation, queue jumps, intersection design, and data-driven reliability management, this presentation illustrates how these strategies can be effectively adapted to Canadian urban contexts. Combining operational analytics, performance diagnostics, multimodal street design, and policy integration enables the creation of transit corridors that improve speed and reliability while strengthening safety and multimodal connectivity.

The session will share practical insights on:

• Using network-level analysis to identify high-impact transit‑priority locations.
• Designing BRT and transit‑priority corridors that accommodate cycling, pedestrian activity, and curbside uses without compromising transit performance.
• Developing implementation-ready cross‑sections and intersection treatments for constrained corridors.
• Applying operational data, ridership patterns, and travel‑time analysis to refine design decisions.
• Leveraging stakeholder‑engagement practices that strengthen public acceptance, support risk management, and enable coordination across municipalities, First Nations, transit agencies, and road authorities.
• Advancing corridor strategies that align with long-term mode‑share, climate, and growth objectives.

Drawing from AECOM’s national portfolio and international expertise, the presentation highlights proven approaches that move transit projects from concept to delivery. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of how BRT and bus‑priority initiatives can be successfully integrated into multimodal corridor strategies that strengthen mobility networks and community outcomes across Canada.