Toronto Council has approved the transit plan for Toronto featuring Mayor John Tory’s SmartTrack line and the Scarborough Subway after a long debate on July 14, 2016. Notwithstanding severe problems with financial pressures and the blind faith needed to expect that the entire package can actually be funded, Council added a few pet projects that never quite fade from view thanks to the efforts of individual members.
LRT proposals for Eglinton East and West survived the vote largely because they are part of larger packages – SmartTrack in the west, and the Scarborough Subway Extension in the east. The subway debate has so polarized camps that “LRT” is synonymous with third class transit simply because it was the heart of the “non subway” option. Without the bitterness of the SSE that required subway advocates to paint LRT in the worst possible light, its potential role in Toronto’s future network might not have been so poisoned while other cities embrace this mode.
Staff recommendations in the report were amended in some respects, and a few new clauses were added, notably one asking for City staff to pursue a co-fare arrangement with GO Transit.
The Waterfront Transit Reset report is a separate agenda item and, at the time of writing, Council has not yet dealt with it.
The Finch West and Eglinton Crosstown LRT projects are under Metrolinx, and they are already underway to varying degrees.
SmartTrack & Eglinton West LRT
The report’s recommendations were amended to include additional studies (see underscored text below):
- on a motion by Councillor John Campbell (carried 11-32) for additional grade separations at Royal York and at Islington, and
- on a motion by Councillor Holyday (carried 38-5) for commuter parking on the LRT.
1. City Council approve the following components which comprise the SmartTrack project scope, and request the Province of Ontario and Metrolinx to partner with the City of Toronto and the Toronto Transit Commission, to complete the remaining technical and planning analysis and undertake any required Environmental Assessment/Transit Project Assessment Process:
a. SmartTrack/Regional Express Rail (RER) Integration scenario with up to six new stations located at Finch, Lawrence, Gerrard and Unilever on the Stouffville/Lakeshore East GO corridors and Liberty Village and St. Clair West on the Kitchener GO corridor; and
b. Eglinton West LRT extension with between 8 to 12 stops between Mount Dennis and Renforth Gateway, and potential grade separations located at Martin Grove Road, Kipling Avenue and the Eglinton Flats as well as the potential grade separations at Islington Avenue and Royal York Road and a review of their associated costs.
2. City Council request the City Planning Division and the Toronto Transit Commission, in partnership with Metrolinx, the City of Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) to further develop options for extending the Eglinton West LRT between Renforth Gateway and Pearson International Airport and examine opportunities to provide commuter parking for the LRT.
Scarborough Transit Network
Councillor Josh Matlow moved to replace the SSE with the Scarborough LRT, and to redirect funding from both the Scarborough Subway tax and the Federal contribution earmarked for the SSE to the Eglinton East LRT (lost 27-16).
Councillor Gord Perks moved that work continue on design for the Scarborough LRT in parallel with work on the SSE so that comparison of the projects could be made on an equal footing with up-to-date, contemporary cost estimates (lost 27-16).
Councillor John Campbell moved that a cost estimate for a subway on the SRT alignment be prepared. See clause 3.c below. (Carried 29-14.)
3. City Council request the City Manager and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission to remove from consideration the 3-stop McCowan Scarborough Subway Extension (SSE) and continue to develop an SSE Express option, by conducting the following:
a. retaining the services of a third-party rail transit construction and cost-estimation expert to undertake a risk assessment and detailed review of the TTC’s 5 percent design cost estimates for the McCowan corridor and other possible express subway alignment options; and
b. prepare the Environmental Project Report for the SSE express subway and issue the Notice of Commencement for the Transit Project Assessment Process (TPAP) once ready to proceed.
c. preparing a cost estimate for Scarborough Subway Extension Option 2C (Express subway- SRT corridor alignment to Scarborough Centre (with partial at-grade)) that specifically reviews and assesses the current SRT surface route alignment, and which would route the subway track on surface or above ground, from a point just south of Lawrence Avenue East.
4. City Council request the City Manager and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, in partnership with Metrolinx, and in consultation with the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), to undertake further technical and planning analysis with respect to an Eglinton East LRT extension to the UTSC, including:
a. advancing the Eglinton East LRT to a minimum of 5 percent design;
b. assessing the interface at Kennedy Station of the Eglinton East LRT, Metrolinx Eglinton Crosstown project, and the preferred Scarborough Subway Extension (SSE) option as a result of the analysis requested in recommendation 3;
c. assessing the potential realignment of Military Trail through UTSC; and
d. identifying the requirements for the next phase of the Eglinton East LRT extension to Malvern.
5. City Council request the City Manager and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, in consultation with Metrolinx, to develop a business case analysis for the Scarborough Transit Network solution, and include the following components in the network scenarios:
a. Express Scarborough Subway Extension (SSE), subject to the additional analysis outlined in recommendation 3; and
b. Eglinton East LRT extension based on the additional analysis outlined in recommendation 4.
6. City Council request the Province of Ontario to confirm the timing for delivering the approved Sheppard East LRT extension, with committed funding under the Building Canada Fund and the Toronto-Metrolinx Light Rail Transit Master Agreement signed in 2012, in order to inform transit network planning and business case analysis for Scarborough’s future transit network.
Councillor Glenn DeBaeremaeker moved to protect the woodlot at the southeast corner of STC from damage by the SSE project (carried 39-4).
That City Council direct staff to rule out any further consideration of locating the work site for the Scarborough Subway Extension in the Frank Faubert Woodlot.
Relief Line
When the report was at Executive Committee, the section on the Relief Line had been amended to include a request to report on an alternative alignment roughly between Gerrard and Queen Streets via Carlaw rather than via Pape. This was part of the recommendations before Council.
Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon moved that provision for this study be deleted, and the original staff recommendation including only the Pape alignment be restored. Her motion lost on a vote of 35-8. Study of the Carlaw option will, therefore, proceed at an estimated cost of $520,000.
7. City Council approve the Pape-Eastern-Queen alignment for the Relief Line, subject to the determination of a specific alignment in Part 7b below, and authorize the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission to:
a. work in partnership with Metrolinx to confirm station locations for optimal connections between the Relief Line and SmartTrack/Regional Express Rail, including future extensions of the Relief Line; and
b. undertake an additional assessment of an alignment west of Pape Avenue, starting immediately north of the GO tracks on Pape Avenue to south of Queen Street, with a station box at Queen Street and Carlaw Avenue and:
1. prepare an Outreach Plan in consultation with the local Councillor to review these option(s) with stakeholders, including the General Manager, Economic Development and Culture, and the public, including local residents; and
2. bring back a recommendation to Council, through Executive Committee, prior to commencing the formal Transit Project Assessment Process; and
c. prepare the Environmental Project Report for the Relief Line and issue the Notice of Commencement for the Transit Project Assessment Process once ready to proceed.
8. City Council authorize the City Manager in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission to develop a Terms of Reference with the Province of Ontario and Metrolinx to advance the next phases of planning and design for the Relief Line, including extensions of the Relief Line north to Sheppard Avenue and west to the Bloor subway line.
9. City Council request the Toronto Transit Commission and the City Planning Division to assess potential impacts associated with tunnelling and station construction during the detailed design phase of the project, and identify mitigation measures for private property owners, and conduct further public consultation where impacts to residential areas are identified.
Cost Sharing & Funding
The recommendations include explicit funding for more detailed design work on the Eglinton East LRT (see clause 13 below) because this is not as far advanced as other parts of the network proposal. Eglinton West received more study up front as part of the review of SmartTrack and the decision already taken by Council to substitute it for the ST heavy rail branch westward from Mount Dennis.
10. City Council authorize the City Manager to undertake the following and report to City Council for its consideration:
a. negotiate cost sharing and intergovernmental fundings arrangements with the Province of Ontario for shared costs associated with:
1. implementing SmartTrack within the Regional Express Rail program;
2. extending an LRT along Eglinton West;
3. extending an LRT along Eglinton East;
4. operating and maintaining Metrolinx Toronto LRT projects;
5. municipal utility and infrastructure within Metrolinx-owned rail corridors; and
6. any other outstanding transit related matter.
b. review and report back on governance implications and arrangements to be put in place to effectively carry out the intergovernmental funding and cost share arrangements; and
c. negotiate and enter into a funding agreement with the Government of Canada for the federal contribution towards the incremental costs associated with implementing the SmartTrack components within the Regional Express Rail program, per recommendation 1, and the Scarborough Transit Network per recommendation 3.
11. City Council request the City Manager and the Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer to report to City Council on the funding implications to the City associated with the proposed terms of cost-sharing arrangements provided for pursuant to recommendation 10.
12. City Council authorize the City Manager to include additional planning and design work for SmartTrack, Eglinton West LRT, Scarborough Subway Extension, Eglinton East LRT and Relief Line, as part of the priority list of projects to be submitted to the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario under phase one of the Federal Public Transit Infrastructure Fund.
13. City Council approve the creation of an Eglinton East LRT capital sub-project within the Corporate Initiatives Capital Program’s Transit Expansion Initiatives project, with approval for a 2016 cash flow of $3 million and a 2017 cash flow of $4 million for a total of $7 million, for the purpose of advancing the Eglinton East LRT design work to 5 percent, fully funded from the Capital Financing Reserve Fund (XQ0011).
14. City Council request the City Manager in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B and the Deputy City Manager and Chief Financial Officer to report through the budget process on the feasibility of establishing dedicated and properly resourced functions for the coordination, analysis and implementation of the City’s multi-billion dollar transit expansion initatives.
Hope Springs Eternal
Despite the fact that three transit projects have been studied and prioritized before and never make the cut, they have local defenders: extensions east and west of the Sheppard Subway to STC and Downsview, and a western extension of the Bloor Subway to Sherway Gardens.
The motion below regarding the Sheppard East subway extension conflicts with clause 6 regarding the Sheppard East LRT.
The Sherway and Downsview extensions are already part of the set of transit proposals under review by City Planning.
In the Feeling Congested study, the Sheppard East LRT consistently ranks among the top 5 routes through a variety of evaluation filters, but the Sheppard West and Bloor extensions fall below the top 5 in all cases. (Background Materials Scroll down to “Transit Maps”)
The real question here will be whether Mayor Tory will exert the same behind-the-scenes influence to gerrymander priorities to pay off political debts incurred to achieve support of his transit plan, or if we will actually see a fair comparison of these schemes against other proposals. There is a point at which the “integrity” of the planning process and staff could become meaningless.
The following motions put the three subway proposals back on the table for another round.
Councillor Justin J. Di Ciano moved that staff include the proposed Bloor West Subway Extension to Sherway Gardens in their ongoing studies (carried 32-11).
That City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to include in the previously requested report to Executive Committee in the first quarter of 2017 on the second phase of Toronto’s long term transit network plan, a review and consideration of potential alignments and costs for an extension of the Bloor Danforth line from Kipling Avenue to Sherway Gardens.
Councillor Jim Karygiannis moved that staff include the proposed Sheppard East Subway Extension to STC in their ongoing studies (carried 24-19).
That City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to include in the previously requested report to Executive Committee in the first quarter of 2017 on the second phase of Toronto’s long term transit network plan, a review and consideration of potential alignments and costs for an extension of the Sheppard Subway east of Don Mills to join the extension of the Bloor Danforth line.
Councillor James Pasternak moved that staff include the proposed Sheppard West Subway Extension to Downsview in their ongoing studies (carried 28-15).
That City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to include in the previously requested report to Executive Committee in the first quarter of 2017 on the second phase of Toronto’s long term transit network plan, a review and consideration of the construction of a subway link between Downsview station and the Yonge and Sheppard interchange.
GO Transit
Councillor Vincent Crisanti moved that a Woodbine GO Station be studied for the KW corridor (carried 38-5). Note that this station would lie beyond the currently proposed scope of SmartTrack, but there was no discussion of examining a revised service design to extend ST service beyond Mount Dennis.
That City Council direct the City Manager and the Deputy City Manager, Cluster B to work with Metrolinx to consider further the feasibility of a Woodbine GO Station on the Kitchener GO Corridor to coincide and support potential future development in the vicinity, including development of more than 700 acres at Woodbine, and to report back to Council as appropriate, including the identification of potential contributions for a new station from private partners.
Councillor Mike Layton moved a request for GO co-fares to be extended into Toronto (carried unanimously).
That City Council direct the City Manager to negotiate a co-fare system with Metrolinx, similar to that current in place for other GTA municipalities, for existing GO Transit routes currently operating in Toronto.
Councillor Ana Bailão moved that staff report on a potential connection from the proposed new station on the Barrie GO corridor at Bloor Street to Lansdowne subway station (carried 41-2).
That City Council request the City Manager and the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to report to the Executive Committee in the fourth quarter of 2016 on the financial and logistical conditions imposed by Metrolinx that the City “provide accessible, weather-protected, pedestrian connection to Lansdowne Subway Station” and on the potential solutions to finance the investment needed to make this connection, as outlined in the City’s Official Plan.
Councillor Ana Bailão moved that staff report on potential changes to regulations governing trains to reduce the noise from GO services (carried 41-2).
That City Council direct the City Manager to initiate discussions with Metrolinx and Transport Canada to identify best practices and possible solutions that avoids the use of train bells and/or whistles for trains entering and exiting passenger rail stations, and to provide a progress report to the Executive Committee by the end of 2016 on the status of those discussions and to include any steps or legislative requests which City Council can take in order to eliminate the use of bells and/or whistles at existing GO Train stations.
Vote on the Item as Amended
- SmartTrack:
- Clauses 1.a and 2 carried unanimously.
- Clause 1.b carried 42-1.
- Scarborough Network:
- Clause 3 carried 28-15.
- Clause 4 carried unanimously.
- Clause 5 carried 36-7.
- All remaining clauses carried 41-2.
This is by no means the end of debate as many more reports will be required with further details on project options, cost estimates and funding schemes.
Steve Munro 
John Tory is a consensus-maker, a very successful and agreeable young man (part of that new generation which can see beyond the Scarborough-Downtown divide) and council would have sided with him no matter how good or bad his plan. On the other hand, Rob Ford was very controversial and council would have opposed him no matter how good or bad his plan. I am glad though that the council took the right decision and I look forward to voting for Mr Tory yet again.
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The thing is: when will the talking end?…..
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All of this is well IF they can find a big enough pot of gold to fund everything- NOT!
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It’s interesting to see that many of the “For” votes for this motion come pretty much from the suburban councillors, even those nowhere near the actual location of the proposed subway, which would take riders to the farthest, westest end of Etobicoke. I guess they’ve just drunk the koolaid of “subways, subways, subways!” and want to slap down some heavy rail transit anywhere they can while the issue of spending money is on the table.
Steve: Back scratching. Studies are cheap, and everyone votes for everybody else’s project.
Justin happens to be my Councillor and he is definitely a “suburban” councillor, who I think may have been inspired by the former Mayor’s transit pronouncements and undertakings, whether or not they make any real sense or whether there is actual money to pay for things. I didn’t bother sending any correspondence to him regarding this issue, as I knew in advance what his point of view would be.
Never mind that a good chunk of the people from Etobicoke and Mississauga who DO go to Sherway Gardens Mall do so by car – to such an extent that the mall management built additional parking facilities during the recent and ongoing redevelopment.
Never mind that you currently have 3 – yes 3 – options to get there by TTC (mind you, that’s on a fourth-class bus system that *won’t* whooooosh you to Sherway-spending-Nirvana like a subway would!):
– 15 Evans from Royal York Station – comfortable ride to the south end of the mall;
– 123 Shorncliffe from Kipling Station – which also gives you access to the large Walmart Plaza and the shops in the new development cross the street from it along North Queen St.; and
– 80 Queensway from Keele Station – OK, some buses seem to go missing, but it’s the most direct east-west route from the west end of Toronto proper.
Never mind that, given the amount of transit backlog on the books and the lack of Council will to increase taxes to the extent they need to be increased to fund (with the Province and the Feds) *existing* transit adequately, this Sherway Gardens Mall pet transit project won’t come into existence until 2071, when Justin’s great-grandson can cut the ribbon to start the digging….
I give up on any sensible discussions taking place from City Council regarding transit in this city. Councillors seem willing to spend all the (non-existent) tax money they feel they need to make sure they get re-elected and look like they’re doing something for their constituents while ignoring or bad-mouthing the “experts” – actual city (planning) staff. It reminds me of Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss who goes along, blissfully unaware of the chaos he is causing to his own staff while believing he is doing a great job. Or Wally, who drinks his coffee and gets his way while avoiding any real work.
Steve: Despite the fine talk that “we’re planning a network”, the whole pork-barrel, gravy-train attitude that “my” project has to be on the list (even when it has already been studied and ranked lower priority) never dies. The Mayor offers no leadership on this because he wants all those votes to support his own projects.
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I used to wonder if Rob Ford had ever visited a city with a successful LRT network. There are plenty from which to choose. Now we have John Tory playing the rube in the Fordian tradition; inventing false arguments against the Scarborough LRT advocates. It’s very disappointing for voters who expected some kind of new era from Mr Tory; memorized dogma as a substitute for brains.
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I’m not sure I completely understand what happened. Did they actually decide anything or did they simply defer all the major decisions and put everything back out for further study? It seems like they had a major transit debate with nothing decided, meaning nothing will get built.
Steve: They decided to embrace the one-stop version of the subway, and approved money for further study on Eglinton East. Beyond that, there’s more study and the need for a financial proposal in the fall to pay for it all. That’s when things get messy. Either they have to embrace major new sources of revenue, or they have to pick which projects will actually be built.
This is a pretty weak game by John Tory and the Toronto Council. I’m getting a Dalton McGuinty vibe of making promises, never finding the funding, and studying things until they die. I suspect that the province will be pissed because the regional and political priority after RER is the DRL, and Toronto isn’t showing any willingness to pony up any cash for the DRL beyond a never-ending string of studies. If the province doesn’t have a municipal partner willing to take transit issues seriously, it will just do whatever it needs to do to ensure the regional priorities get built on time. The province needs the YUS to go to Richmond Hill, and that requires the DRL be done first. My expectation is that the province will withhold funding from any of the new LRT lines, make the City pay a fortune for SmartTrack, and bank those funds for a future DRL.
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Are there any further roadblocks to the Scarborough subway? I know that Josh Matlow will keep introducing motions to derail it but are there any realistic roadblocks left?
Steve: It is unlikely after yesterday’s vote that anyone will mount an attempt to stop the subway project unless its cost unexpectedly balloons to a huge value.
When can we expect construction to start and is it fully funded? How much money has already been spent on the subway? The more money has been spent, the more difficult it would be to stop it.
Steve: Construction will not start for a few years yet as the design is not far enough advanced. Also, if the TTC is forced to go the route of a PPP/AFP, you can add close to a year because all of the project management has to be built into the contract. To date, my understanding from a similar question asked at a recent meeting, is that the spending to date on the subway is roughly equal to what had been spent on the LRT.
Also the money that was lost on contracts upon cancelling the LRT would still be lost even if we went back to LRT which was a bad idea from the beginning and thankfully defeated. LRT proponents keep saying that an LRT network in Scarborough would serve more people for cheaper but they are only interested in the ‘cheaper’ part and NOT interested in serving more people part as if you ask those people in Scarborough, most of them would pick a subway over LRT as it’s a no brainer.
The only person in Scarborough that opposes the Scarborough subway is Councillor Paul Ainslie and the only person from Downtown who supports the Scarborough subway is Mayor John Tory who should be made an honorary citizen of Scarborough and given the keys to Scarborough Town Centre.
Steve: Actually that’s an insulting misrepresentation of my position and that of many people who support the LRT scheme. If you want to talk “better” vs “worse”, talk about travel times, talk about access to stations, talk about economic development, but don’t claim that your opponents (a) are only downtown and (b) are too “cheap” to pay for what you want.
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And if Rob Ford had not killed Transit City, the Sheppard East LRT would have opened in September 2015 and be providing service today.
LRT = Cheap and quick to build.
Subway = Expensive and takes a long, long time to build.
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Why can’t we just remove transit from City Politics? Hand it all over to Metrolinx, or have third party engineering firms determine what we need and have council just determine funding.
Steve: If you have ever watched Metrolinx up close, you would know (a) that any significant decisions they take are made by politicians at Queen’s Park, (b) that they are completely unaccountable and (c) that the actual Metrolinx Board has only a passing acquaintance with the system they are supposed to run.
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The SRT infrastructure (stations, the EL through STC, etc) is still in very good shape. It’s only 30 years old, after all, but here we are, about to tear it all down and demolish it. What absolute foolishness. Only in Toronto (er, Scarborough)…
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I am mega-disappointed that council never considered a study on the feasibility of the proposed Bolton-Finch West-Pearson airport LRT. They approved every transit idea on the table! Of course, Peel Region and York Region must be “on board” as well.
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I was wondering, if the one-stop Scarborough subway is built, why tear down the current SRT infrastructure and not use it but just dump the “rail” technology.
Could it be converted to a Bus Rapid Transit line?
In effect, strip out the rails and equipment and instead pave the thing, but keep all the stations and elevated portions and tunnels. I assume that articulated buses could handle the curves… use hybrid buses or even trolley buses.
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How can city council expect there to be “studies” for a Sherway extension of Line 2 and a western extension of Line 4, if that requires actual humans to do the studies? With the budget cuts demands, that means attrition of personnel and no new staff. Four years of budget cuts under Ford and an additional two (or more) under Tory, means the “studies” will just sit on a shelf someplace and nothing will happen.
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Finally!!!
Now we can stop fighting from within, move forward to improve the SSE & put an end to the divisive polarizing fighting over Scarborough transit and start having the real difficult debates about a funding plan.which should have been the topic decades ago.
Solid plan tabled by Keesamat & Tory. And the “one-stop” will be dead and improved soon enough. The Eglinton LRT extension to UTSC will be great once funding is found either via a more efficient subway design or working with the Feds and the Province come campaign time. Unfortunately Sheppard & Malvern (extension from UTSC) will possibly see lengthy studies and debates. But the saving grace will be the upcoming bi-election will likely buy them time as the pressure will be on for a Sheppard extension of the SSE.
The DRL fighters will now have to stop trying to fight against areas within the City for funding and push for funding from other Government levels and create the taxes required locally to sustain all projects. Now that we don’t have to hear about how great LRT’s are every week this will surely become a main headline. I cant wait for the day when a funding model is in place for this line so we can all grow together.
Surely the plan is not perfect. But aside from gaining the required funds and fine tuning the details its not worth fighting against any longer.
Time to shut up and pay up & build this great City.
Steve: All of what you and John Tory wanted to achieve could have been done without the ongoing insults against those of us who favour LRT. Bluntly, you are as full of shit on LRT critiques as you think we are when talking about subways. You said “Now we can stop fighting from within”, and yet your attitude shows that you are not willing to do just that.
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I imagine this is being looked at. Not sure if possible to use the same platform. In any event the Scarborough-Durham BRT is going to be re-jigged to help with Centennial college and provide an East-West link from the SCC subway station.
Steve: I know that Glenn DeBaeremaeker has also talked about converting the guideway to a walkway as an elevated park.
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See, Joe, that’s been a big problem all along. The politicians – Rob Ford, Glenn DeBaeremaeker, Brad Duguid, John Tory – haven’t concerned themselves with the actual funding. You see, somehow, from somewhere, the money will just magically appear because their idea was “brilliant” and just worth it. I mean, the Feds and the Province would be idiots not to go along with that.
Which is why other councillors are discussing extending the Sheppard subway line eastward or westward – as a subway, not LRT, even though the current Sheppard subway is so underused it’s actually being subsidized by other parts of the system – or pushing the Bloor line westward from Kipling Station to Sherway Gardens Mall. Because drawing lines on maps and promising your constituents the moon for nothing is easy to do.
Each of the councillors who has proposed the Scarborough Subway Extension and these other fantasy lines should have to explain where the money is going to come from. Because apparently we don’t have enough money to increase service on the existing bus and streetcar lines – vehicle supply issues notwithstanding. Do they have a firm commitment from the Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities or the Provincial Minister of Transportation or Minister of Infrastructure?
Council this year – and in previous years – has told City Departments they must cut 5 to 10% of their yearly budgets to deal with a lack of funds in the City coffers. Meanwhile, no problem to spend $3 Billion for one subway stop to calm folks in Scarborough.
I spent my first working year in this city in 1997, after having moved from Peterborough with its quaint 12 bus routes, walking up and down staircases and escalators at Dundas West Station, St. George Station and Downsview Station to get to and from streetcars, subways and buses because that’s what I needed to do. That’s what happens when you have underground and above-ground transportation systems as part of your daily commute. Meanwhile, there are people in the outer reaches of Scarborough – like there are in North Etobicoke’s Rexdale neighbourhood – who will not have any LRT transit, roomier than the packed, backed-up buses they deal with daily. And they will still be there, on those buses, years from now because Scarborough Town Centre “needs” a subway stop.
Can’t wait to see the number of passengers once it’s open.
Steve: Actually the passenger count will be decent considering that it will be fed by a 32-bay bus terminal. It is ironic that Tory’s SmartTrack was supposed to be all about getting people quickly to downtown, but the SSE will do that job on a larger scale. Meanwhile, folks who just want to travel around Scarborough will be treated as second class by a network and service focussed on getting to STC.
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1) Why not save our tax money by running the subway under Midland Avenue? It’s shorter!
2) Is SmartTrack at 7 trains per hour adequate to replace the SRT at Lawrence (40 buses per hour)?
3) After spending over $4 billion, is there equitable TTC service north of the 401 in Scarborough?
4) Will the surface Crosstown LRT on Eglinton East cause traffic jams on Eglinton, Lawrence and St. Clair, killing any invitation for economic development?
Steve: A Midland alignment is still under consideration as an alternative to McCowan because of engineering challenges there. Brimley also.
As for Lawrence Station and service north of the 401, you will have to take this up with the Mayor and the Scarborough caucus whose plans are obviously carefully considered with everyone’s best interests at heart. At least Jim Karygiannis wants to give you a subway extension east from Don Mills.
The situation on Eglinton depends on how much capacity, if any, is permanently removed from the street by the completed LRT right-of-way. With billions sloshing around, I find it hard to believe that the road could not be widened where needed to fix this.
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Actually, it should have opened sometime in 2014, and even this report pegs the completion of the project at the “Fall 2012”. Though, with the usual delays that seem to occur, Kevin’s opening of 2015 would likely have been most accurate.
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In my last comment, the “Fall 2012” date was for the underpass at the Agincourt GO station. Remarkably, the underpass opened on July 3, 2012.
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It is a shame that more details were not provided during the discussion. It was overly simplified to subway vs. streetcar. No attempt was made to educate and understand what a true LRT system would look like. Until the public understands terms such as “grade separated”, “right of way” or “signal priority”, it was always an uphill fight. Most regular working people and students do not pay close attention to transit issues, they just wonder when (and if) their bus, streetcar or subway comes in the morning. I’m certain many residents (and probably some less bright politicians) thought this was strictly a streetcar vs. subway issue. And that’s a shame.
Something else was brought up this week – but not brought up yesterday – that should have a significant impact on transit. For the past week, Tory visited the Editorial Boards of the Star and Sun and confirmed that “revenue tools” will be in place by the end of the year. I am paraphrasing but he essentially said it absolutely will happen. Steve – your position is well known on revenue streams through your blog, but now that the transit plans have essentially been “finalized”, have you changed your mind on any of them?
Personally, I would like to see a 0.5% sales tax that would go to a dedicated Transit fund. I think people wouldn’t mind kicking in a nickel for every $10 dollars spent if they could see it and touch it in a separate account – vs. being mixed in with general revenues. With interest rates at historic lows, you could certainly borrow now at these low rates and get started with the funding of these projects. I would also have no problem with road tolls, but feel that should only happen after these major transit projects have been completed and are fully operational.
Steve: The “revenue tools” report is expected back from the City Manager in the fall together with a financing plan for the rapid transit projects. My gut feeling is that any new tax that does not bring in at least $100m/year is not worth the effort. Tory’s planned addition to the property tax is only half a percent, and that’s worth roughly $13m annually. That gives some feeling for the scale of revenue we need.
A related question is the funding of TTC operations which face considerable cutbacks in 2017 thanks to the attempt to keep property tax increases down. There is a split between the view of big capital projects as if money will just fall from the sky, and day-to-day operations that go begging.
Specifically the sales tax has challenges because it requires enabling provincial legislation, and I don’t see that happening quickly. Queen’s Park probably does not want to be seen as participating in a “tax grab” going into the 2018 election.
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@”Dick”
Your writing style is very similar to someone who frequently sends me unsolicited emails. I was surprised to not receive any today and look forward to receiving more of that delicate prose again in the future.
To this, I would propose that you are the only person who is still willing to trot the ‘unanimous Scarborough’ line. Even John Tory let that imagined talking point drop yesterday.
Unfortunately, the majority of our City Council only understands transportation from behind the steering wheel. At very least they vote that way. It was only after seeing Councillor Holland’s second presentation about parking lots that I finally clued into the “eliminate the transfer argument”: for the minority of people who drive to transit, the parking lot at Scarborough Town Centre is inconveniently an additional transfer away from downtown.
One unexpected consequence of this round of the “Scarborough subway debate” was that there was an increase in volume of the voices of transit riders in Scarborough, by which I mean the majority who take a bus from their house. I look forward to hearing that volume rise once again when yesterday’s promises are whittled back by a Council that’s quick to promise but loathe to pay for the needs of actual transit riders.
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Steve, I have to say thanks for all your hard work and advocacy on this issue. Watching this unfold is a good reminder that in a democracy, the fight is never really over. The system is built on advocacy and contention – dialectics, if you want to get philosophical. Unfortunately this also means one doesn’t always get one’s way. I admire your tenacity for continuing to work as an advocate and fighting for this issue over so many years in spite of your often being in the minority position, and also having to put up with the trolls that (especially of late) seem to follow your blog just to post insults, taunts and “gotcha” comments.
It’s sad (or just politics, I guess depending on your perspective) that city council including Tory continue to use the inferiority complex of many in Scarborough as a thinly veiled means of vote-buying. Feel bad that your “town center” is a sad mall rather than Canada’s most productive/successful economic urban core (i.e. downtown TO) ? A subway is the sure ticket to make you feel better ! Never mind that the city’s finances will be hamstrung by the exorbitant cost, and that we could have spent the money on fixing all the other infrastructure problems, or on cheaper transit lines that would have done the job better – at least we won’t have transit envy anymore! Or at least we won’t until we realize that having only one stop is a pointless waste of money and start rattling our sabres for more …
Not to make a mountain out of a molehill (as building a subway stop in Scarborough really isn’t on the same scale) but this vote has echoes of the Trump supporters down south or recent Brexit referendum result. Basically disenfranchised people supporting an option that is popular and seductive but fundamentally against their own (and really all of society’s) interest. I get the sense reading some of the recent comments here, on Twitter etc and in the council debate that there is a phalanx of people who just want to be stick it to someone else – the ephemeral “downtowners” or “liberals” who are apparently screwing them over – and feel entitled to because their part of town isn’t what they hope/wish it could be. In the end they (and the rest of us) will now be paying a lot of money for a big expensive hole in the ground with little benefit, so I hope it makes them feel better.
For those lauding Tory’s performance in this debacle – the man is a not a good politician. A good lawyer, and a mediocre politician who is at least better than RoFo yes (not saying much, you just have to not be a drug addict), but not a good or great one. He may have twisted arms to get this through but this will be remembered as a Fordian debacle, not a great historical moment. Look at his previous political “triumphs” – losing a mayoral election because he was pushing another crappy infrastructure idea (Toronto island airport bridge), winning PC leadership but then failing to win a seat as an MPP, winning for mayor against a weak slate of opposing candidates using another crappy infrastructure idea (the “SmartTrack” smoke and mirrors that he now can’t pay for because he’s blowing the money he has on this SSE nonsense) and finally railroading this gravy train through while claiming to be a “fiscal conservative.” If he was a true fiscal conservative he’d be cutting taxes and fat, not pounding on the lard.
I guess the next step is to wait for the other shoe to drop when the bill comes due and hope the continually rising cost of the SSE ultimately torpedoes it.
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We can keep this off record if you prefer as I truly want to offend you.
I get you don’t understand and never will. I’m just glad the all LRT plan has been modified leaving only the great parts moving forward. I whole heatedly disagree on how Scarborough should be integrated, how they have been treated & also believe there is a major disconnect between the areas and one are has a media voice and the other doesn’t. The insults have been flung both ways, and polarizing Politics as brought out the worst. No point explaining much more as it’s already been said & you either agree, disagree or see the benefit in a compromise. The difference is what is “fair” to you is different to me. It will always be that way. That’s what makes a City and that’s a reflection of our politics. 50 years from now it won’t be like this if we get it half right. And yesterdays vote may have ensured we at least get it half right where both sides are neither fully satisfied to dissatisfied.
Steve: I do understand, I just don’t agree. That position does not justify trying to offend me, although I have banned your posts on and off in the past for just that problem. If you want to debate issues, fine. If you just want to insult people and pull the “oh poor Scarborough” routine, find somewhere else. That dog won’t hunt.
I’m sorry if my post offended you. That’s just truly how I feel. And I’m not alone out here as you aren’t with you LRT preference.
Steve: There are a lot of people “out here” in Scarborough who are pro-LRT. You just don’t want to accept the possibility.
I can’t speak for Tory himself, but I feel as though he has been under attack recently for not complying with certain transit preference. He has likely said things which could have been worded much better but he was basically saying. “Please stop the never ending debate, were hopefully moving on”. It just came out more bluntly out of frustration. I could only imagine how frustrating it is to try to attempt to appease both sides in this City.
Steve: When you publish an op-ed in the Star accusing subway critics, in effect, of having racist motives, that crosses a line. It alleges a very base motive for pro-LRT arguments that is simply not true, but moreso is slanderous. An op-ed is not something thrown out in the heat of debate. It was written. Somebody edited it. Somebody cleared it for publication.
When Glenn DeBaeremaeker talks about a “wall of hate” around Scarborough, that is a fantasy in his own mind, someone so desperate to rouse his voters against “downtowners”, he doesn’t care about the imagery.
Lines like that (and others from the past year’s “debate”) give the impression that subway advocates cannot make a reasoned case for their scheme and must resort to insult and incitement of their constituents. I know that Scarborough is better than that, but not from the way most of their “representative” behave.
Thanks again.
Steve: You’re welcome.
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How feasible would it be to consider building the Scarborough subway extension by cut-and-cover? I’d imagine it would save quite a bit on construction cost, but I don’t know if it could work politically.
Steve: A piece of cake to go cut and cover technically, an impossibility politically.
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I have followed the issue for many years, and I appreciate Steve Munro’s dedication to transit issues.
The political discussions have been very problematic, and have been the biggest obstacle in getting things done. I would prefer that we look at the planning and avoid any of the negative feedback that people have been making.
I appreciated the value of the Transit City network plan that David Miller put together (even if I was not generally a Miller supporter), and his success in obtaining a provincial commitment to fund the plan was impressive.
However the Rob Ford intervention disrupted the plan. When council reinstated the Transit City plan, there was only a few years’ timing loss and a few tens of million dollars of added costs. But then the council flipped back to the subway plan, instead of the Scarborough LRT, in 2013. The province ensured the result was confirmed by council, so that they could finalize the PSOS for the Eglinton Crosstown AFP contract award. That put the Scarborough LRT project in the grave.
To try to resurrect it now would cost a huge amount of money and time, and there is little way to accurately forecast the costs of re-opening an awarded AFP contract.
I supported the Scarborough LRT project years ago, but today I would say that we should build the subway extension. We need transit, not political debates. That is my view only, and hope it does not offend anyone.
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Any idea why journalists don’t seem to ask the right questions? One of John Tory’s biggest arguments for the Scarborough Subway was to avoid delay and unnecessariy reopening transit decisions; yet he’s setting the stage for the Sheppard LRT to be reopened again.
Did any journalist manage to point out John Tory’s hypocrisy to himself? I haven’t seen this in the media. Journalists are good at asking tough questions sometimes, but they always seem to miss that target where it would hurt most.
It doesn’t take more than a minute to realise the hypocrisy.
Steve: Many of the regular City Hall journalists know that Tory is a hypocrite (and worse), but you can only write that story so many times.
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@demosthenesmd @ShaunCleaver @Steve – There is nothing about Scarborough that would make a subway inherently more expensive than if it were built elsewhere and in fact any new subway in Downtown has to be deeper due to skyscrapers with very deep foundations which makes building any new subways inherently more expensive in Downtown. The DRL cost just more than doubled and just wait till it’s too expensive to build or something is built with very few stations. And you guys are contradicting yourself for on the one hand you are saying that the SSE is too expensive and on the other hand you are hoping for the cost to rise even further. I hope that any new cost increases come after construction has begun much like the York University subway so that those of you hoping for a cost increase get your wish and those of us in Scarborough get our wish of a subway.
Steve: Actually a problem in Scarborough is that the terrain is such that it has to go deeper too. That’s why the big recent cost increase. STC station is projected to be among the deepest on the system.
As for DRL vs SSE: I really am tired of the artificial “fight” between these two lines. The DRL is desperately needed to relieve congestion on the Yonge subway. The SSE is desperately needed to relieve the political mess that its advocates have created. I am not going to rehash the arguments.
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Since the introduction of the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown (the connected SRT and ECLRT), people realized that there was a better option than the Transit City version of SLRT. Sadly, that was defeated for political reasons – they didn’t like the messenger. The “connect Scarborough” options continued to get worse, but they continued to adapt the proposal until they received the necessary support. The LRT supporters refused to budge. In the end, it is the failure of the LRT supporters to adapt that lead to the subway.
Steve: You just keep believing that. It was Rob Ford’s populist, vote buying claims that people could have free subways, coupled with Karen Stintz’ mayoral ambitions that lead to the subway option.
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What are the chances of the relief line going down Carlaw Ave. Vs. Pape Ave after the report has been completed? I thought all alignments have been reviewed and final recommendation has been presented to council?
Steve: I suspect the Carlaw option will not win out, but for political reasons the study of that alternative is still alive. TTC did themselves no favours by their insensitivity to problems on Pape north of Queen. There might be a fix (a two-level tunnel and station), or maybe the station has to move.
The Carlaw alignment is tricky because it would require an “S” curve to get the line from Pape north of the rail corridor over to Carlaw, and there isn’t room in the middle of that curve for a “Gerrard” station.
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This is very unlikely to happen. Whether intentional or unintentional Tory and Keesmat set the bar so low for the SSE design changing it to only one stop, due to the excessive underground tunneling costs on that Corridor. It can only get “optimized” from here. Which was motioned by council to explore the subway alternatives by a 3rd party.
Whether they choose Midland or the current RT route it will be shorter. If the can elevate large portions it will become even cheaper, and if they can add a stop at Lawrence & possibly Sheppard with the savings as it now also become more attractive again.
Even I never say never… But I believe that the odds of derailing this project are extremely low after Wednesday’s vote.
Steve: What really annoys me was the whole way this process worked out. If they really had their hearts set on a subway, they should have stuck with going to Sheppard, kept Lawrence East Station, and for the McCowan alignment included a stop at Brimley/Eglinton/Danforth. It would have cost more but it would have been a better subway line. (Alternatively go up Midland or Brimley.) Lawrence East SmartTrack station would be unnecessary, and indeed, ST as part of the south-of-401 Scarborough network could almost disappear. By claiming in January that the one-stop SSE and Eglinton East LRT could be built for roughly the same cost, Tory and company set up an inevitable conflict when the true subway cost began to emerge (and it is simply not credible that they didn’t have a good idea in January what it might be). Those who supported the “compromise” scheme in January felt shafted in June when funding thought to be available for the Crosstown East LRT was soaked up by the subway project.
It would have been better to propose a good subway, if that’s what was the goal, than a plan that preserves a subway just for the sake of having one, but does not serve Scarborough as well, especially if the LRT extension falls off of the table.
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So this new Sheppard to STC plan they’re studying, it’d be express like the SSE, right? Not enough local demand to serve…
Steve: There is local demand, but subway stations are too expensive to serve it.
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Steve wrote: “The DRL is desperately needed to relieve congestion on the Yonge subway.”
Except that it s a testement to the incompetence of politicians and bureaucrats that this line was a priority, then for 20 years was pushed way down the list in favour of things like an extension to Vaughan, and then now is at the top of the list again when Let’s Move and transit City etc. excluded it.
And the DRL is insanely expensive because it runs so far to the east and will have to tunnel under the Don River, and will likely be an underground heavy rail system instead of being LRT technology like the Crosstown.
We just finished building the Pan Am Games Village and having to do a lot of work in that area, and the DRL will run under there in its currently alignment – probably if it had been staged there before construction we could have saved money.
If relieving Yonge is such a priority then run an LRT from Broadview or Castle Frank down the Don Valley – keep it mostly above ground to save money, then run it under Queen to use the existing station… or run one underground from Castle Frank then under Jarvis to Queen. A Subway through Riverdale is just as insane as a Subway under residential sections of McCowan.
The real problem though is that this city has been growing faster than ever anticipated since 1990… all of the problems we face of congestion, low wages, child poverty andhigh housing prices are due to population growth… reduce the rate of growth and these problems become manageable.
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With it seemingly clear that ‘savings’ from a different subway alignment won’t likely be enough to close the gap and fit both the Line 2 extension and Eglinton East LRT within the original funding envelope (whatever they’ve escalated it to), it looks like they’ll need some Federal $$ to plug the hole.
If that’s the case, do you think we’ll see logic prevail, and someone at the City/TTC say: “Well look, we shortened the Malvern LRT only because we wanted to fit it within an existing pot of money. If that artificial cost cap hadn’t been there, what would we want to build – the whole Malvern LRT. So if we’re going to put this forward for funding, lets put the original project back on the table.”
Am I being optimist that this is what will be done?
Steve: The situation at Council these days defies logic. Until they have to stare into the abyss of actually paying for all of this, we will not know if they have the will to actually build anything beyond the SSE. That project will survive no matter what simply because so many pols (city and province) have a vast amount of ego and reputation invested in the premise that “Scarborough needs a subway” and cannot back down.
As for Queen’s Park, don’t hold your breath for any policy changes until and if the Liberals are re-elected. All bets would be off in a Tory government, and the NDP transit policy, to the extent that it matters, has included the “me too” attitude about plans for Scarborough.
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But why? Cut and cover on a sleepy street like Midland would do no great harm to traffic in that part of Scarborough (lots of other N-S alternates). Sure, some area residents would complain about the noise and disruption, but so what? You want a subway? Fine, but be prepared for years-long construction. If we could build cut and cover on a packed downtown street like Yonge back in the day, doing so on Midland should be a no-brainer.
Steve: The people on Midland are not the people who would benefit from a subway to STC, and there’e nothing in it for them. Yonge, by contrast, was clearly an improvement for the corridor, and that area was overwhelmingly commercial, not residential.
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It’s a nice idea, but I cannot see how converting the SRT route to a BRT service would be viable. In a world where we’re scrambling to find money for the projects already planned, you would need to spend millions of dollars on converting the trackbed and platforms, building bus access, and refurbishing the elevated structures, not to mention the ongoing operational cost of staffing and maintaining five SRT stations, including an STC station with a massive bus terminal which would no longer be in use (though you could maybe link McCowan station with the new subway station).
And since STC and McCowan will be served by the new subway station, and Midland and Ellesmere are both very low use right now, you may as well just do this between Lawrence East and Kennedy, since our planning for Scarborough seems to assume that people only really want to go downtown anyway.
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I am shocked and appalled that once again the consideration of Swan Boats along the Rouge as a fast way to travel in east Scarborough has been ignored as a viable alternative to…well…all the other crappy ideas….
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(Emphasis mine.)
How dare you lump swan boats in with “crappy ideas?!” Swan boats are obviously far superior, requiring literally billions of dollars less to deploy!
OOH! I’ve got it! We get *Disney* to build the SSE! Half-flood the tunnels, install AV and animatronics and fill it full of swan boats! They’d make their investment back from the concessions alone in less than a decade, all they have to do is remit one fare per customer to the TTC, and the TTC doesn’t have to do anything!
It’s perfect!
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$3 billion is a lot of money to make the people of Scarborough feel they are loved and not being ignored.
There are 625,000 people in Scarborough. Do the math and it is $4,800 per person for the construction cost of the subway.
$4800 will buy a motorcycle, moped, Vespa, or a horse, actually, horses are a lot cheaper than that.
So I propose we cancel the subway extension and buy everyone in Scarborough a PONY.
You get a pony, and you get a pony, and you get a pony! You all get free ponies! Just like Oprah… we could pay her to come and do it personally with some of that $3 Billion.
Or, we could buy cars for the people of Scarborough. A Nissan Micra is $10,000, so we are talking one car for every two people, and the typical household size is more than 2.0.
We can buy every household in Scarborough a car…. no air conditioning however.
Steve: I see like all good transit plans, your proposal is all capital and no operating dollars. Who will feed the ponies? Will we have abandoned ponies roaming the streets, colonizing Rouge Park, eating their way through every garden east of Victoria Park? Have you no sympathy for these poor beasts? Never mind the need for new, er, facilities in the, er, garages/stables at every high rise.
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Actually, the pot of gold is right there in the form of a tax on commercial parking spaces. A $3 tax per day would bring in $1 billion a year. And the City has the legal means to enact it.
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I’m happy for that. “Joe M” posts elsewhere under a different name and he’s very insufferable when the more unhinged “woe is Scarborough” threads get started thanks to more hands off moderation.
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