U
unimaginative2
Guest
Deciding which train to take Metro Council has to vote on subway expansion. Everyonehas a favorite.; [MET Edition]
Royson James TORONTO STAR. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Mar 8, 1994. pg. A.15
Copyright 1994 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved.
With $75 million already spent for studies and plans, the Toronto Transit Commission will find out this week if it will be allowed to make up for the Lost Decade of the '80s.
Metro Council is to vote by Friday on plans to begin expanding the subway system for the first time since January, 1978.
Metro staff, called "ultra-conservative" by those who want a full expansion, recommend council approve two subways and a yard to store the trains at a cost of $1.5 billion.
But a growing number of voices - including Premier Bob Rae, mayors Mel Lastman, Joyce Trimmer and Fergy Brown and the TTC brass and construction unions - are clamoring for all four.
The cost would double, but so would the number of jobs, they argue.
"It's a time to be daring," says Lastman, North York's mayor.
"I know how we can build all four lines," offers Brown, mayor of the City of York. "Just pay a little more."
How much more is at the heart of the debate that is to begin today and last for four days.
Lastman says the building program will create so many jobs and instil so much confidence in the economy that business will boom, the economy will turn around, tax assessments will increase and the over-all cost won't be as high as feared. But Metro's budget analysts say that scenario is too optimistic and Metro must plan prudently.
It is now up to the politicians to decide whose vision to pursue.
Phase one of the transit blueprint, developed over the last decade, includes:
* A new subway line along Sheppard Ave. E., 6.4 kilometres from Yonge St. to Don Mills Rd.
* A new subway along Eglinton Ave. W., 4.8 kilometres from the Eglinton West subway station on the Spadina line west to Black Creek Dr.
* Extension of the Spadina subway to York University, south of Steeles Ave. and Keele St. The line now stops at Wilson and is being extended to Sheppard and Allen Rd.
* Extend the Scarborough RT line to Markham Rd. and Sheppard Ave. from the Scarborough Town Centre.
The transit lines are to cover 18.1 kilometres of track - equivalent to taking the Yonge-University subway at Finch Ave. and travelling south all the way to Union Station and then north on University to the St. George stop.
The previous longest stretch of subway built by the TTC was in 1963 when the Bloor-Danforth stretch from Woodbine to Keele was completed. That was 12.1 kilometres. Council voted a special tax levy to complete that project.
Phase two of the current transit building program is expected to take the plan through the first quarter of the 21st century.
Councillors are now pouring over figures for phase one. Rae says he is "financially and deeply committed" to paying his 75 per cent share - about $2.25 billion - of the cost and wants Metro to pick up its 25 per cent share.
But staff say council can't afford the nearly $770 million it would take to complete the first phase of the lines - without putting at risk other much-needed programs.
Staff have recommended the program be cut in half, costing Metro about $375 million over the next seven or eight years. And the management committee agreed, recommending that council build the Eglinton subway and the extension of the Spadina line to York University over the next seven years.
Only then would Metro consider the Sheppard line and the Scarborough RT.
Council could adopt the committee recommendation or choose one of several other options, including doing nothing.
Rae has warned if they build less than four lines he might withhold funding from other projects cost-shared by Metro and the province.
The pros and cons of the four lines:
SHEPPARD SUBWAY
This is the granddaddy of the subway expansion plans. Council approved it as its first priority in the late 1980s as part of the Network 2011 plan. Provincial bureaucrats have often suggested there is no need for the line, but every time an analysis is done, Sheppard comes out on top.
It will bring more riders more quickly to the TTC, operate at less cost and thus provide the TTC with more revenues than the other lines.
But it is also the most costly at $1 billion. And Lastman is not a favorite at Metro Council, having enraged fellow councillors with an orchestrated attack on many Metro policies.
The TTC says the shortest possible segment to build for the line to make operational sense would stretch to Don Mills.
The line is also needed to support massive development plans for North York's downtown at Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. Further development depends entirely on the subway; the area has already reached saturation for development, based on the amount of transportation it has now.
Sheppard eventually goes east to hook up with the Scarborough City Centre, linking both suburban downtowns and fulfilling one of Metro's visions for several city centres other than downtown Toronto.
EGLINTON SUBWAY
A new subway line along Eglinton Ave. to Black Creek Dr. is the TTC's second priority. It is to help spur development of the York City Centre and has strong support from the city and residents, many of whom turned out for public meetings last month to urge Metro to go ahead with it, even if it means a 1 per cent property tax hike.
The line has been dubbed the Rae-Tonks-Colle line because it runs through the Premier's riding, the city that Metro Chairman Alan Tonks is from and the constituency of TTC chair Mike Colle.
The management committee is recommending council build this line as well as the Spadina extension to York University.
SPADINA-YORK
This extension would take the current Spadina line northwest to the York University campus, linking both York and University of Toronto.
The line is currently being extended from the Wilson station to Sheppard. That is to be completed in 1997 or 1998. Metro staff believe that by the time it is ready for extension, the economy might improve and the government would have more tax dollars to commit to it.
The transportation benefits are considered fair. Development potential is not high. And delaying the project wouldn't hurt too much.
However, this line is attractive to cash-strapped Metro because it can proceed slowly, one station at a time.
SCARBOROUGH RT
Metro staff rate the transportation benefits as low, the development potential as fair and the impact of delaying it low.
Scarborough's Trimmer says several projects are on hold pending completion of the RT line out to Sheppard Ave. and Markham Rd.
Reports that a change in development plans for the line's terminus could threaten the future of the entire line "are absolutely not true," she told a news conference yesterday.
TTC staff are now saying it could be built in two stages, with the first stage taking the line out to the Centennial College campus at Markham Rd. and Progress Court. Stage two would lift the line over Highway 401 to the planned development at Markham Rd. and Sheppard Rd.
Royson James TORONTO STAR. Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Mar 8, 1994. pg. A.15
Copyright 1994 Toronto Star, All Rights Reserved.
With $75 million already spent for studies and plans, the Toronto Transit Commission will find out this week if it will be allowed to make up for the Lost Decade of the '80s.
Metro Council is to vote by Friday on plans to begin expanding the subway system for the first time since January, 1978.
Metro staff, called "ultra-conservative" by those who want a full expansion, recommend council approve two subways and a yard to store the trains at a cost of $1.5 billion.
But a growing number of voices - including Premier Bob Rae, mayors Mel Lastman, Joyce Trimmer and Fergy Brown and the TTC brass and construction unions - are clamoring for all four.
The cost would double, but so would the number of jobs, they argue.
"It's a time to be daring," says Lastman, North York's mayor.
"I know how we can build all four lines," offers Brown, mayor of the City of York. "Just pay a little more."
How much more is at the heart of the debate that is to begin today and last for four days.
Lastman says the building program will create so many jobs and instil so much confidence in the economy that business will boom, the economy will turn around, tax assessments will increase and the over-all cost won't be as high as feared. But Metro's budget analysts say that scenario is too optimistic and Metro must plan prudently.
It is now up to the politicians to decide whose vision to pursue.
Phase one of the transit blueprint, developed over the last decade, includes:
* A new subway line along Sheppard Ave. E., 6.4 kilometres from Yonge St. to Don Mills Rd.
* A new subway along Eglinton Ave. W., 4.8 kilometres from the Eglinton West subway station on the Spadina line west to Black Creek Dr.
* Extension of the Spadina subway to York University, south of Steeles Ave. and Keele St. The line now stops at Wilson and is being extended to Sheppard and Allen Rd.
* Extend the Scarborough RT line to Markham Rd. and Sheppard Ave. from the Scarborough Town Centre.
The transit lines are to cover 18.1 kilometres of track - equivalent to taking the Yonge-University subway at Finch Ave. and travelling south all the way to Union Station and then north on University to the St. George stop.
The previous longest stretch of subway built by the TTC was in 1963 when the Bloor-Danforth stretch from Woodbine to Keele was completed. That was 12.1 kilometres. Council voted a special tax levy to complete that project.
Phase two of the current transit building program is expected to take the plan through the first quarter of the 21st century.
Councillors are now pouring over figures for phase one. Rae says he is "financially and deeply committed" to paying his 75 per cent share - about $2.25 billion - of the cost and wants Metro to pick up its 25 per cent share.
But staff say council can't afford the nearly $770 million it would take to complete the first phase of the lines - without putting at risk other much-needed programs.
Staff have recommended the program be cut in half, costing Metro about $375 million over the next seven or eight years. And the management committee agreed, recommending that council build the Eglinton subway and the extension of the Spadina line to York University over the next seven years.
Only then would Metro consider the Sheppard line and the Scarborough RT.
Council could adopt the committee recommendation or choose one of several other options, including doing nothing.
Rae has warned if they build less than four lines he might withhold funding from other projects cost-shared by Metro and the province.
The pros and cons of the four lines:
SHEPPARD SUBWAY
This is the granddaddy of the subway expansion plans. Council approved it as its first priority in the late 1980s as part of the Network 2011 plan. Provincial bureaucrats have often suggested there is no need for the line, but every time an analysis is done, Sheppard comes out on top.
It will bring more riders more quickly to the TTC, operate at less cost and thus provide the TTC with more revenues than the other lines.
But it is also the most costly at $1 billion. And Lastman is not a favorite at Metro Council, having enraged fellow councillors with an orchestrated attack on many Metro policies.
The TTC says the shortest possible segment to build for the line to make operational sense would stretch to Don Mills.
The line is also needed to support massive development plans for North York's downtown at Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. Further development depends entirely on the subway; the area has already reached saturation for development, based on the amount of transportation it has now.
Sheppard eventually goes east to hook up with the Scarborough City Centre, linking both suburban downtowns and fulfilling one of Metro's visions for several city centres other than downtown Toronto.
EGLINTON SUBWAY
A new subway line along Eglinton Ave. to Black Creek Dr. is the TTC's second priority. It is to help spur development of the York City Centre and has strong support from the city and residents, many of whom turned out for public meetings last month to urge Metro to go ahead with it, even if it means a 1 per cent property tax hike.
The line has been dubbed the Rae-Tonks-Colle line because it runs through the Premier's riding, the city that Metro Chairman Alan Tonks is from and the constituency of TTC chair Mike Colle.
The management committee is recommending council build this line as well as the Spadina extension to York University.
SPADINA-YORK
This extension would take the current Spadina line northwest to the York University campus, linking both York and University of Toronto.
The line is currently being extended from the Wilson station to Sheppard. That is to be completed in 1997 or 1998. Metro staff believe that by the time it is ready for extension, the economy might improve and the government would have more tax dollars to commit to it.
The transportation benefits are considered fair. Development potential is not high. And delaying the project wouldn't hurt too much.
However, this line is attractive to cash-strapped Metro because it can proceed slowly, one station at a time.
SCARBOROUGH RT
Metro staff rate the transportation benefits as low, the development potential as fair and the impact of delaying it low.
Scarborough's Trimmer says several projects are on hold pending completion of the RT line out to Sheppard Ave. and Markham Rd.
Reports that a change in development plans for the line's terminus could threaten the future of the entire line "are absolutely not true," she told a news conference yesterday.
TTC staff are now saying it could be built in two stages, with the first stage taking the line out to the Centennial College campus at Markham Rd. and Progress Court. Stage two would lift the line over Highway 401 to the planned development at Markham Rd. and Sheppard Rd.
