East Toronto councillors disappointed to hear Metrolinx GPS tracking of trucks happening at only one Ontario Line construction site
By MATTHEW STEPHENS
Following an incident last year involving a dump truck connected to Ontario Line construction on Pape Avenue in East York, the provincial transit agency and builder of the line, Metrolinx, said it would be implementing GPS tracking and clear signage on all construction trucks operating on the line.
However, eight months later, Toronto councillors were told that only the Pape Station site has adopted GPS tracking into its plan for improved accountability regarding truck safety issues.
“Folks may remember that GPS tracking on Metrolinx trucks was something that this council had asked for, and it is behind schedule for expansion across Ward 15 (Don Valley West). It was meant to be completed in January,” said Don Valley West Councillor Rachel Chernos Lin, who led the charge for improved safety measures last year alongside Toronto-Danforth Councillor Paula Fletcher, at the March 26 Toronto Council meeting.
In addition to requests for GPS tracking, city councillors had also pushed for clear labelling (magnetic identification) on trucks, indicating their affiliation with the Ontario Line project, as well as improved communication and response times by Metrolinx related to concerns and complaints regarding truck safety.
Despite council’s request for tracking at every Ontario Line site last November, city staff said the new safety measure has only been applied to trucks carrying out work at the Pape Station site.
“We have consulted with Metrolinx about this and have expressed the concern that was raised by council that they are taking much longer to accomplish the implementation,” city staff told Toronto Council at the March 26 meeting.
City staff said Metrolinx has enlisted some private companies to carry out Ontario Line work, and that changes would have to be made to each individual contract to include GPS tracking.
“They have asked all the contractors across the Ontario Line and on the other subway programs to include GPS tracking and signage on their trucks,” city staff told council. “The issue they’re facing right now is that these are all different contracts. They’re all different little contracts, and what they’re trying to do is work their way through it.”
City staff said that a timeline for implementing GPS tracking across Metrolinx Ontario Line construction sites remains “undetermined” at this time as they work through each contract.
In email statement sent to Beach Metro Community News last week, Metrolinx said it upholds “strict safety measures” at all construction sites and that the agency is currently working to implement the Ontario Line Truck Route Safety Plan across the city.
“Metrolinx upholds strict safety measures at all our construction sites. Metrolinx is actively enhancing safety across the Ontario Line by working with our contractors to install GPS on trucks and adding more signage as part of the Ontario Line Truck Route Safety Plan and continuing to expand these measures system-wide,” said the statement.
At last month’s Toronto Council meeting, Fletcher noted that eight truck drivers have deviated from their mandated haul routes since the new GPS safety measure was introduced at the Pape site last July.
“There have been eight drivers that have gone off the haul routes, and the GPS has found that,” said Fletcher. “That’s not even a year; it’s one a month for eight months that drivers have left the haul route. And we know that the whole idea is to establish the haul route, drive the haul route, stay on the haul route because that’s what everybody knows to be the safest way to handle a large volume of trucks.”
Fletcher asked city staff how drivers are reprimanded after straying from Metrolinx’s established haul routes.
City staff said the drivers who failed to follow haul routes at Pape Station have been removed from the construction site, but were unable to confirm whether they had been stationed at another Metrolinx construction site or removed altogether.
“Are those drivers then driving somewhere else for the Ontario Line?” said Fletcher. “I would be interested to know if they’re simply moved to a different segment of the Ontario Line.”
City staff said they would investigate whether the eight drivers continue to work for Metrolinx in their next report.
Fletcher also urged the deputy city manager to inquire about how Metrolinx would mitigate the “pinch points” of traffic created by Ontario Line construction.
“There is congestion in a number of places due to the large volume of trucks and some of the road configuration,” said Fletcher. “Councillor Chernos Lin and myself, we share the Overlea bridge, which is a pinch point at the north end and people all discuss that.”
At the provincial level, Toronto-Danforth MPP Peter Tabuns said Metrolinx has neglected pedestrian safety as work is carried out across the city.
“This failure by Metrolinx is a bad faith move. It should be concerned about truck safety across this sprawling project. Clearly, neglecting the requirement to have all trucks covered by GPS says that safety is not the priority that Metrolinx says it is,” Tabuns told Beach Metro Community News.
At the council meeting, Fletcher referenced the incident at Pape and Mortimer avenues on Feb. 6 of 2025 that seriously injured an East York woman after she was struck by a Metrolinx construction vehicle and reiterated her disappoint with Metrolinx for not improving safety measures at each of their Ontario Line construction sites.
“We know that request that came from city council to Metrolinx was directly because of a very tragic accident where a truck left the haul route and injured a woman in a life-altering fashion. So, that is very unfortunate that it hasn’t been done,” said Fletcher. “In all of the Metrolinx work, I’d say that road safety, truck safety is really at the forefront of the community desires.”
