Wandering through my files, I ran across a clipping from the Toronto Sun dated November 28, 1990. (Note to the Sun folks — if you want to holler about copyright, I will cut this down to quotations.)
Pearson LRT link still up in the air
By Ian Harvey
A rapid transit link to Pearson International Airport may take until the next century to get off the ground.
The province and federal government have jointly commissioned a $400,000 study into transit links but Ontario Minister of Transport Ed Philip says no timetable or priorities have been established.
One of the options being considered is to relocate the CN Rail track which currently runs past the airport. That is being proposed as more efficient than running spurs off the line, which also carries the Georgetown GO Train and some VIA trains.
But moving the line would be expensive and could involve problems getting rights-of-way.
A more ambitious plan calls for a TTC Light Rail line to the airport from Eglinton Ave. and Hwy. 427.
However, that plan depends on construction of a $1.2-billion line from Spadina to Hwy. 427 along Eglinton Ave. W. from the Spadina subway line.
TTC general manager Al Leach said the Eglinton LRT line might not be completed by the end of the decade because it is competing with eight other projects for funding.
“There is no time frame” for the airport link, said Philip. “We expect draft proposals by the spring. I’m not going to set any timetable until I see the report.”
[“LRT” in this article refers to the RT technology in Scarborough.]
Those with good memories will know that late 1990 saw the beginning of the Bob Rae NDP government at Queen’s Park, and their approach to transit was to build as much as possible, whether we needed it or not, as a job stimulation scheme. The fact that subways have a very long lead time — when mainly planners and engineers make all the money — shows up in the fact that so little was actually built. Mike Harris could easily cancel projects that barely had a shovel in the ground.
Now it’s 2010, and current plans will get the airport link to an Eglinton line by 2020.
Don’t pack your bags yet.
Steve Munro 
That’s funny. Plans in 1990, still not happening in 2010.
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The Supreme Court, in the CCH case, stated that fair dealing in Canadian copyright is a user right and must not be interpreted narrowly. Other authorities, quoted and reinforced by that decision, stated that sometimes it is necessary to quote the entire work to deal with it fairly. The standard example is a photograph, but a short news article really can’t be reduced.
Anyway, the Sun has infringed bloggers’ copyrights in the past and deserves no special consideration.
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I don’t think anyone will use the Eglinton LRT to get to the airport unless they happen to be on Eglinton. If you’re anywhere near or south of Bloor, the express bus from Kipling station that runs along Hwy 427 is much faster, and from the north, people can just as easily take the 58 that runs along Dixon Road instead of going further south. From the east nobody is going to ride on Eglinton all the way across — it would be far too slow.
At least the original proposal from the 90s (with ICTS on Eglinton) was true rapid transit.
Steve: The idea that people would ride all the way across Eglinton to the Airport has always been deeply flawed on two counts.
First, the further away from the airport one gets, the less competitive transit of any form will be. Even an ICTS line in Eglinton still has to be accessed somehow, and the bus trip to get to the Eglinton line would be a strong disincentive. People come to the airport from many origins including places that are not even in the TTC’s service territory.
Second, the airport is an important destination, but not the centre of the universe, and we shouldn’t spend a fortune building infrastructure for it. After all, folks in Mississauga will get their via their busway (assuming they use transit), and that busway’s primary function is not to take people to Pearson.
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Oddly, the airport will not really benefit from improved transit links. The vast majority of those who fly have no choice about what airport to use, and will use Pearson regardless of how they get there. Yes, I know City Airport provides some competition, but only on certain routes. Evene if passenger from City flew from Pearson instead, it would only increase traffic by about 2% (500k vs. 33m).
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Jon said: “That’s funny. Plans in 1990, still not happening in 2010”
I would like here to mention that the time from first mention of a Yonge subway to opening day was approximately 41 years. Now, if it takes longer to build a rapid transit connection to Pearson than that, then transit in Toronto is officially screwed.
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Most people seem to think that Airport Transit lines are used by fliers. Most of the ridership will come from employees, especially those at the lower end of the pay scale. I don’t think that you will see many passengers, especially those who travel with 6 months’ worth of clothing in two huge suitcases trotting off to the local LRT stop, or to Union Station, to get rail service to the airport. The airport is a legitimate destination, and a major one, for employees. Union station handles more passengers on any weekday than Pearson ever does, except maybe on its busiest day.
Unless the airport authority has had a change of heart the local transit services, including GO, do not go anywhere near the passenger terminals as this might bleed off passengers from the more expensive limousines and express bus services, whom I assume pay for the privilege of serving the airport.
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Robert Wightman says: “Unless the airport authority has had a change of heart the local transit services, including GO, do not go anywhere near the passenger terminals”
Actually, both TTC and GO stop right outside the terminal building, although the sign-posting to them isn’t great. (The same is true for the taxis and limos … it’s a general fault with Pearson).
Steve wrote: “First, the further away from the airport one gets, the less competitive transit of any form will be.”
That’s true if transit is slower than driving. For normal buses, that will always be the case. However, LRT and subway lines in seperated ROWs have a chance of being faster than the car, and in this case, transit should get more competitive with distance, not less.
(Consider: in rush hour, taking the GO train is quicker than driving for trips to downtown; while for other trips it is slower. This is reflected in the mode splits by time of day).
Steve: I agree with you provided that the trip in question happens to lie right on the rapid transit network, however that might be defined. When combined with a surface route access to get to rapid transit, things change a lot because that leg of the trip contributes a substantial time and potential for delay (or poor connections). An important point about the proposed Finch LRT extension to Pearson is that it gives another way, even if it ain’t running at the speed of light, for people to access the airport from the north. A trip from, say, VCC to Keele/Finch Station, then west to the airport might be competitive with going south to Eglinton West Station.
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The trolley bus line on Eglinton was aborted after construction had started.
The subway line on Eglinton was aborted after construction had started.
If the LRT line on Eglinton is aborted after construction is started, Toronto will be well on it’s way to having the complete collection!
In all seriousness with the cynicism and bad temper aside, one of the most frustrating things I’ve found with Toronto is the “can’t do” attitude so many people have. When that’s combined with the intense politics that surround public transportation and the paternalistic attitudes of so many transit professionals, the stage is set for this city to have a mediocre transportation system.
I’ll pack my bags but I’ll be getting one of my friends to drop me off and pick me up at the airport, as usual.
Steve: For the benefit of those who don’t know the history, when the Nortown route was built on Eglinton and Avenue Road (it is now called Avenue Road North), there was overhead on Eglinton a short distance west of the turn up Avenue Road. This was for an Eglinton TB that would have logically connected into the existing electric operation of the Oakwood car from Oakwood west to Gilbert Loop (now a parkette west of Caledonia). However, the great-and-powerful village of Forest Hill, then a separate entity, would not allow wires to be strung in their precious village (from a bit west of Avenue Road to east of Bathurst), and the line was never finished.
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Tom West says:
January 4, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Robert Wightman says: “Unless the airport authority has had a change of heart the local transit services, including GO, do not go anywhere near the passenger terminals”
Actually, both TTC and GO stop right outside the terminal building, although the sign-posting to them isn’t great. (The same is true for the taxis and limos … it’s a general fault with Pearson).
Thanks for the update. I have not tried to take public transit from the airport to Brampton in 25 years. Back then I had to walk to the middle of the employee parking lot to catch either the GO bus to Brampton or the 58 Malton. Neither went any where near the terminals. At least there has been some improvement in this regard.
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For the Canada Line:
“Almost one in six air travellers are taking the Canada Line to get to Vancouver International Airport.
Since the Canada Line opened over two months ago, 15 per cent of passengers have hopped aboard the rapid transit train to get to YVR, surpassing Vancouver Airport Authority’s expectations of 10 per cent.”
Richmond Review, November 04, 2009
Steve: There’s an important difference between Pearson and Vancouver airports — Pearson is surrounded by development for many kilometers in every direction, and a single rapid transit line cannot possibly serve all of the potential rides to the airport. Transit will serve some travellers and employees, but it will take multiple services to make the airport a regional transit hub.
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article say: However, that plan depends on construction of a $1.2-billion line from Spadina to Hwy. 427 along Eglinton Ave. W. from the Spadina subway line
It still amazes me that they would actually consider (and started!) building this $1.2 Billion 10km subway route along Eglinton Avenue West that’s only 4km from the parallel Bloor subway line! Hmmm,… 1990 before amalgamation,… now why would Metropolitan Toronto (made up of former city of Toronto, York, East York, North York, Scarborough & Etobicoke) want to do that? I’m sure it was just a coincidence that York’s city hall was right on Eglinton Avenue West (just west of Keele) and would have been nicely served by this proposed Eglinton West subway line.
Isn’t it interesting how subway and RT (Scarborough) lines in Toronto tend to be routed very close to the city halls of the 6 cities and boroughs of the former Metropolitan Toronto.
BTW, did we really need to make another ICTS mistake? By that time TTC already made one mistake by choosing UTDC’s ICTS system for Scarborough RT (which now desperately needs to be replaced),.. Ok, it was really provincial government pressuring TTC to switch from CLRV to UTDC (crown corp) ICTS system. If you consider the cost of the original Scarborough RT system plus its maintenance and now its Transit City replacement line 25 years later,… they should have just made it a subway line in the first place.
Steve: The collection of routes announced by then-Premier David Peterson, not long before his defeat by Bob Rae, was part of a last-ditch effort to appear to be “doing something” about transit. To make it politically saleable to the bright lights of Metro Council, yes, it was a subway to every borough. In particular, the Eglinton line served York which was the fiefdom of Alan Tonks, a former Metro Chairman. The only municipality that lost out was East York.
The SRT was a travesty of political interference, and its Vancouver cousin came about through similar machinations in the provincial government there. Ontario had friends at court, you might say. The Eglinton ICTS proposals included some schemes for elevated construction, and this foolishness surfaced again with Metrolinx’ failed attempt to steer an ICTS option to the Eglinton Transit City line. Eventually, I think Bombardier realized that they could sell LRVs just as easily as ICTS, and into a larger market, and they stopped their lobbying for ICTS on Eglinton.
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Steve said:
Having lost in Toronto (and Bangkok) it seems that now they are lobbying for more ICTS in Vancouver and Kuala Lumpur (along with Beijing and Yongin).
Moaz
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The Montreal solution to the airport link is interesting, the $7 cash fare is more than a regular fare but you can use your pass and can get a 24 hour system pass too. Nice too that they will use special buses with proper luggage racks.
This from their website:
Steve: But Montreal does not have a long-standing deal with SNC-Lavalin to operate a premium fare service. Why does Toronto put up with this nonsense? Because we are forced into it by Ottawa and Queen’s Park and are too afraid of alienating support for projects we actually need by opposing their pet projects.
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We should put this in perspective.
The winter Olympics included rapid transit to the airport – at a cost of $1,000,000,000. I do not know how this will work out in Vancouver – if the transit was a good deal or not, or how much it will cost the city.
Here is something to consider:
The 2002 winter Oympics went to Salt Lake City, and we did so good, not only did we end up with a large profit, even the disabled athletes got some of the money. The Salt Lake Olympics meant getting light rail in Salt Lake County, and commuter rail to Ogden. Who is to thank for that? Mitt Romney, who later ran for president.
If we could put people such as Mitt Romney in charge of public transit in Ontario instead of running for president he might do some good.
We clearly need more public transit, the question is the wisest use of resources.
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