Jonathan English leads Infrastory Insights. He is a researcher, writer, and policy expert on infrastructure and transportation with international experience. He has extensive experience giving policy advice to senior leaders in government, business, the non-profit sector, and labour in Canada, the United States, and Europe. He was previously Policy Director at the Toronto Region Board of Trade. He also has experience in professional practice working on a multibillion-dollar transit project.

In his research and writing, he has promoted the “Toronto Model” of transit, in which service quality drives demand. We can make transit successful in the suburbs, but if you want to attract riders, you need to provide good service first. If you build it, they might come. If you don’t, they definitely won’t. It also doesn’t need to be expensive. Improving local bus service costs a minute fraction of building a large rail network. And a strong local bus service can provide the foundational network that will greatly increase the ridership of a rail service. The Toronto example shows that transit can be busy in the suburbs if you provide the service. The Finch East bus is one of the busiest bus routes in North America, even though it runs through strip malls and cul-de-sacs. Why? Because frequent service—as much as every 60 seconds—means that even people who have a choice choose to take the bus.