Financial District BIA Case Study

The Financial District BIA is in the heart of downtown Toronto making it a vibrant and populated area. Covered in skyscrapers there are many workers in the Financial District with approximately 100,000 commuters entering and leaving the area each working day. (Davidson) This results in heavy congestion in the area and problems in terms of transportation including cars, public transport, and pedestrians. I have had the opportunity to visit the Financial District BIA on Tuesday, November 10th, 2015 at approximately 8:00AM and again at 1:00pm. During both of these times the area was trafficked, more heavily so at 8:00AM. The most used forms of transportation in the area are subways with several stops in the area and the GO Transit rail system located at Union Station. GO Transit esimates that an average of 195,000 passengers use their rail service daily to and from Union Station. ("What is GO?") The flow of cars in the entire area is quite steady with traffic being a bit heavier in the morning compared to around midday. This is due to commuters driving to work with most going
When you get further away from Union Station the density of pedestrians dispurses and less people can be seen walking around. As previously stated around 100,000 commuters enter the Financial District every working day. (Davidson) This results in a flood of pedestrians onto the streets from public transport, making it possible to see over a hundred pedestrians on a street corner at any given time, especially at the Bay and Front intersection. Around midday, there is a moderate amount of pedestrians on the streets with most being in the office buildings or using the underground PATH walkway. The PATH walkway relieves a lot of pedestrian congestion on the streets with many preferring the indoor walkway, especially in the