Toronto Spadina Subway Extension Emergency Exits | ?m | 1s | TTC | IBI Group

I wouldn't get all histrionic...I think all this budget stuff is a bit old news and is all built into the contingency fund anyway.

How convenient that their costs always seem to grow into the contingency envelope. And then they wonder why subways are so expensive in this city. Maybe it's time they considered bringing in foreign help if Canadian project managers find these large projects too taxing.
 
"Concord/Thornhill Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco, who also chairs the Vaughan corporate centre advisory committee, was happy to see the kick-off of the subway construction that will finally link Vaughan's downtown core with Toronto's."

That would make sense, if Vaughan actually had a downtown. It seems stupid to spend billions of dollars to extend the subway to an empty field that might be built upon sometime in the future.

Frankly, I don't think it's worth extending the line north of Steeles. Viva Orange runs empty all the time, and Viva has reduced service to minimum levels. If there is hardly enough demand for a bus route, then how on earth is there enough demand for a subway?

The only reason that I can think of is that Thornhill is a "swing" riding, both federally and provincially, so the governments have a political incentive to spend money in it. Building the subway might gain enough support for the Conservatives to secure the riding. However, they aren't the ones paying for actually running the thing over the long term, the TTC is. Where will they get the money to run it? Raise fares more? The city doesn't have much money, so we can't expect it from them. The federal and provincial government clearly doesn't like funding the TTC so don't expect extra money from them.

Shhhhh. We're not allowed to say things like lack of demand, we're getting a subway extension after all and that's always a good thing. Nevermind that an LRT line from Steeles west could have been built further into the Region (up to and possibly past the Wonderland/Vaughan Mills node) for the same or less cost. Nevermind that a commute from hey 7 and Jane is likely better served by a long distance service (read GO) vs a medium distance. Oh and don't give me the line that many riders will be getting off long before downtown, the counciller herself said it is a link between Vaughan and Downtown Toronto.

Anyway I've said my peace on this subject many many times. It's being built and we'll just have to live with it.
 
The spadina extension actually passes nowhere near Thornhill, it is more woodbridge or maple if anything...the Yonge extension passes directly through Thornhill, and all of the stations north of steeles, aside from Richmond Hill centre, will be in Thornhill. Racco was just supporting it, because her riding is in the Vaughan portion of Thornhill, which consists of concord.
 

though the surrounding communities were built pre-1960's car craze era.

it would have been better if a subway to vaughan was built before all those subdivisions came to be. at least this way, new development could have been built around transit oriented planning.
 
The spadina extension actually passes nowhere near Thornhill, it is more woodbridge or maple if anything...the Yonge extension passes directly through Thornhill, and all of the stations north of steeles, aside from Richmond Hill centre, will be in Thornhill. Racco was just supporting it, because her riding is in the Vaughan portion of Thornhill, which consists of concord.

VMC is in Concord. I think the reference to Thornhill was to the Thornhill federal/provincial electoral district, which includes Concord.

Thornhill riding narrowly went to the Tories in the last federal election and thus far is the only place where the Tories have punched a hole in the Liberal bullwark. Had they dragged their heels on delivering subway funding, it was exactly the sort of thing that might flip the seat back.
 
though the surrounding communities were built pre-1960's car craze era.

it would have been better if a subway to vaughan was built before all those subdivisions came to be. at least this way, new development could have been built around transit oriented planning.

I thought the post was supportive of building the transit first and then letting the neighbourhood develop around it.

Why can't something like an LRT rejuvinate the area just as well as the subway, what special properties does a subway have that LRT cannot even come close to? Or, why is it believed that the TC lines will rejuvinate those streets to "european" style but cannot do the same in Vaughan. And vice versa, if the subway extension is the only way to rejuvinate Vaughan than why is the same logic not applied to the TC routes (like Sheppard E for ex)?
 
I don't understand why people have a problem with taking this line to VCC. I would not be in favour of it if VCC was the only reason for the line. As far as I am concerned this line is really a much needed extension to York University. And if you're going to York you might as well do Steeles. From there its a short extension to 407 and VCC and both of these stations will be well placed from a passenger gathering point of view.

It took 15 - 20 years for Finch to become dense. Previous to that is was a natural collector point for the north end of the city, a role VCC will be able to do today. Adding higher densities to VCC over the next few decades will be the icing on the cake.
 
I still cannot believe this is happening. There really seems to be no such thing as proper transit planning at the city or provincial level. Many swaths of Toronto, with higher density and higher demand to support increased public transit continue to go unserved while new subway stations are built on the sides of highways with nobody living anywhere near them. Seriously, has anyone looked at the area surrounding where the Jane and 407 station is going to go? Yes I am aware that its going to be primarily a commuter station, but it's borderline comical that the closest things to this new station are the 407 off-ramps, banquet halls (now you can take the subway to your wedding reception), IKEA (dragging a bunkbed onto the train will be a snap!), and a cemetary (too easy, I can't do it). None of these have anything to do with rapid transit, and that's my point. Maybe the employees of these establishments will benefit, but not much else.

Jane is an incredibly dense street from top to bottom within the city boundaries, and yes I know the street is supposed to get a LRT line to serve it. But with regards to subway stations, Jane-Finch? Nah. Jane-Wilson? Nope. It's almost as if they actively tried to find the most uninhabited stretch of Jane street and chose it to plunk down $100 million worth of transit spending we will never get back, all so some housewife in Woodbridge doesn't have to drive her GMC Yukon all the way to Yorkdale or Downsview anymore to drop her children off at the subway. It really is ridiculous in my mind.

I've long been a supporter of the subway going to York University, but I believe it should have stopped there. The money would have been better spent investing in more light rail or even extending the Sheppard line westward to an eventual connection to the Spadina line at Downsview. That would have at least given the Sheppard line some relevance, spurred some development and increased interest in Downsview Park. It would also have spurred development along Sheppard west of Yonge, allowing it to catch up to the east side, even though its already fairly dense in many areas such as Bathurst and Sheppard and soon will be at Allen and Sheppard with 3 or 4 condos going up.

Hell the entire former city of Etobicoke only has 2 or 3 subway stations within its boundaries, Vaughan is poised to almost equal that. Does that make sense to anyone? If we absolutely had to run a subway line into the suburbs the obvious choice would have been Mississauga in my mind. Just extend it down Dundas from Kipling and maybe somebody would actually use it, unlike in Vaughan.
 
Thornhill riding narrowly went to the Tories in the last federal election and thus far is the only place where the Tories have punched a hole in the Liberal bullwark. Had they dragged their heels on delivering subway funding, it was exactly the sort of thing that might flip the seat back.

That funding was an ongoing red tape issue that got resolved.
The question will be what happens if Thornhill doesn't get its own subway now! Peter Kent has been very proactive but if he can't get Flaherty et al on board, if it stalls, people will be pissed.

As for this whole "I can't believe the subway is going to Vaughan..." thing, I'll just say this:
Toronto's transit planning has been lagging for decades and that's created two problems: underserved dense areas; underserved, fast-growing, contiguous suburbs. It's POINTLESS to argue that one is more important to fix one than the other.

If you want to say "we should deal with built-up areas before this mythical downtown" I'll counter that if that downtown gets built WITHOUT a subway it will be same sprawling suburban mess we've been trying to kill. Build the subway first (as should have been done elsewhere) and you have a chance to build a real, transit-oriented community.

And I'll be totally right - and so will you. Because this is not a zero-sum game. As to WHY one is getting built before the other there are two answers:
Finite funding and politics. Clearly if the two subway extensions were being funded along with the DRL and, for the sake of argument, Eglinton, no one here would have anything to bitch about. but as soon as any one of those gets left out, someone has a totally legit reason to bitch.

So, to sum up, complain all you want - you're right, but you're also wrong. And so am I. Doesn't change the fact the Spadina line is getting built and Yonge probably will soon too.
 
I don't particularly agree with the extension beyond Steeles. I always believed a subway should have reached Mississauga first. That said, at least it's an extension. And York Region has been working hard to push it through. As I've said before, if the politicians in Toronto and Mississauga believed in subways as much as York, then they'd be getting subways too.
 
The Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension Project will be the first TTC rapid transit line to cross the City of Toronto boundary.

Technically not quite true: The Bloor-Danforth line did in 1968 with the extensions to Etobicoke and Scarborough.
 

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