A test train sits at Sloane Station on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT (Line 5) in Toronto on Sept. 21, 2025.GABRIEL HUTCHINSON/The Globe and Mail
Craig Sklenar is a design principal in Arcadis’s Canadian placemaking practice. The firm has been involved in the Edmonton Valley Line, Line 5 Eglinton, and King George Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit.
Across Canada, rapid transit systems are reshaping how cities grow. From Edmonton’s Valley Line and Toronto’s Line 5 Eglinton to Surrey’s upcoming King George Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit Corridor, new investments are transforming the urban form. Yet as billions are spent to improve mobility, the greater opportunity lies not only in building transit infrastructure but in creating adaptable, transit-oriented communities.
They take the concept of transit-oriented development a step further, emphasizing a broader ecosystem that integrates housing, employment, public space and social infrastructure so cities can thrive around mobility networks. The distinction is critical: Transit-oriented communities are not just about proximity to transit but about complete, connected and resilient communities.
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Their benefits are wide-ranging. They offer real choices in transportation, housing and employment, giving residents flexibility in how they move, work and live. Beyond lower transportation costs and improved health outcomes, transit-oriented communities support local business, cultural vitality and equity. Realizing this promise requires sustained commitment, aligning public and private stakeholders around density, investing in high-quality public space and engaging residents early as change unfolds.
Cities such as Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul show what happens when transit-oriented community design is approached as a system. Denver paired its regional light-rail transit network with land-use strategies and design guidelines prioritizing connectivity, walkability and mixed uses, according to its 2014 transit plan. Stations were assigned density and character profiles, providing a framework for growth. The results are evident in neighbourhoods such as Union Station and River North, where former industrial areas have become vibrant districts supporting sustainable mobility.
Similarly, Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Green Line demonstrates how light-rail transit can catalyze equitable growth when community input is considered from the outset. Rather than imposing uniform density, the city focused on shared benefits: improved public space, accessible housing, and economic opportunity within reach of transit. The regional planning agency played a critical stewardship role, providing sustained funding and co-ordination to ensure development along the corridor meets long-term goals. This has delivered tangible results, with nearly 40 per cent of all new development in the region now occurring along rapid transit corridors, but only on less than 4 per cent of the total land area in the region.
Canada’s current transit expansions offer a generational opportunity to link mobility to priorities of affordability, sustainability and resilience. Projects like Toronto’s Line 5 Eglinton, despite its challenges, will redefine urban infrastructure by connecting communities while freeing surface space for public life. These projects should not be judged solely by delivery timelines but by their impact over the next century.
Line 5, for example, responds to the need to move people efficiently while reducing congestion, improving safety and introducing built form that invites human activity. Many stations are designed to accommodate development above or adjacent to them, anticipating growth over time. With substantial completion achieved, we will soon see these transformations unfold in the near-, mid- and long-term.
Ontario hands over operations of long-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT to TTC
Not all transit has to be underground or rail-based. Bus rapid transit systems across Canada serve smaller communities and growing areas as reliable transit. Surrey’s King George Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit Corridor illustrates this potential. Serving communities from King George to White Rock, the project uses bus rapid transit as a framework to reimagine community hubs and link residential, employment and cultural zones into a cohesive urban axis. Its emphasis on plazas, green corridors and flexible amenities underscores how transit can serve as both a social connector and a transport solution.
At the heart of these projects lies a broader design imperative: resilience. True urban resilience depends on systems that help cities adapt and flourish over time. Transit resilience anticipates future demands and plans for upgrades in the decades ahead. Urban resilience includes tools for affordable housing, prioritizing public spaces and empowering local economies. Together, these symbiotic approaches ensure a more resilient environment.
In the end, rapid transit isn’t just about moving people – it’s about shaping cities. When we stop treating it as an engineering fix and start seeing it as the backbone of urban resilience, we unlock the power to create vibrant, connected communities that endure for generations.
Achieving this requires an integrated approach aligning design excellence, land policy and long-term community leadership. It means shifting from a mindset of project delivery to one that includes place stewardship. Successful transit systems are not defined by technology alone but by their capacity to anchor work, culture and belonging in a shared urban fabric as they evolve.
As Canada’s cities grow over the next century, the choice is clear: We need to build transit as community infrastructure. This mindset shift is a part of a broader change in how we think about and invest in city-building to improve how we live generation over generation.