What to know
- Torontonians say fixing unreliable transit should be a top priority in 2026, citing delays, overcrowding, and daily frustration.
- Residents are calling for meaningful, long-term solutions to homelessness instead of short-term or surface-level responses.
- Some locals, including frontline healthcare workers, want increased funding and better systems to support an overstretched health-care sector.
What’s on your New Year’s wishlist for Toronto? We asked locals what they want fixed, funded, or finally taken seriously in the city in 2026, and they didn’t hold back.
As the year rapidly draws to a close and 2026 is on the horizon, Now Toronto asked residents what improvements they most want to see in their city. From fixing transit woes to improving access to health care, some Torontonians shared the changes they believe should be prioritized next.
Here’s what they had to say.
As Toronto resident Allen L. patiently waited in the below freezing weather to board the 504 King streetcar, he said transit service improvements topped his list of concerns.
This was a frustration many others felt, including Lindsay A.
“It’s unreliable, it’s late, slow, and overcrowded,” she shared with Now Toronto.
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While she said her list of items that the city needs to tackle is “really long,” two stood out most: aging infrastructure and showing more respect to the growing unhoused population.
“The roads could improve,” Lindsay said. “And homelessness, like the way that we treat the homeless in the city could improve.”
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Resident Joanna A. agreed, saying the city needs to move beyond surface-level responses and invest in long-term solutions.
“There’s a lot of homelessness, and maybe building more opportunities where we provide those support programs that actually support them instead of putting a Band-Aid on it – that’s something I want the city to improve on”
Health care was also top of mind for some residents. Local paramedic AJ V. said the city needs to do more to support frontline workers and an already strained system.
“Trying to make it a little bit better, more funding for the nurses, and hopefully they’ll end up getting what they need, and the health-care system gets a little bit better than it is right now,” he said.
AJ added that what’s missing is a better system to deal with calls, which could in turn ease pressure on emergency services.
“Essentially, people are calling for non-urgent stuff,” he said. “Hopefully there’s a system that can actually kind of navigate that.”
