Who Goes First?

At its Board Meeting on November 16, Metrolinx will receive a presentation on “Project Prioritization”.

Some time ago, Metrolinx produced The Big Move, the regional plan for the GTA.  This contained many projects.  A few of these had an early launch, and some (“The Big Five”) will roll out over the next ten years.  Originally they were going to roll rather faster, but the economic downturn cut Queen’s Park’s ability to finance a large transit network without new sources of revenue.

We’re sitting at a chicken-and-egg debate right now.  Originally, the idea was to get major projects up and running quickly to show what transit could do, and to use this as a springboard for seeking new funding such as tolls or tax increases.  The problem now is that we need the new revenue before most of the showcase lines will actually open.

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