Various media outlets have reported that the Expert Panel struck by Toronto City Council to review options for the Sheppard East line will recommend the original Transit City LRT plan, not a subway extension.
To the amazement of many, Mayor Rob Ford appears to be trying for a compromise, but given his history, that word probably has a different meaning for the Mayor and his circle than for the rest of us. The essential problem is to decide whether the subway will end somewhere west of Scarborough Town Centre (Don Mills? Victoria Park?) or if the “compromise” plan would presume getting to STC some day. If that’s the “compromise”, them building an LRT to meet the subway would come under fire as a waste of money, and we would be back, essentially, to Ford’s all-subway plan for Sheppard.
Meanwhile, TTC Chair Karen Stintz and Councillor Josh Matlow held a packed meeting in North Toronto to explain and advocate for the LRT option endorsed by Council. Although there is good support for LRT, an uphill battle remains to counter the Ford camp’s pro-subway spin.
City Council will meet in March 15, 2012 to consider the panel’s report which, if the agenda process runs true to form, should be available in advance of the meeting.
Darwin and other no-transfers-no-matter-what-the-cost supporters,
In reality, nobody living East of Kennedy will be traveling across Sheppard if their destination is downtown. Other more efficient routes will be available such as Agincourt GO, Oshawa GO, the successor of the RT that hopefully will get at least to Markham Road and the future Malvern LRT that will cost just as much as converting one rapid transit route (Sheppard Subway) to another rapid transit mode. If what was originally planned is implemented (that includes all day Lakeshore East GO and Stoufville GO) most people in that neglected part of the city will be within ten minutes from rapid transit by either bus, walking or biking and will be able to get downtown under an hour.
Transfer at Don Mills will be used either for folks going from Scarborough to North York or those who live right on Sheppard East and are going downtown. Inconvenience? Yes. Worth a megaproject to get it fixed? I don’t think so. I am skeptical that rapid transit on Sheppard will be able to redirect a large number of commuters that are currently taking the Finch bus due to congestion on the North South routes in Scarborough. Even if this is a subway. Dufferin bus is packed despite the fact that Spadina subway is so close. And if you live south of Sheppard you won’t travel north if your direction is south.
The objective of Transit City is bringing rapid transit to as many communities as possible. Unfortunately, even in the best case scenario we will only have four truncated lines built by the end of the decade. Extra funding from the province is very unlikely with current deficit projections and nobody seriously believes in mysterious “private sector subways that pay for themselves” anymore. The city will need to raise funds itself. The point that we have no money is moot – we are one of the wealthiest nations on earth. We need to raise more money and expedite the implementation of the Big Move. While gas tax, city sales tax, vehicle registration fees and parking charges are worth debating, congestion pricing on the DVP and Gardiner could be the bitter pill we desperately need to close that funding gap.
Michael says:
Toronto’s transit system is designed so that the subway acts as trunk lines while the bus and streetcar routes act as feeder lines. Under that arrangement all but a couple of bus routes terminate at subway stations. Currently, there are 14 bus routes that terminate at STC.
Gerrymandering bus routes into subway stations doesn’t always create the most direct route for commuters to reach their destination. There are other cities where the subway system and the bus routes operate as two separate networks under one system. Many bus routes will pass by subway stations allowing commuters to transfer to the subway if they need to use it but not all bus routes are forced to terminate at a subway station. Montreal’s bus network is a good example of this.
Commuters who need to travel east of Agincourt GO station (where the Sheppard subway would veer south to reach STC) are forced to STC to take another bus to get to their destination. This doesn’t make much sense since the demand on Sheppard is across the corridor not to travel from Sheppard to STC. As a result, a rapid transit line is needed across Sheppard exclusively.
Michael says:
The 131, 132, 133 and 134 run into Malvern. All 4 of those routes terminate at STC. Malvern residents would have to take a long bus ride to STC to get to the Sheppard subway or take even longer bus rides on the 85, 39, 116 and 102 to get to a subway station. Your argument doesn’t hold up to the facts.
Michael says:
During rush hour even more people are walking from the RT to the bus platform to catch their bus to get home. After a long day at work and a very long commute home not too many people are interested in stopping off at the mall. They’re at STC because that’s where the transit hub is. That’s where the bus is that will take them home.
keith milligan says:
March 2, 2012 at 11:20 pm
I will not be as polite as the others! You are either a total idiot or a total liar. Over the past 30 years I have ridden many LRT lines around the world and they are not experimental or untried. If you wish to support subways then do so; but don’t resort to lies to back up your arguments. You just tarnish the people who honestly believe that subways are called for with the same brush that tarnishes yourself.
Alex K says:
There are a couple of things to remember though. In a general sense, the mean annual income in many parts of Scarborough is below the municipal average. Will residents be willing to pay extra for the convenience of using the GO train when a cheaper alternative, the TTC, is available? Also, GO trains only stop at Scarborough GO stations during rush hour. If you’re schedule does not fit the typical 9 to 5 then GO isn’t an option under current operational practices. The final issue with GO is that Metrolinx hasn’t figured out the bottleneck and capacity issues at Union station. This means all-day GO service is remote at best.
I wouldn’t mind biking 10 to 20 minutes to rapid transit and then transferring onto a rail line to get to my destination. The problem is Scarborough lacks the infrastructure for cyclists to lock up their bikes and leave them there. Commuters would have to take their bikes with them. I’m sure this problem will be rectified in the near future as many bikes lanes have been recently built in Scarborough (with the exception of the handful that were removed by Mayor Ford and his allies).
Steve: If we have billions to spend on subways, we also have money to spend on improvements to GO capacity that may be better overall than throwing all our resources at the TTC. As for fares, I have written often on the problem created by GO’s refusal to examine its possible role in the outer part of the 416 preferring to think of its “regional” mandate as starting at the 416/905 border.
The capacity issues are at peak period. I would not think that all-day service on some lines would be an issue, even with 15 minute headways. Of course if all lines ran all day, at reasonable headways, then capacity would be a problem.
Darwin says,
While this is true, is it the case that people all over Scarborough want to go to Downtown North York ™? If Yonge and Sheppard is just a waypoint, there may be better ways of doing things than getting everyone to Yonge and Sheppard where they can try to pack themselves on an already overcrowded Yonge line.
If the goal is to get Scarborough residents quickly to a generally useful subway trip, then extending Bloor-Danforth to STC makes a whole lot more sense than extending the Sheppard subway to STC. Whenever I think of this, I really wonder what the real motivation is for all these alleged Scarboroughites to insist on the Sheppard extension. Currently, the trip from Don Mills station to Yonge and Bloor is at least 30 minutes, and if you’re travelling in the peak direction you’ll be standing the entire length of your trip on Yonge. Extending the subway to STC will make it a 45 minute trip at the very least. And that’s from STC, never mind the length of the bus trip to get to STC.
Notions of Malvernites being whisked downtown in half an hour, if only the Sheppard subway was extended to STC, are sheer fantasy. I believe that Doug Ford once mused on this subject in this vein, which should tell you all you need to know.
Steve says:
I am not saying that we shouldn’t improve the GO Train network. What I am saying is that there are physical capacity constraints in terms of the number of tracks available at Union station that make all-day GO service remote at best. You’ve commented yourself that Union station is pretty much near capacity.
Steve: During the peak period there is a capacity constraint, not at off-peak. There are also plans in the works for additional capacity. We need to integrate the planning for intra-416 trips with the “regional” trips so that we don’t spend a fortune providing capacity that GO could handle.
The GO Train is the better option to get downtown. I prefer a 20 to 30 minute ride on the GO Train than a 90-minute commute on the TTC. However, traveling from Union station to north Scarborough on GO Transit costs $5.25. If you need to transfer to the TTC you have to pay the full TTC fare. It is unlikely that many folks in Scarborough are willing to pay or can afford the costs involved with using both systems.
I believe GO Transit and the TTC should work out an arrangement where commuters who transfer from GO to the TTC only pay 50 cents to get on the local transit system. This is how it works in York Region for example. I believe this would increase the number of Scarborough residents who would take GO Transit.
I agree with your view that GO needs to reexamine the role it plays in the northern 416 in terms of providing service. Until that happens, Scarborough commuters will continue to rely on the TTC to get them around the city.
Steve: The problem is the fare system. We are prepared to spend billions to duplicate capacity that GO should be serving via a subway network, but are not prepared to rejig fares so that there is not such a high penalty against riders from the outer 416 and for transfers between GO and TTC services.
Someone “in the know” on Urban Toronto has commented that there seems to be some compromise in the works (despite the panel) involving council/mayor agreeing to a parking tax to generate revenue, and building the Sheppard subway as a 2-station extension to Victoria Park and a 2-station extension to Downsview as a spur off the Spadina line (north of the existing Downsview platform). Not sure if that wipes the Finch LRT or just the Sheppard East …
Have you heard anything like this? Sounds intriguing … yet I have a hard time seeing either Ford agreeing to new taxes, or the Scarborough councillors agreeing to nothing but surface LRT in Scarborough, but lots of new subway in North York.
Steve: I might believe the Victoria Park extension if only I could believe the part about a new tax actually being approved. However, one big issue with any of the new taxes is that the geographic scope and length of time they would be in place to pay for the subway with small, painless nibbles on the taxpayer. There remains the question of value for money — no matter how we raise the funds, is a Sheppard subway the best use of $1-billion? It’s not the only transit project in town.
Tomorrow is the day for decision. Despite all discussion and argument, neither side has changed its position. Consequently the decision of Council should be, either to proceed with Sheppard Subway extension to Victoria Park North station or else hold a municipal referendum on the issue held very quickly. This would give citizens a chance to resolve an issue that has become very murky. On one thing Rob Ford is correct. People who wouldn’t dream of using any other forms of public transit do use subways, because it is the only of getting to their destination in any reasonable length of time. Subways democratize people.
Otherwise if they try to overrun this issue against the mayor’s opposition they immediately turn attention away from transit policy into an adventure in political science. Pandora’s Box can open widely. There are countless bureaucratic and legal technicalities which can be used to block any work on this issue. Probably Council will simply issue ‘words of dismay’ and settle back into a frequent activity of Council — doing nothing at all. If subway can be extended to Victoria Park North station with a large ‘kiss and ride’ terminus and a multi-story parking garage, the extension will justify itself not on the day after opening but over longer term provide a major improvement for public transit in Toronto