The Big Move

The GTHA consists of (left to right; west to east): the City of Hamilton, Halton region, Peel region, City of Toronto and York region, Durham region.
Created	September 26, 2008
Ratified	November 28, 2008
Author(s)	Metrolinx
Purpose	Regional transportation plan

The Big Move is the regional transportation plan (RTP) published by Metrolinx for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) in Ontario, Canada. It makes specific recommendations for transit projects, resulting from seven "green papers" and two "white papers" released for public discussion. A draft RTP was released alongside draft investment strategy in September 2008. After a series of stakeholder consultations and public meetings, the final RTP was approved and published by Metrolinx on November 28, 2008.

Since its publication, it has been Metrolinx's mandate to implement the RTP, which includes new and improved GO Transit service, local rapid transit, stations, and fare payment systems.

There was widespread consensus by community and business leaders in the GTHA that incremental change of the region's transportation system was insufficient, and that it needed a dramatic transformation to meet the needs of the 21st century. The regional transportation system needed to be effective, integrated, multi-modal, and funded in a sustainable way. In response to these concerns, the Government of Ontario created the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority in 2006, which became known as Metrolinx in December 2007. Metrolinx was given the mandate to develop and implement an integrated multi-modal transportation plan for the GTHA, and The Big Move was one of Metrolinx's first deliverables. The plan builds on the $11.5 billion MoveOntario 2020 commitment by the Government of Ontario announced on June 15, 2007, and includes new projects to support them.

An initial stage of the RTP process was to release a series of "green papers", documents covering key issues for the RTP. These green papers were developed and consulted upon in late 2007 and early 2008, with the purpose of presenting information on transportation trends, challenges and opportunities for the GTHA:

The next stage was the release of two white papers in May 2008. Paper 1 - Visions, Goals, and Objectives, presented the basis for the final RTP, with specific goals and objectives that could be used for its development and evaluation. A broader proposed vision for the entire system was also presented. Paper 2 - Preliminary Directions and Concepts, looked at various policies, programs and tools that could be utilized in the RTP. There were also various transportation system concepts that were modelled and evaluated based on resulting transit ridership, urban congestion, and the emission of greenhouse gas and other air pollutants.