City
Toronto councillors set to unveil massive transit plan
Remember when the mere thought of Toronto building a Downtown Relief Line was dismissed as wildly ambitious thinking? Well, it's probably time to put that talk to rest as Councillors Karen Stintz and Glenn DeBaeremaeker, who serve as chair and vice-chair of the TTC respectively, have put forward a $30 billion proposal that would completely transform transit in Toronto over the next 30 years.
The Star's Royson James, who has the lowdown on what they're calling OneCity, rightly points out that the tax-based funding strategy will be the subject of intense debate when the idea first goes to city council in July, but the possibility of six new subway lines is nothing if not tantalizing.
Is this city finally thinking big about transit? We're about to find out. Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong has already characterized OneCity as a "massive tax attack," but you can bet that other councillors won't view the almost two per cent annual property tax hike as an outlandish sum — especially given that the plan would directly benefit many wards that are currently underserved.
There are, however, a ton of hurdles that will need to be passed in order for the plan to come to fruition. Forgetting the opposition it's sure to receive from Mayor Ford, two thirds of the projected funding is slated to come from the provincial and federal governments. The city would also have to campaign the province to alter property tax laws so as to profit from the assessment process. That's a more likely prospect than cash from other levels of government, but still not a guarantee.
Nevertheless, this is precisely the type of grand vision that many transit observers believe Toronto needs to combat gridlock over the next 20 to 30 years. Ford has said repeatedly that Torontonians want subways, and now we appear set to find out if they're willing to pay for them too. Get ready for some fireworks.
The Star has released some details from the plan — which includes a DRL-style line, extension of the Yonge subway line to Steeles and the Bloor-Danforth line to Scarborough Town Centre, and a connecting subway between Downsview and Sheppard — but we'll give a full rundown of what OneCity entails when the proposal is unveiled tomorrow.
In the meantime, what do you think? Is this a step in the right direction or just wishful thinking?
Photo by Scott Snider
Discussion
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I won't hold my breath.
I sincerely hope this comes through - the DRL is needed in the old city, in the burbs, and for the sake of the overcrowding on the Yonge line that is beginning to look like the London Underground and Paris Metro in terms of congestion. The business case makes sense, unlike Sheppard and Eglinton, and the densities are there.
Suddenly they have the money?
Instead of just being against anything ford says, why did they not present a similar plan to council back when they were bickering about transit city? Instead they wanted to be the heroes and be the saviours of the city.
If anything is going to happen everyone needs to put the partisan BS aside and yes... have an adult discussion. The Ford need to be open, and the lefties need to find ways to try and make this financially realistic.
I wouldn't mind tax hikes for a real transit project. Transit City is a band aid solution that will be ready for an overhaul before its even finished
I've always been pro-LRT, but I'm also fine with subways on sensible routes if the money is there. This plan at least goes for it all - LRT, streetcar, BRT, subway, some sort of GO-hybrid - and has some sense to where subways go (east side relief, Downsview-Yonge) and where LRT should go (Eglinton to Pearson to Finch, to the Zoo, etc.) If that everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach is what it takes to loose the purse strings and get this done, I'm all for it.
Stinz for Mayor.
Just a side note: TTC is losing millions per year due to fare evaders. I have a bus driver friend who is a friggen "fare nazi" and gets everyone to pay their fare. People throwing in $0.17, adults using student tickets, teens using children tickets, old transfers, trespassers (i.e. Ossington station). Make em all pay.
When new payment systems (a la Presto) are widely available, it will just make the thievery worse.
Yup, I'll be dead.
Toronto: worst achievement of potential ever.
Toss it in the pile with Transit City, Network 2011, and all the other unrealized transit plans.
Just add a 2% property tax increase dedicated to transit, and be done with it.
easily done old chap.
The TTC is simply too limited in scope and efficiency.
Just talking south/west downtown alone, King St east of Dufferin + Liberty Village automatically add tens of thousands new residents. And there are more coming. The pokey old streetcars cannot keep up, and our rinky-dink subway system absolutely needs to expand in order to accommodate new riders.
There is no choice - otherwise getting around this city (already an exercise in total frustration) is going to be near impossible. At some point a massive overhaul needs to happen, so it might as well be now. It's already a bit too late, if you ask me.
- Why is the Yonge extension only to Steeles and not Hwy 7?
- The Express lines are good, but should be operated by GO, not the TTC
- Why are we cutting off future subway expansion between the edges of the subway network by building LRT on Don Mills & Sheppard East?
- Why do we need to wait for BRT? Make the right lane of the streets a bus lane = instant BRT
- Someone tell me why we need an LRT to the Zoo again?
Overall, this won't do too much for traffic congestion in the GTA, which is mainly due to heavy regional crosstown traffic - Downtown is served relatively well, while the fringes suffer from uncompetitive, slow services.
Is there any indication that the Etobicoke Express line and GO Stouffville lines wouldn't in fact be run by GO?
Fair point about the Sheppard LRT and BRT, but if we're building anything east of Malvern up there, why not extended it to the zoo, because that's a destination right there, instead of making people transfer?
Sorry, but the people bringing forward this plan were the ones saying just a few months back saying there was no money for subways in scarborough and that the revived Transit City would meet the needs of the city for decades to come... Now, just a few months later, they propose a new plan for many new lines... but still no subways for Scarborough... Sorry, but this is about the downtown elite with a few suburban allies re-asserting their power.
That's about the only part of Scarborough that warrants one. Everywhere else doesn't have the population or density for it.
The map is crude. I imagine it's more to get the ball rolling than a set-in-stone blueprint. It has some problems: no Portlands transit? and Where's the other half of the DRL?, for instance. But it's ambitious, exciting, and visionary in the groundbreaking way it's seeking funding to make it real. It's a big idea to get behind that will help the city immeasurably.
I think the timeline's too long. Personally, I'd pay double to have it done in half the time. Nonetheless, I like that thought has been applied to get the sections that need it most done first. All in all, this is the most exciting thing I've seen proposed for Toronto in decades.
@James,... I did not intend for "downtown elite" to be a putdown... but I consider it an apt discription for many of the people pushing for this plan.
http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/toronto-voters-demand-return-of-transit-city/375