Ontario has announced plans to extend the Bloor-Danforth subway line to Scarborough Town Centre. The provincially funded line will run close to the route carved out by the current SRT at a cost of $1.4 billion, the amount previously committed to reworking the crumbling above-ground transit line. The current plan is to outfit the 6.4 kilometre line with two stations and turn it over to the TTC for operation.

This differs from the last conception of a Scarborough subway discussed at city council, which was to be longer and feature more frequent stops. That version also depended on municipal and federal funding, which isn't required for this project. Should the federal government kick in funding, the line could theoretically be extended to Sheppard (as per the version agreed upon at city council), but that would not be under the purview of the province.

Supporters of a Scarborough subway score a major victory today, even as critics will surely point out that a two-stop line is far from ideal. That said, given the municipal dithering on the matter, it feels a bit like our provincial parent chose to be decisive on a matter the City just wasn't able to settle on. One thing's for certain, Rob Ford will say he got his Scarborough subway, even if he had relatively little to do with it.

What do you think? Given that the city isn't picking up any of the bill, is this a good plan?