*I* don't think people in Malvern are worth more, but the city does, which is why the RT's getting reno'd and extended at a higher cost than a subway extension that would benefit several times as many people.
Contrary to popular belief, people in Malvern don't even make up a majority of RT riders, let alone enough to warrant anything more substantial than buses...why are the hundreds of thousands of other people in the area always ignored? The subway would move a lot more people - it's impossible to deny this!
Nielson buses can run along the 401, which is virtually never gridlocked around there, and even if there is a bit of traffic, it'll still save plenty of time compared to trundling through Centenary hospital. If they ever extend McNicoll over to Morningside Heights, it'd also be a perfect place to run buses that could then take a road like Middlefield or Brimley and get to STC in 20 minutes instead of 45.
And this is excluding rocket routes, which could and should be added to almost any busy/long bus route - Morningside, Finch, and Sheppard are all obvious choices. Rocket buses or even an LRT on Lawrence, coupled with a subway extension, would slash travel times for people on the 54.
The TTC hasn't tried rocket routes anywhere else. This is where someone will point to the Finch express to Don Mills station as a failure, but that makes every local stop between Nielson and the 404 before dropping people off at the stubway...it's useful as overflow for the regular Finch bus or taking people to Fairview, but there's absolutely nothing "express" about it. Other E routes are the same - they run express for a concession or two then make local stops for the next 6 concessions, saving people one or two minutes. Meanwhile, the 190 saves you almost one minute per kilometre (or maybe more; that's just my estimate). Rocket routes cost almost nothing to implement, but slash travel times, boost route capacity, improve reliability, etc. As long as a street isn't hopelessly gridlocked (like Finch West, which is one reason why LRT is appropriate there) they'd work great.
Oh, and yes, Dentrobate, the 190 is a massive success. This is undeniable. It saves a huge amount of time. It never takes over 30 minutes, though. If it ran on the 401, it'd be useless, not highly used, because its purpose is to serve people along Sheppard, not shuttle people directly to STC.