Toronto commits to Scarborough subway extension

Toronto is going ahead with the one-stop Scarborough subway extension. After a marathon debate at city hall today, council voted 27-16 against reviving plans for a seven-stop LRT brought forward by Councillor Josh Matlow.

This is a significant win for Mayor John Tory, who has supported the subway extension since the beginning, even when faced with compelling evidence that ridership projections do not support the case for heavy rail in this area.

As part of the larger transit debate, council also voted in favour of having staff study additional subway extensions along Sheppard Avenue and of Line 2 west to Sherway Gardens. Neither of these projects has funding at present.

The one-stop extension from Kennedy to Scarborough Town Centre would be one of the longest gaps between stations in the world at just over 6 kilometres. After the LRT proposal was defeated, council voted 28-15 in support of hiring a third party to determine the alignment and costs of the extension.

Photo by MrDanMofo in the blogTO Flickr pool.