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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

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Project to improve the integration of new transportation technologies, existing public transit and ride-sharing options to reduce transportation-generated greenhouse emissions.

See full reportResearchers: Dr. Khalil El-Khatib, Faculty of Business and IT and Dr. Dan Hoornweg, Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science

 In Canada, the transport sector contributes to almost a quarter of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which are already having a dramatic effect on planetary climate systems. In the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) the share of transport sector emissions increases to over half of all GHG emissions. To help reduce greenhouse emissions from this sector, a number of new technologies (e.g. battery electric vehicles (EV) and buses, natural gas fueled buses) and community services (e.g. ridesharing) are proposed and being tested. Each of these alternatives has social, economic, technical, and environmental impacts, as well as business opportunities. The objective of this project was to investigate specific economic and technical challenges with EV and ride sharing options in three representative GTA communities.

The work in this project focused on understanding the challenges in integrating ridesharing services with public transport services and on designing a novel path finding algorithm that can stitch partial rides from both services to build a complete travel itinerary for a ride.  Click image above to read the report.

The work in this subproject enabled the Metcalf Foundation to integrate EV communications systems within its overall e-mobility program, addressing how cars might communicate with buses and other transit modes (e.g. walking, cycling, and trains). The communications data from cars and buses will fast-track these efforts.

The results from this report suggest that Toronto needs an integrated approach that includes a ‘one-two punch’ of EVs plus ridesharing (along with improvements to arterial transit corridors). This combined approach would reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion while also providing significant economic and social benefits. Specifically, the report suggests that new transportation systems could provide economic benefits of some $45 billion and reductions in CO2 emissions by more than 25 Mt per year. This is a preliminary assessment, and detailed studies are still needed, however it is clear that opportunities of this scale are exceedingly rare.

 Project length: January 2, 2017 – November 1, 2017

Interested in learning more about Dr. Khalil El-Khatib and Dr. Dan Hoornweg? Visit our Expert Centre