Toronto taxpayers could soon help foot the bill for a new system to make it easier to find their way in the PATH — the sometimes confusing, 35-kilometre-long maze of underground malls, food courts and connector tunnels under the city's downtown skyscrapers.

On Wednesday at city hall, during a presentation to the economic development committee, the Financial District Business Improvement Area asked the city for some financial help in developing a new mapping system to help people find their way through the system.

The committee voted to ask staff to recommend in the fall whether it makes financial sense for the city to help fund a pilot project the BIA is launching next month to help make the PATH easier to navigate.

Coun. Norm Kelly described the network as "the largest underground shopping complex in the world" and said that should be "touted as frequently and as widely as possible."

But the BIA has acknowledged that the system is under-used because too many people fear they'll never find their way out once they go in.

This summer's pilot project will include:

More info on the street grid overhead

A map that includes 3-D drawings of major nearby destinations, like the Rogers Centre and City Hall

More accessible entrances and exits

Colour coding to help people distinguish between major connector routes, and dead ends

Signs that indicate average walk times to major destinations

Sample of a new, clearer map that will be used as part of a pilot project in the downtown PATH system this summer. The PATH's owners feel they're losing retail sales because too many people fear getting lost in the underground network (Toronto Financial District Business Improvement Area) The pilot project will cost about $200,000 and the BIA appealed for help in covering those costs.

Their presentation included some of the economic benefits that the PATH system brings. They said it generates about $1.7 billion in retail sales every year. That translates to about $271 million a year in taxes for the federal, provincial and municipal governments.

About 200,000 people use the PATH system a day. Evan Weinberg, a government relations specialist with the BIA, said an increase of just one per cent in that number would mean an extra $17 million in retail sales.

It would also translate into a jump in property taxes to the city of about $285,000, he said.



