The stars are finally aligning for public transit!
Toronto Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat recently unveiled a visionary transit plan for the next 15 years.
It placed the downtown relief line near the top of the city’s priorities, with the downtown portion running along Queen St., as the TTC first proposed in the 1960s.
At that time, a “streetcar elimination program” was also on the table.
However, a well-organized Toronto-centric group known as “Streetcars for Toronto” managed to kill the idea, thereby condemning Torontonians to decades of mobility challenges and downtown traffic chaos.
On another front, the Toronto Sun’s Lorrie Goldstein recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong (where it doesn’t snow) praising its highly successful, underground subway system.
As Goldstein pointed out, Hong Kong, “wisely decided decades ago that underground subways were the most efficient method of moving people.”
Its Mass Transit Railway Corp. (MTR) is one of the most efficient in the world and was up and running — with an electronic fare card — when I first visited Hong Kong in 1981, 35 years ago!
The MTR’s modern-day Octopus card, in which commuters pay for distance travelled by swiping at terminals before entering and exiting the subway system, along with the Oyster card in London, England, are the templates for our own Presto card, which is only now being rolled out.
The Octopus card’s Chinese name means “extends in all directions,” like an octopus’ tentacles, which indeed it does in Hong Kong’s MTR.
While Hong Kong’s entrepreneurial MTR operation is impressive, it cannot be totally replicated here.
Among other issues, the MTR has faced controversies in recent years for failing to disclose key information to investors in a timely fashion.
Plus, our lengthy planning and approval process would pose obstacles.
However, the basic concepts used in Hong Kong can be modified and adapted to Toronto, if the political will is there and the process transparent.
Regarding Keesmaat’s Queen subway revival proposal, several features should be noted.
The Queen route is equidistantly located between the Bloor-Danforth subway line and the waterfront.
It would decongest current commuter flow patterns and reduce the concentration of development in the financial district downtown, to locations further north.
A Queen line would also better serve the retail sector, University Avenue’s office complexes and the four major hospitals on University north of Queen, along with the Toronto Western Hospital, which is just up the road at Dundas St.
Extending both east and west, it would take pressure off the congested Yonge-University-Spadina and Bloor-Danforth lines.
Finally, Queen St. is already a heavily used transit corridor and the creative design possibilities with a Queen subway line should be of interest to Mayor John Tory and council.
Queen St. between Bay St. and York St. could be closed, and the existing Nathan Phillips Square extended to encompass Queen, creating a large, friendly, attractive urban meeting place.
The Queen stations between Yonge and University could be connected by an underground tunnel and mall with an iconic pavilion in front of City Hall.
This would create an engaging, people-friendly space above and below ground, similar to the transit pavilion at the new World Trade Center in New York.
Any expansion projects, however, should not be undertaken by the TTC. It has its hands full with existing operations and should be solely focused on that.
When the east Sheppard subway extension was being assessed a few years ago, there was a parallel discussion about the possibility of Toronto establishing an Infrastructure Toronto modeled on Infrastructure Ontario to take on capital projects. That needs further study.
But the convergence of Tory’s determination on the transit file, Keesmaat’s visionary plan, and media reports reminding Torontonians their public transit system is 40 years behind the times compared to other cities, are all factors that could finally address our yearning for sensible, long-term public transit planning and construction.
Mr. Chong still considers streetcars as the cause of traffic congestion in Toronto. When the real culprit is the single-occupant automobile who parks/stands/stops on any street (with or without streetcars) for the all important
Back to the full story, at least he is showing that a subway (heavy rail or light rail or transporters) along Queen Street should be considered as the route for the DRL. Don't expect streetcars to disappear, however.
