Developing a Multi-modal Level of Service Guide for Ontario

The Ontario Traffic Council – an organization that provides education, advocacy, and guidance on multimodal transportation in the province – sought to develop a multimodal level of service (MMLOS) guide. This guide would help municipalities evaluate the quality of service for all travel modes in a given corridor and better understand trade-offs when making transportation infrastructure decisions.

Mobycon, as a subconsultant to Dillon Consulting, helped develop the guide by providing expertise in active transportation network planning and design to ensure the needs, comfort, and safety of pedestrians and cyclists were appropriately considered. The team conducted a jurisdictional review of international best practices. Using this information and an extensive working knowledge of active transportation planning and design best practices, Mobycon shaped the final guide’s frameworks, metrics, targets, and indicators. Considerations included facility widths, buffer widths, conflicts with other modes, and effective corner radii, among many other factors.

Mobycon also helped develop the nine road typologies outlined in the guide as the backbone of the MMLOS evaluation process and advised on the incorporation of a prerequisite requiring municipalities to meet the minimum safety requirements of OTC Book 18 before assessing the Level of Service.

The final MMLOS guidebook was published in 2021.