Late in May, John Tory launched his “SmartTrack” transit line, the centrepiece of his “One Toronto” plan. Media reps gathered for a preview at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and the launch was handled almost entirely by Tory’s staff. All of the background papers are on the One Toronto website, and little has been added since that event.
Even then, in the early days of the campaign, there was good reason to distrust Tory’s grasp of his own proposal, let alone a willingness to engage in debate, when he made the briefest of appearances for a canned statement to give the media clips for the news broadcasts, but answered few questions.
I was modestly impressed that at least a Mayoral candidate was not just thinking at the ward level for a transit proposal, but felt the plan was rather threadbare — a single line to solve almost all of Toronto’s problems.
Wearing two hats that day – as both reporter and activist – I was scrummed by the media for comments, and the Tory campaign chose to lift one phrase out of context as an “endorsement” for SmartTrack that remains online.
Steve Munro, Toronto Transit Blogger, said, “This is very much a refocusing of what transit in Toronto should be.”
What I was talking about was the need to look at the region and at trips to points other than the corner of Bay & Front and times other than the traditional commuter peaks. As to the specifics of SmartTrack, I was rather less complimentary.
In brief, SmartTrack would see electric multiple unit (EMU) trains operating primarily on GO Transit corridors between Unionville on the Stouffville line and Mount Dennis on the Weston corridor (the Kitchener-Waterloo line). At Eglinton and Weston, the line would veer west along the former Richview Expressway lands to the Airport Corporate Centre, but not to the airport itself.
The route would charge regular TTC fares with free transfers to the existing system, and with frequent all-day service at peak levels of every 15 minutes. Over its 53km it would have 22 stations, and might, according to the campaign, carry over 200,000 passengers per day.
Financing
Although the total cost would be $8-billion, the cost/kilometre is about $150m, cheap by subway standards, but certainly not trivial. Tory expects that both Queen’s Park and Ottawa would chip in 1/3 each leaving Toronto to find only $2.7b on its own hook. This would be accomplished through the magic of Tax Increment Financing, basically a scheme to borrow against the taxes from future new development to pay for current improvements.
To fund the SmartTrack line, Tax Increment Financing revenue will be leveraged over 30 years as development activity and assessed values increase along a new transit route. It is estimated that $2.5 billion in present value dollars can be raised over that time. All revenue estimates are based only on projected new office development in three precincts within the following districts along the SmartTrack line: the Central Core; the East Don Lands site; and Liberty Village.
This rather presumptuously implies that SmartTrack would be responsible for much new development although these areas are already densely populated and more projects are in the approval and construction pipeline. The taxes they will bring are intended for general city building, not least of which is the considerable infrastructure required to serve the densification of downtown and its shoulder neighbourhoods.
A similar dodge was used when a variant on the eastern branch of SmartTrack was proposed in 2012 by Markham Councillor Jim Jones in his I-METRO-E scheme. His financing depended on the assumption that the entire waterfront east of downtown would generate tax revenue thanks to one new line that would be some distance from much of the development.
As for operating costs, nowhere does Tory address the question of what a massive new TTC-fare rapid transit line would add to the operating deficit, or what side effects this could have such as service cutbacks elsewhere in the network without increased subsidies.
Paying for transit proposals with Monopoly money is an old game in Toronto, but one might have hoped for better from a representative of the business class as a candidate.
Is There Room on GO’s Corridors?
Over much of its length, SmartTrack requires space in the GO corridors to operate, and at the planned frequency, that means two tracks. That’s two tracks GO does not have today, at least not sitting there just waiting for new trains.
The Stouffville corridor has to be double-tracked for the Metrolinx RER scheme, and the problem will remain of fitting both SmartTrack and frequent GO service to points beyond Unionville all on the same line. Scarborough Junction, the point where the Lake Shore East and Stouffville corridors diverge, will almost certainly have to be grade separated given the combined frequency of service. Fortunately for Tory, Metrolinx already considers this a possibility, but SmartTrack would certainly force the issue.
To the west, a new pair of tracks exists for the Union-Pearson Express service, but that goes to the airport via a different route through north Etobicoke. It is not clear whether SmartTrack could share the same infrastructure at least to Eglinton.
Within the Union Station Rail Corridor, SmartTrack shares capacity problems with RER. As the capacity on individual GO corridors grows, the combined effect at Union could overwhelm that station. This brings us to discussions of satellite stations or alternative alignments through downtown, not to mention fundamentally reconfiguring Union to improve platform operations and focus on through-routing.
The problem here is that Tory has, in effect, appropriated a chunk of the Metrolinx RER scheme as if it were his own line with no consideration for whether both services could co-exist.
Is There Room on Eglinton?
The most laughable part of SmartTrack is the route it takes from Mount Dennis to the Airport Corporate Centre. Decades ago, land was reserved north of Eglinton for the Richview Expressway:
The Hamilton Expressway (also known as the Richview Expressway) was to have run from the Mount Dennis area (where it would connect to the Crosstown/400 Extension) westward to the junction of Highways 401 and 27. From there, it would be built by the provincial government to Hamilton. The Metro government began land assembly for the project along Richview Side Road (later Eglinton Avenue). The Ministry of Transportation, when upgrading the 401/427 interchange in the 1970s, designed the interchange to connect with the new freeway. This is why today there is a very wide right of way for Eglinton Avenue in Etobicoke and an elaborate connection from the 401 and 427 to Eglinton Avenue, as those were the ramps for the Hamilton Freeway. [From TransitToronto]
Over the years, transit proposals eyed this land, but the planning consensus going back into the 1980s was that any new line should be in the middle of Eglinton Avenue. A median LRT or BRT was proposed there long before Transit City came along to recycle the idea.
As Rob Salerno reported in NOW Toronto recently, Tory’s planners relied on outdated views of Eglinton Avenue to assume that there was room for a new rail corridor. In fact, Build Toronto has been selling off this land (reserving a small strip to allow for road widening in case an LRT or BRT project is undertaken), and chunks are already occupied by buildings.
Getting from the Weston rail corridor to Jane Street will require tunnelling below an existing residential neighbourhood, and constraints on the curve radius will make a shared station and convenient transfer with the Eglinton Crosstown LRT impossible.
Tory appears to have dodged around any debate re surface operation on Eglinton so that he can avoid the “war on the car” brigade of which the Fords are chief exponents. He also avoids directly challenging the Union Pearson Express for which a rail access into the airport already exists. Meanwhile, he condemns the Eglinton Crosstown line to a stub ending at Weston Road with an inconvenient transfer for through passengers headed not to downtown, but on a continuous east-west journey. As for the airport, that would require a separate shuttle from the corporate centre.
How this arrangement would serve the entire airport district, a major employment centre, is unclear.
Why Do We Need Two Lines in Scarborough?
In yet another dodge around controversial debate, Tory prefers to leave the Scarborough Subway scheme as is rather than reopening the LRT/subway battles and the blatant pandering to Scarborough’s need for recognition as a real city with its own subway line. In Tory’s plan, the three-station subway (Lawrence, STC and Sheppard) remains while SmartTrack operates only a few kilometres to the west with stations at Lawrence, Ellesmere, Sheppard, Finch and Steeles.
During the subway debate, subway-level riding from an updated demand model was claimed for that corridor. However, the new riders (over and above earlier projections for the LRT alternative) would be drawn from the same territory that SmartTrack serves in Markham.
If the GO corridors really can handle frequent service, then the expected subway demand may not materialize, and Toronto will have paid a high premium to finance infrastructure beyond what it actually needs.
Which Riders Would SmartTrack Serve?
Tory claims that SmartTrack would attract over 200,000 riders per day in part because of the diverse set of trips it would serve. Not only would the line funnel riders to the core area, it would provide new service to the lands south of the airport, as well as the developing business district in Markham.
Well, almost.
A map on page 8 of a backgrounder on Surface Subways shows employment clusters in the GTA including the large grouping around Highway 404 and Highway 7. That’s definitely a node worth shooting for, but the rail line is actually a few kilometres to the east in Unionville, the proposed northern terminus.
Similarly, the airport district is spread out over a large area that cannot be served by a route stopping only its southern edge.
An integral part of any new transit to these nodes will be frequent connecting bus services, a chunk notably absent from Tory’s plan. It is no secret that the “last mile” links to rapid transit are crucial and can affect a line’s attractiveness.
On its trip into downtown, SmartTrack would serve northern Etobicoke, but only with stations at Kipling and at Jane. These will be handy for folks living nearby, but good feeder services will be essential.
On the Weston corridor, there would be stops at Eglinton (albeit a difficult one to integrate with the Crosstown LRT), St. Clair, Bloor (Dundas West Station), Liberty Village and Spadina. These are all stations that could be served by Metrolinx service already operating or planned for the corridor, especially by an airport link rethought as a more local service.
A major problem in attracting riders, however, will be service frequency and station access time. The closer one gets to the core area, the time actually spent on a train becomes less important than the time required just to board it. A “Liberty Village” station would actually be on the northeastern edge of that neighbourhood, quite distant from many residents and businesses it might try to serve. A Spadina station would be very close to Union in an area already served by the Spadina/Harbourfront streetcar.
To the east, the one station associated with new development lands would be at the Unilever site south of Queen and east of the Don River. This would do nothing for the large population planned in the new developments west of the river and mainly south of the Gardiner Expressway. Tory has been notably silent on transit service to the waterfront.
Continuing east to Scarborough Junction, there would be stops at Queen, Gerrard, and Main/Danforth. These could attract some transfer traffic, but again the extra time needed for that transfer, at least 10 minutes on average, will counteract the time saving of the faster trip to Union.
As for those 200,000 daily riders, this is a dubious claim. On a transit line with good all-day demand, typically half of the ridership comes during the peak periods, and half in the off-peak. Within the peaks, a line runs at or slightly above nominal capacity about 50% of the time at the peak point.
SmartTrack is really two lines (the west and east legs), and so the goal is really 100k on each side. (By analogy, the YUS subway serves the same central area with its peak demand divided between the two arms of the line.) 25k would be the am peak demand, much of which would be inbound to the core area. This would require a service capacity of about 10k per hour at the peak point, a real challenge for trains every 15 minutes.
The fundamental problem with SmartTrack is that it looks nice on a map, but the mechanics of actually operating the route and using it as a transit rider are more challenging.
SmartTrack and the Relief Line
Any service in the rail corridors such as the Metrolinx RER scheme will have the most benefit for trips originating in the outer 416 and the 905. Travel time savings and a 15-minute headway represent a real improvement over today’s offerings there. If the intent is relief of subway demand, it must come by diverting that type of rider away from the outer ends of the subway network, not by intercepting trips that are already on local TTC services closer to the core.
Tory’s position on the Relief Line (the formal “DRL” which many including me have advocated for years) has changed from the early days of his campaign.
Back in March 2014, Tory announced:
John Tory has a plan for a more affordable, functional and liveable Toronto. Job number one in that plan is building the Yonge Street relief line.
Only a few weeks later, he launched a broadside at the Olivia Chow campaign for treating the Yonge Relief line as a lower priority:
… you can get action on Yonge Street Relief Line from me now.
There was no doubt that the “Relief Line” in question was the DRL because SmartTrack’s announcement was still nearly two months away. Now that Tory’s scheme is the centrepiece of his campaign, the possibility of a new frequent-service subway providing local service in the areas close to downtown drifts off to the future in a Tory Toronto.
Toronto needs both better service on the GO network and additional local capacity linking the core, near-downtown areas and the wider network. A single line cannot perform both functions.
Missing From The Map
Notable by their absence on the SmartTrack map are three important new LRT/streetcar services: Sheppard East, Finch West and Waterfront. However, in August, Tory claimed continued support for the Finch and Sheppard as planned for 2020 and 2021 opening dates.
Tory makes no mention of transit to the Waterfront, a project mired in anti-downtown rhetoric, dreams of Ferris wheels in the Port Lands, and a lack of serious commitment by Council and the TTC to the “transit first” once touted for an area equal in size to the current downtown.
Tory falls into the trap of emphasizing construction, new lines that, someday, might improve the lot of some transit riders, while ignoring the basic day-to-day needs of the existing system.
In August, the TTC proposed a suite of changes to make the system more attractive to riders including improved transit service, replacement of transfers with a two-hour fare, and a system-wide move to proof-of-payment and all-door loading. Tory’s response? “Irresponsible” because there was no funding scheme.
In that one word, Tory not only displayed his ignorance of Council operations – an agency proposes how it might operate while Council decides how or if to fund the changes – but also his focus on throttling expenses and holding down taxes. There was no sense he understand the severity of the looming problem of system capacity.
The TTC operating subsidy for 2014 will be about $430m, of which Toronto provides $340m and Queen’s Park $90m from gas taxes. A further $100m is needed to run WheelTrans, and this is completely funded by Toronto. Service cuts under Rob Ford and Karen Stintz capped subsidy increases, but this cannot continue forever, and better transit service is a common demand across Toronto.
Even without inflation, Toronto’s current level of operating funding would amount to $8.5-billion over the next quarter century, more than the estimated price tag for SmartTrack. A ten percent bump in funding ($34m/year) could be focused on the surface network and on restructured fares with considerable benefits long before any rapid transit expansion will open for business. (New money would do less for the subway where physical constraints limit the scope for capacity expansion, and fixed costs for operations and maintenance dominate the overall budget.)
On the capital side, the TTC has $9-billion in capital needs for system maintenance and vehicle replacements over the next decade, but only about $6-billion in known funding. This does not include “below the line” projects Toronto needs, but does not include on the official list. An artificially small shortfall in funding is the result, but not one anyone talks about.
The absence of a meaningful platform to address transit needs beyond a few rapid transit projects shows just how threadbare that platform really is.
Can John Tory Change?
Since its announcement, SmartTrack has been the John Tory campaign’s mantra, the centrepiece of his platform, and his solution to almost every problem. The fundamental problem is that SmartTrack cannot be built as proposed, and addresses only part of the overall transit challenge in Toronto.
Campaigns are an horrendous time to ask candidates to shift position. They are terrified of appearing weak, uncommitted, vacillating, unable to lead the city to a single, defined goal. But the mark of a good would-be mayor is the ability to grow beyond a simple slogan like “subways subways subways” and “the gravy train”.
Tory wants to be a mayor who will work with all sides of Council, and he will not achieve that by trotting out a single plan over and over at every meeting for every issue. As a leading candidate in the polls, Tory should have the headroom to embrace more options for transit, to show that he can see beyond his campaign literature.
Can John Tory move beyond a one-track platform and show he really understands the complexity of transit needs, or will he bull ahead with a shiny, but ultimately half-baked scheme that will short-change Toronto?
Steve Munro 
The problem basically comes down to needing to stop thinking about transit as a single ward issue, or political pawn, and start seeing it as a required local and regional service based on real information. I would say that a highly resolved origins and destinations dataset is required used to look at the proposed/possible *networks* based on this. Hopefully Mr. Tory, council and the province can get behind the network that looks best from the perspective of attracting and serving riders, and being cost effective. This virtually by definition means improvements in the surface transit of Toronto and region. I tend to believe that it will also likely include most of the original TransitCity lines, possibly tweaked to integrate better with things like RER.
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This is a powerful and helpful critique based in some realities, not merely ax-grindings. It is helpful to show that the lines on a map that we all do ain’t always workable, though using the rail corridors on the diagonal for some transit – the history of that would be an interesting post that might stretch back many decades.
I did find something of about a decade ago that is in some ways quite similar to this Smart Track proposal – something called SmartRide LRT by Aecon in 2002, though it didn’t get too far it seems due to its private origins. One issue with Mr. Tory’s ideas may be – though somewhat dispelled here it seems – that since it’s such a standalone, and may get to be more standalone with the funding – it may be only something that the private sector can do, despite the debacle/waste of a corridor of the UPX.
What might be most sensible is to find out/explore just how complex it is to provide more frequent services on rail corridors from Dundas St. W. through Union Station or area and then up to Main Station as both of these rail stops intersect with the B/D subway.
Overall, the planning of systems doesn’t seem to get too much beyond the silos of the particular agency, perhaps due to the federal level involvement in the railways and the private ownership of these rare routes, or some of them.
We also don’t seem able to squeeze the private mobility that clogs our routes to give the transit a clear run and prefer to maybe spend billions to further subsidize the cars.
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I don’t believe Tory will ever move beyond this one plan or provide further details. He’s actually being careful this time, and he might succeed, if the polls are to be trusted. I never trust polls, nor do I trust snake-oil salesmen who say they have a cure for everything that ails me.
Smart Track and John Tory remind me of that snake-oil salesman.
Sorry but Olivia Chow’s let’s use what we got and add more buses, while flawed, has a better chance to succeed. We may not have the buses now, but they’re easy to buy and build.
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Thank you for your analysis and hopefully Mr Tory will read through it, maybe even treat you for lunch to discuss the details :-). Overall I think it is a good idea though I would suggest cancelling the Scarbough subway to help pay for it plus in the west have it continue along the rail corridor after Eglinton while continuing the LRT the out to the airport. They could build the Scarborough and Malvern LRT lines.
I admit I thought all the candidates could have proposed better transit plans. You would think they could have paid a researcher $10-20,000 to study transit for a month and then come up with a solid plan. A solid plan would also be defined as one that continues previous plans in progress that have come from public consultations and subject matter experts.
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Isn’t that exactly what we’re also doing with the Sheppard subway and the planned LRT? Granted, the cross-platform transfer would be easier than what could be done at Mt Dennis, but it’ll still be inconvenient for the vast majority of riders who would be on a continuous east-west journey across Sheppard.
Steve: It is physically impossible to have a “cross the platform” transfer at Mount Dennis. SmartTrack would come up the rail corridor and would have to start turning west well south of Eglinton to hit an alignment under the road for its westward journey. Don’t forget we are not talking about streetcar radius turns here. Meanwhile, the LRT station straddles the rail corridor north of Eglinton and would be nowhere near a potential “Weston” station on the SmartTrack line. It would be a long underground walking transfer.
By the way, this curve and station could not be built without demolition of buildings above, precisely the sort of thing that led to pitched battles between the Weston folks and Metrolinx/TTC over the original design for Weston Station on the LRT line.
Then there is the small matter of getting under the Humber River and the planned station at Scarlett/Jane, but I will leave that to Tory’s so-called experts to figure out.
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From the start, my impression of John Tory in comparison to what we now have in the mayor’s chair, regarding transit matters, is really only the suit size! Tory may very well be competent is some things, but “Transit” is in one of the biggest problems this city faces in the future and it appears that he has failed to grasp some of the cost effective solutions that have been proposed by transit experts, in favour of spending billions and billions extra on what he thinks people want instead of building what is required.
Harold…
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Good piece Steve.
Although I think Tory is just playing solid politics & will change his stripes to work with all levels of Government once he’s elected Mayor. He is running a smart campaign. His fantasy Smarttrack gives a glimmer of hope to those in the core who see the need for quick relief & it also falls into the Ford winning narrative of promising fantasy lines elsewhere in the City with no real plan.
Tory strikes me as a Mayor who will work with others. He’s flip-flopped during his campaign & will hopefully do it again once in office to help get things built.
Steve: If the Scarborough Subway mess is any indication, the idea of “flip flops” is far from anyone’s mind. My sense is that Tory is hemmed in by his lack of detailed understanding of what might be amended in the project, not to mention a distinct lack of expertise in whoever is advising him. Don’t forget these are the folks who didn’t know about buildings on the Richview corridor because they only looked at out of date Google street views, and never actually visited the site. This is the sort of thing I expect from armchair railfans posting wild schemes on my site, not from a would-be mayor.
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Is my hope that Tory or any other candidate will just change their plans once they’re in office too optimistic? Will the city and province and feds really just throw money at smart track as is before any deeper studies and collaboration with GO RER are considered?
Steve: Early in the campaign, I hoped that Tory would show signs of flexibility on SmartTrack, but at every opportunity, he has just dug in his heels for his own plan. This is hardly the mark of someone who wants to compromise. I cannot see other governments coming to the table on this. It would be a huge flip-flop for Queen’s Park to buy in after all the pronouncements from Minister Del Duca about how we have to get on with building what is already planned.
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The one beauty of SmartTrack, from a purely political perspective, is that one could almost argue, that if and when Metrolinx brings RER into Stouffville, he has gotten half of his plan.
My personal concern, is that it will either not have the stations required to make it work for the outer 416, or not have the frequency required to make it really attractive for the people close to and east this line in the outer 416.
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These candidates are just attempting to get into office. Nobody can really know whether they take them self seriously at planning transit. Anyone that attempts to take the high road in this political climate will lose. Tory & his team have learned from Fords last election that if you promise unrealistic transit for cheap you can win.
The Fords are stubborn to a fault. I don’t see that in Tory. I just see political gamesmanship going on. As much as I don’t usually take polls too seriously I would have to say Chow is done as she will only see a handful of votes from Scarborough.
Best we can hope for it Tory to give Smarttrack a rest & work with Wynne to avoid any further delays.
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While I am not convinced yet that Smarttrack is completely a bad idea in the interim, until someone can prove with an EA that it is not technically possible or cost-feasible, the Eglinton West portion must go.
The Crosstown extension is such a better fit for that area, an EA has already been completed, a multi-stop LRT will serve Etobicoke much better, I could go on. Keep the Eglinton LRT on…. Eglinton!!
I hope Tory soon realizes this if he becomes mayor, and decides to go forward with a plan that terminates Smarttrack in Mount Dennis, and continues the Crosstown along Eglinton.
Also: I don’t see why “Smarttrack” can’t just be a level of service offered on GO RER, and use the same rolling stock and trains. Simply make it a fare level that allows TTC riders to ride the GO train in the TTC downtown area. I have yet to be convinced why it must be a separate technology.
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Let’s just say that John Tory is hemmed in by Nick Kouvalis, who clearly has never ever had the need to use a bus or streetcar in his life. But such is a politician’s view where political advisors and lobbyists rarely need to take transit for everyday life. It would be a cold day in hell before lobbyists would advocate for better transit service and frequency instead of subways, subways, subways!
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Actually, I think Tory had the Smart Track in mind all along. Everyone else called it a DRL, he called it YRL. It seems obvious by the way he talked that this SmartTrack was his cute solution to the new transit line.
When looking at SmartTrack, I am amazed at how much we are willing to spend to not “elevate” Eglinton. They could have spend $500M extra to elevated Eglinton from DVP to Kennedy and saved about $1.5B in not extending the B-D subway. Then we could have spend about $750M extra to elevate Eglinton from Jane to Pearson, and saved countless Billions on the SmartTrack (although I have no idea where the high cost of the SmartTrack occurs). It looks like the decision to not work with (and improve) the Ford-McGuinty Eglinton compromise – which Metrolinx concluded was viable in June 2012 – has led to countless Billions being wasted.
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Moving the west end of SmartTrack north so it goes up to the 427 and then south through the airport (replacing the airport rail link) fixes the Eglinton problem. The rest of Tory’s proposal is decent.
Steve: Except the “rest of Tory’s proposal” is something that Metrolinx was planning to do anyhow.
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Tory’s SmartTrack is the dumbest idea that I have ever read. It almost makes Ford’s “Subways, Subways. Subways” seem reasonable. It cannot carry the people that he claims. It would take 12 hours worth of full 12 car trains to carry 200 000 passengers per day. Union Station could not handle the extra passengers and it would conflict with Metrolinx RER plan. The two plans are not compatible without a major change in Transport Canada regulations.
Tory will probably blame the province for the inability to compromise for the death of his ill conceived plan rather than his own pig pigheadedness and lack of knowledge.
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K seriously, why are the mayoral candidates so dumb?
Steve: Because their policies are driven by campaign teams who don’t want to get embroiled in the details, but just want something that sounds good in a pitch, and looks good on a website.
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He many have called it the YRL, but when questioned he described the DRL route and referred to his proposal as a subway. He was pretty clear until he changed course.
The last thing we need is Mayoral candidates drawing new lines on the map every election campaign. By the time the studies are over and the funding is arranged, another Mayor will arrive with a mandate to replace it with his own signature project.
While they are not flashy (new), they include..
Sheppard LRT
Finch LRT
Scarborough LRT
DRL (shifting $900 million from Scarborough subway extension to DRL as city’s share of funding).
I would not be surprised if the Province wants/ requires city to provide portion of money to get DRL moving, as it has asked Mississauga & Hamilton for municipal funding for their LRT lines.
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That’s my hope, too. His SmartTrack plan may not be very smart in its present form, but Tory himself seems to be flexible enough to accept necessary changes once the elections are over.
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While an elevated Eglinton line is an interesting option, I do not see any billions wasted by not doing that.
SmartTrack along Eglinton is very unlikely to ever happen, even if Tory becomes Mayor. No billions to waste.
Elevating the eastern section of Eglinton is unlikely to cost less than 1 billion extra. This is about same as the projected extra cost of Scarborough subway compared to LRT.
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At this point in time, SmartTrack is more of a vision than a concrete plan. It is a first generation blueprint that gives birth to the surface subway concept and provides an initial plan to start the conversation. No doubt that people like yourself will add to this nascent plan to make it better.
SmartTrack is like building a Sports stadium. The first drawings will likely be more whimsical and may border on fantasy, but eventually the final design will be honed in by real world constraints and costs.
During the election, John Tory must stay steadfast with his SmartTrack plan, because to do otherwise will invite further attacks from opponents and may risk the whole house of cards (election) to fall. Therefore, he must stay the course even in the face of logical arguments.
After the election, when the campaign pressure is off, he can work with the City Planner, TTC, Metrolinx and the Province to make sure that the final SmartTrack plan will be fiscally responsible, integrates with the TTC and GO, and is really smart.
It is beyond the capability of any one individual to solve our gridlock problem. But with everyone working together, we should come up with a solution that we can all live with.
From my perspective, SmartTrack is a rough plan, and I suggest these changes:
1) Don’t replace the Eglinton Crosstown west line with SmartTrack. Instead, continue the Eglinton Crosstown into Mississauga.
2) The Union Pearson Express (UPX) should be a part of SmartTrack
3) The Scarborough subway route should be a hybrid between the proposed TTC Subway route and the previous LRT route. The subway should leave Kennedy Station, follow the Danforth up to STC, but then turn east to Centennial and follow the previous LRT route to Sheppard/Markham area.
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The benefits of a single seat trip from the Airport Corporate Centre to Toronto-Union to Markham are probably not worth the cost of SmartTrack.
What I want to know is how long the “Big U” and a Crosstown extension on Eglinton West would take to build. I think it could be done in 5 years (or less) if the EA for the electrification of the Weston sub and the EA for the double tracking of the Stouffville line were amended to permit the “Big U” (perhaps starting with diesel trains and grade separations, then electrifying later). As for the Eglinton West portion of the Crosstown, if started soon, I think it could be done in time for the opening of Phase 1 so we could have a complete line from Kennedy to Renforth, with the airport extension for the future.
I’d love to see a realistic demand, cost and timeline comparison for SmartTrack and the “Big U + Crosstown Extension” to let the data drive the decision making.
Cheers, Moaz
PS: About 10 days ago Rob Ford had an Op-Ed in the Toronto Sun in which me asked 4 times whether John Tory would run surface rail on Etobicoke Streets. It’s quite clear that the issue of “transit on streets” is still being exploited by all of the major candidates.
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I have to say I agree, this needs to be a city, regional and provincial plan, not that of any particular political party or candidate. TransitCity was in essence a largely settled thing, until there was a decision of a single person to put a stop to it. Transit in much of the city should already have been hugely improved.
The thing about the DRL and the CrossTown that is worth noting, is that these are not really new plans either. Something in these corridors has been proposed for decades before Miller, as they were extremely logical requirements, and were in transit plans written 30 and 40 years ago, oh and so was a Scarborough LRT. The technologies have changed a little, and LRT capacity is certainly greater than what it was when it was proposed previously.
The Province has a plan for RER in Stouffville, and something on the UPX. I would suggest that the city campaign for implementation and fares that make them more effective and easier to integrate with transit, not entirely new projects. Yes improvements at Union are required, and the city should campaign for closer headways to make these services more attractive to riders, however let the Province do it, as these are currently regional lines, and Toronto is part of that region, and should ensure that it too gets service from these lines. Roger you are right whoever is the next mayor and council, needs to focus on getting the best of plans implemented, not in coming up with more, however, SmartTrack at least in the East is essentially RER.
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Agreed 100%. I really hope this option is reviewed since as it makes much more sense than running up to McCowan/Sheppard & would provide the most effective service to North Eastern Scarborough.
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A couple of observations:
1. Surface subways are a good idea that are used widely around the globe. The SMART Track idea makes sense for Toronto and the adjacent cities. Along with Subways, LRT and BRT, surface subways should be part of the broader transit plan for our region.
2. As you stated in your comments, rush hour demand accounts for 50% of transit ridership, or getting people to and from work is the draw for 50% of users. Other transit proposals do not make a serious and conscious effort to integrate the two main employment areas of the edge of Toronto.
3. Please correct me here, but it appears that the SMART Track will connect with planned BRT transit ways in both Mississauga and Markham. This means the 404/Hwy 7 business corridor and much of the Airport business area in Mississauga would be reasonably well serviced by the SMART Track. Earlier threads posted on your site (related to the Scarborough Subway) show a good number of trips from Scarborough go north. Further demand for the SMART Track would come from the intensification of residents in the core who will work in these outlying business areas. Gridlock on the DVP northbound and Gardiner Westbound during the morning rush hour are an indication of this trend.
4. We can be sure SMART Track will receive a positive reception for funding at the Provincial level because it addresses more than the requirements for transit within the City of Toronto. If the City of Toronto commits to supporting a regional effort like the SMART Track and offers some funding, that would provide leverage for funding transit proposals within the city, like the DRL.
5. Like other posters have suggested, the SMART Track is a preliminary plan and has to be revised to be truly effective. I agree with these comments. John Tory is reasonable, if elected I expect he would revise this plan to accommodate the limitations you point out.
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As I explained to my father: most of Tory’s proposal is tantamount to promising the voters to make the sun rise in the mornings.
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An interesting analysis you got there Steve but what’s your point? Are you saying that people should not vote for Tory? Perhaps with Rob Ford dropping out of the race, you are considering voting for Doug Ford? I am perplexed, please explain. Also since Rob Ford has aggressive cancer, what do you suggest we name after Rob Ford once he passes away? I mean good or bad, he was our mayor for FORD long years and still is (until a new one is sworn in or until he passes away whichever happens earlier). Since Rob Ford is a pro-car mayor, I suggest we name a parking lot after him or since the beautiful new streetcars made their debut under his leadership, we can name the new streetcar fleet after Rob Ford (that way Doug (if ever he is mayor) won’t fight to remove streetcars from the streets of Toronto).
Steve: My point is that John Tory needs to be open to significant changes in his proposal, and he also needs to recognize that his one line will not solve all problems. In particular, his offhand rejection of proposed service improvements on the TTC as “irresponsible” shows that he simply doesn’t want to engage in questions of what transit needs, only to do his tax-fighter routine. That’s not a valid position — the job of politicians, especially the mayor, is to weigh all of the city’s needs and decide how much new revenue (from wherever) we should seek to pay for them.
Tory appears to be defending his right flank against the Ford camp, and he will do no end of harm if he continues this as mayor. At the same time, he rejects anything Chow supports out of hand presumably to establish that her ideas are not worth listening to. Just the sort of person we need for the new era of a concilliatory relationship between the mayor and council. Tory as a radio host was notorious for liking the sound of his own voice whether he knew the subject or not, and we do not need such arrogance in a mayor. I hope he can change.
Dare I say this, but a major purpose of this site and of my commentary is to encourage a better-informed discussion of transit issues by all concerned. As a transit advocate, I have lived through good and not so good mayors (and Metro chairs), but the advocacy for good transit is a constant. When Tory’s advisors cannot even bother to visit an area where he should know there will be construction problems, and then sputter away as if buildings directly in line with their plan don’t exist, then finally say “we may need a tunnel”, that’s not the mark of a well informed team or a well-advised candidate. Someone like John Tory should be sensitive to this kind of problem as it is a common one in the corporate world — advisors who don’t know their portfolios and get by on telling the boss what he wants to hear.
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What bothers me about Mr. Tory’s plans is the belief in Tax Incentive Financing. This is nonsense. As Matt Galloway pointed out this morning, the NYC Brooklyn Yards TIF did not work. It seems to me, as a simple concept, that even if Smart Track did cause development to be accelerated, that the tax income therefrom is needed for buses, firefighters, policemen,water, snow clearing and all the other services provided by the city for the new residents or workers. Perhaps TIF might work if the cost of rehabilitating brown fields was very modest in relation to the future tax income from development – but even then I am dubious. To suggest that billions can be raised by using all or a portion of the future tax income from the Portlands, Downtown and Liberty Village is just silly. These are already developed areas.
I am tired of politicians who continue to tell us that we can have expensive stuff for free. We can’t. We need an informed discussion about what we are willing to pay for and the relative real costs of the various alternatives. (I maintain the real costs of not building transit will be higher in the end – though as a result of pollution and congestion – not taxes.)
Tory and Chow continue to let Rob Ford set the agenda. Let’s hear about what taxes can do for us – not how they will be frozen.
Steve: It was clear from the CBC interview that Tory does not understand (or chooses to ignore) one vital word in “TIF”: increment. The whole idea is that if you have development that would only occur thanks to some investment like a new transit line, then you can direct the marginal new revenue to financing the infrastructure. However, you don’t get to point to downtown and claim 100% of every building erected after Tory’s election as “incremental” and thereby contributing to the city’s share of SmartTrack. Moreover, there is still the question of how the services those new buildings will require — and not just transit capacity — will be paid for. TIF is a marvellous shell game with limited application in a vibrant city where rejuvenation of brownfields (other than the waterfront) is comparatively rare.
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I think the problem might be that Tory’s advisors are not associated with the transit portfolio, but rather are election campaign advisors. Tell the electorate you can solve their gridlock problems at no cost to themselves and all they have to do is vote for our candidate. The truth is Smarttrack won’t be cheap, tax increment financing won’t cover the cost, it can’t physically be constructed as planned, and it will never happen. Meanwhile, label your opponent’s modest and realistic proposal for TTC service improvement as irresponsible.
After listening to John Tory recently, I’m actually beginning to miss Rob Ford.
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Although such a route has merits from the connectivity standpoint, it will be very difficult to build. STC is located west of McCowan Avenue. So, the subway running north under McCowan, would have to somehow veer north-west halfway between Lawrence and Ellesmere, then curve north and north-east, serve STC, and finally curve east to continue towards the Centennial campus. Not easy to fit, given the desired 300 m turning radius for subways, and the presence of tall buildings with foundations in the area.
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Considering that Metrolinx just recently said that building Eglinton fully underground from Leslie to Kennedy would cost an extra $1.4B, I do not expect elevated to be over $1B. I do not even know the exact cost of the LRT from the Scenic (Brentcliffe) portal to Kennedy, but I would guess about $500M for LRT, $1B for elevated, and $1.9B for underground. The elevated portion could have been even less if the cross-over and pocket tracks at Laird would have been planned at/near grade west of Don Mills.
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I have to say I am not sure I understand the provenance of the price tag, as it would require quite a detailed study in order to come up with a price at all, and the evidence would strongly suggest that such was not done. Also $150 million /km would pay for a surface subway, assuming there were no tracks in place and that there was a modest amount of land to be acquired. Here, most of the tracks exist, and the modifications required to make it actually work, would also reduce the amount of new track.
Areas in Stouffville that are not already double tracked are relatively modest, there is a moderate amount of grade separation required, there is an issue in the Lakeshore Corridor, in terms of track space, and the potential need for another pair.
However, is this not already an issue that the province was studying, and if an extra set or pairs of tracks are indeed required, are we not talking about 10-12 km in an existing corridor. I would have thought the cost of electrification would be much less than 150m/km this, and most part of an existing provincial project. The electrification and completion of twinning of all Stouffville is already required, so $8 billion seems a hefty price tag, assuming that we are using EMUs, in terms of incremental work really required (if any).
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My comment:
The subway station for the STC will be at McCowan Rd, not under shopping mall. This will make it a central station to serve both the west and east sides of McCowan. This will add more walking time for people who want to go to the mall, but this is no different from Fairview Mall where the Subway access is close to the Don Mills intersection.
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This story to me tells the tale of the current crop of voters, and not just in Toronto.
The story effectively notes, Mr. Tory has learned the lesson that we the voters have taught. Tell me the gory truth, I will look away and vote you down, tell me a sweet little lie and I will sing your praises to and in the ballot box.
Hopefully, Mr Tory actually wants office to accomplish some good in Toronto and is holding his nose in terms of this proposal, in order to win office. I would normally say that leaders should encourage an open, substantive and real public public debate. However, recent history in Toronto, and longer in Canada, has established to many of those would be leaders, that doing so just kills your political aspirations and career.
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I think that Tory’s transit plan is the best for the following reasons:
1) he will build the long delayed and much needed Scarborough subway
2) he will have 2 way all day fully electric GO train service as part of his SmartTrack technology
3) and most importantly, he will reduce taxes
Steve: I might believe 1 and 2, but not even Rob Ford reduced taxes.
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I also think (hope) that Tories plan is the best. I still have hope for this for a very simple reason, I do not think he has actually presented a plan as of yet. He cribbed a provincial one, and presented it as his, with a large enough change that he will never be actually able to get it done, and left himself an out, as those nasty folks at Mount Dennis, will never permit such a lark through their ward.
Perhaps once he is actually in office, has the opportunity to talk to some real experts, and realizes that he must “change his plan” he will fall back on a much more reasonable form. He needs to support the province in the implementation of RER, including Stouffville, and press them for a high quality transit solution in the UPX corridor that does not waste the track space and chance to make a real difference.
In reality his plan should really be about pressing the province to keep its commitment on RER, and press for the Big U to be built early. It should be easier to get at least time separation on this portion of track (a little help from Ottawa), and hence possibly exclusion from Transport Canada rules, and thereby run much higher levels of service. The other major portion of his plan needs to be bringing a realistic version of Olivia Chow’s proposal to the table. The 15 million she has proposed is light by about a factor of 10. Toronto realistically needs at least 250 additional buses shortly. Combine this with a system to actually manage routes and headway, help buses that are behind (or about to be) move faster (conditioned Transit Priority) and generally recognize that each of the 50 passengers or would be passengers on a bus (or 100-150 on a streetcar) should carry the same import as that car carrying only its driver.
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Isn’t that the same argument for not building the LRT? People in Scarborough are too precious to walk up/down one flight of stairs… now you propose they walk up to 500 metres to get to their destination, STC, aka the centre of the universe.
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The only double tracking that I know of is in the under pass below the York Sub. There may be one or two other areas of double track but I don’t believe that they are signalled as true passing sidings. If you are going to run bi-directional at headways of 15 minute or less you had better grade separate everything or you are going to have a lot of irate motorists in suburbia who are going to complain to the councillor about those “damned trains” be almost as bad as hose “damned streetcars.”
The Lakeshore sub will be a problem because the Stouffville service would require 2 tracks for its own use above what is required by the Lakeshore trains so this would get up to 5 tracks and I don’t think the right of way is wide enough nor can Union handle the passengers.
A lot of bridges need to be rebuilt to give the clearances needed for the catenary. Also almost all level crossing need to be eliminated and a grade separated fly over would probably be needed at Scarborough Junction. Extra track would be needed fro Scarborough Junction to USRC and the line to Stouffville would need to be double tracked. When you add in the cost to do the same on the Weston sub, forgetting Eglinton Avenue the cost is probably low. You need more storage and maintenance facility, new EMU’s, you could probably get away with 4 car sets of motor-trailer-trailer-motor with the trailers being the existing double deckers. This would allow trains of 4, 8 or 12 cars. You could probably get away with some motor-trailer sets so you could run 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 cars.
On this you are correct. Nothing will work unless we can get some relief from Transport Canada rules on the track owned by Metrolinx. You still need to get some of the trains out of Union Station or people are going to get killed when they get pushed under a train on the crowded platforms.
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Hang on a second: “long delayed”? Fact check: has there ever been a Scarborough subway proposal, prior to the one that was made a year or two ago? If not, it cannot be characterized as long delayed, as a factual matter. By contrast, many elements of Transit City now qualify as “long delayed”.
For example, the Sheppard LRT was supposed to be under serious construction in 2011 and open by now. And even though the time between Rob Ford “cancelling” Transit City and Council re-instating it was less than two years, the Sheppard LRT has been delayed by considerably more than two years.
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I would agree, however, I believe this is slated to be done as part of the RER. It does not represent additional work. Given the length of the line, there are relatively few at grade crossings, although there are a couple good sized ones that certainly would need to be addressed, they are not beyond what should be done for RER anyway (part of a provincial plan).
The issue I have with this Robert, is that while I agree the work would have to be done, all of it is realistically required for 15 minute RER. The question would be what incremental work needs to be done for SmartTrack. I would think that the approach train wise would be similar to Cal Trains, where I believe the are going to use bi-level EMU in a mix of bi-level cars. As for the Weston sub, I am personally of the mind that would (or should) be the UPX corridor, which again the province is already electrifying.
I do not believe that the provincial work in just the subs should be $8 billion, after the work already done for the UPX. I do not see what SmartTrack is adding so, not sure where the incremental $8 billion comes from. As for extra tracks in Lakeshore East, I believe that Metrolinx is already looking at this as part of a capacity increase for the network as a whole, I believe there are currently 3 tracks in the corridor, and there is room for 4. With exclusion from TC rules on a set of tracks in each direction, it should be possible to run much higher frequency in terms of the rails.
For the Big U and Lakeshore (I will ignore RER in the rest of GO for now) I would make the argument that UPX and Stouffville could share a large central platform, that would require removing 1 set of tracks between the 2, and replacing that space with platform and a large number of stairs and escalators. The view of Union would have to be different from the subways, because foot traffic on to and from the platform would actually greater than a subway, as it is where the vast majority of riders will alight. I would suggest that the 2 directions share a central platform, and this have something on the order of 18 –24 sets escalators (18+ up 18+ down), and stairs similar to those in subway stations. The escalators should then provide the capacity to clear the platform in under 2 minutes. The same would have to be done for the Lakeshore line, if it were to run a similar headway. Ideally you would have a down bound escalator aligned with each set of doors (20 with a 10 car train), so that the flow would go directly from train exit to escalator. This of course would mean eliminating at least 2 sets of tracks inside Union Station, as Robert has previously advocated for.
Having said that if we assert – as I believe will ultimately be required, 10+ trains per hour on each of these 4 lines (2 paired), it is not clear you could actually bring Barrie, Richmond Hill and Milton, as well as the residual Kitchener GO service into the station. The foot traffic involved if these services were run at even ½ the levels of the first 2 would be overwhelming. While it is possible to clear the platforms with the addition of stairs and escalators, all these escalators needs to be able to go somewhere, and will be full for a good 90-100 second pulse on each train arrival. If you assume that between just these 4 lines there is a train every 1.5 minutes, a very substantial walkway is constantly going to be full. If you assume you need 3 feet of clear walkway for every active escalator well…
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The SRT replacement has been talked about as an urgent need for at least ten years, which, I think, would qualify it as long delayed.
The idea that it should be replaced with a subway has been around at least as long.
Steve: And has been rejected as unnecessary for almost as long.
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