Finally, a subway plan!

[fuji]

Go Karen!

Two councillors leading the TTC say it’s time to move ahead on an accumulating wish list of transit projects: 175 kilometres, including six subway lines, 10 LRTs and five bus and streetcar routes across the city.

The latest proposal would dramatically expand Toronto’s transit network over the next 30 years. And while it comes with a $30 billion price tag, it is well within the city’s grasp, say the councillors at the helm of the Toronto Transit Commission.

TTC chair Karen Stintz (Eglinton-Lawrence) and vice-chair Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre) believe residents can be persuaded to make the kind of transformative investment that would save Toronto from descending into a prosperity-crushing, gridlocked future.

They are calling their proposal OneCity and are asking council to approve a staff study of the plan in July. Councillors would then have until October to take the plan to their constituents before considering approval.

“What this does is it clarifies for the city of Toronto what our network is, how it fits into the regional context and how we propose to fund it,” Stintz said. “The funding, if approved, is dedicated, dependable and debt-free.”

If it flies, Stintz, who has denied she plans to run for mayor, will have engineered the delivery of two elements in Mayor Rob Ford’s election platform: A Sheppard West subway extension linking the Yonge line with the Spadina subway, and the extension of the Bloor-Danforth subway along the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) route.

The timeline is critical, say the councillors, because the provincial cabinet has not yet signed off on converting the SRT to light rail transit and the new plan depends on being able to leverage the upcoming property reassessment process that begins in the fall.

“If we can create this value proposition and if we can get buy-in from council and if the public believes this is a viable plan, we are in a better position to start collecting that revenue in 2013,” Stintz said.

The funding proposal would involve getting the province to approve a regulatory change that would allow the city to capture 40 per cent of the higher property values from next year’s reassessment.

That would amount to $45 per average household annually, accumulating to $180 a year on average, which would remain on property tax bills. It would mean $272 million a year in new tax revenue for the city.

“Every penny will go into building and maintaining public transit. That’s going to be the test for council and the people of Toronto,” said De Baeremaeker.

Toronto’s property taxes would still be among the lowest in the region, Stintz said.

The $272 million would form the city’s third of an annual $1 billion transit investment, with the province and Ottawa kicking in a standard one-third each.

The plan is being proposed as the provincial agency Metrolinx rallies support for a regional transit investment strategy to raise about $40 billion. That’s the cost of implementing the rest of the Big Move regional transit plan.

The province has already committed to the first $11 billion of that plan, including $8.4 billion for four lines in Toronto: LRT on Finch, Sheppard and Eglinton, and the conversion of the SRT into LRT extending from the Eglinton line.

Queen’s Park gave Metrolinx until June 2013 to figure out how to raise the rest of the money. But with the Liberals in a minority government and close to the next election by the time the strategy is published, there are fears no party will be willing to commit to new taxes.

Stintz has said repeatedly that Metrolinx needs to be consulting municipalities on the issue of how to raise transit funds. Other politicians, including Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, are also advocating new taxes and tools to pay for transportation.

The first funds from the Stintz-De Baeremaeker plan would go toward converting the SRT route into a subway line, at a cost of about $2.3 billion. The project would have a head start from the $1.8 billion the province has already committed, Stintz said.

Although a subway would be routed somewhat differently from the SRT, it would have the advantage of not shutting down the SRT for four years — unlike the current plan, which calls for putting SRT riders on buses for that period, while the new LRT is built.

De Baeremaeker says he’s confident the six Scarborough-area MPPs would support the idea.

The second priority in the new OneCity vision would be an east waterfront LRT, at a cost of about $300 million. Waterfront Toronto has allocated $90 million toward transit on the lakefront east of Yonge St., and developers there have been bracing for a temporary transit solution such as bus rapid transit.

All the lines in the OneCity plan have been approved at one time or another, and in some cases the environmental assessments have been done for years, said De Baeremaker.

Stintz said she’s had preliminary discussions with the province and the mayor’s staff about the plan, but no commitment of support.

OneCity rebrands some potentially divisive projects such as a downtown relief subway line, which has been renamed the “Don Mills Express” line.

It also aligns with some regional transit projects, including the air-rail link, which the councillors say could be converted to public transit by adding three more stops. A second set of tracks to GO’s Stouffville line would allow for a Scarborough Express above-ground subway or train that delivers riders from Steeles Ave. to Union Station.

OneCity's proposed lines

• Six subway lines, 72 km, $18 billion

Replace the Scarborough RT with a subway from Kennedy Station to Sheppard and McCowan; extend the Yonge subway to Steeles Ave.; build a Sheppard West subway to Downsview Station; build a Don Mills Express subway line from Eglinton to Queen St.; upgrade the Bloor-Yonge subway station; build a Scarborough Express line from Steeles Ave. to Union Station; build an Etobicoke Express Line from the airport to Union Station using the air-rail link.

• 10 LRTs, 73.5 km, $9.5 billion

Extension of the Sheppard East line to Meadowvale, the zoo, and Malvern; build a Scarborough Malvern LRT; extend the Eglinton LRT to the airport; extend the Finch West LRT to Humber College and the airport; build a Jane LRT from Steeles to Bloor; Waterfront West LRT from Union Station to Long Branch; a Finch West LRT from Keele to Yonge St. and a Don Mills LRT from Steeles to Eglinton

• Five bus and streetcar lines, 25.7 km, $1.2 billion

Waterfront East streetcar line from Union Station to Parliament St., Ellesmere bus rapid transit from Scarborough Centre to Sheppard and Kingston Rd.; Kingston BRT from Victoria Park Station to Eglinton and Kingston Rd.; extend the St. Clair streetcar from Keele to Jane; a Wilson BRT from Wilson Station to Keele St.

http://www.thestar.com/news/transpo...proposal-floated-by-stintz-debaeremaeker?bn=1

 

[mandrill]

Most of those lines seem marginal to downright wasteful. Population growth in the d/t core has slowed considerably while that in the distant burbs has sky rocketed. More lines from the inner burbs to d/t do not seem reasonable. For instance, what's the point of a Don Valley subway line from Don Mills and Eg to the East Waterfront? And why replace the LRT with a subway line?

And the extension of the Sheppard line to Downsview station is a useful idea, but it involves constructing or adapting a bridge over the West Don River ravine. That is presumably why someone hasn't built the extension already.

And you know the quoted price tag is lying-ass Bullshit. It'll end up costing 10 times as much as the quote.

This is just more crap from a couple of petty polls trying to bootstrap their political careers.

 

[larry]

I wish for once these politicians would figure out ways to save money instead of legally stealing it from the pockets of home-owners.

 

[nottyboi]

I like the plan. As a home owner I am more then happy to chip in my $45/year so we can build a world class transit system. I like to see a large and well thought out plan with some foresight. We have reasonable taxes in TO, and I for one am happy to see a major plan roll out. Even if you don't take the TTC, you should be happy to pay for this to reduce congestion.

 

[basketcase]

Most of those lines seem marginal to downright wasteful. Population growth in the d/t core has slowed considerably while that in the distant burbs has sky rocketed. ...]

The question would be how many of those in the burbs work downtown.

 

[fuji]

The question would be how many of those in the burbs work downtown.

Yup. Subways into downtown are for people who don't live there. The people who live downtown are already there.

 

[nottyboi]

Most of those lines seem marginal to downright wasteful. Population growth in the d/t core has slowed considerably while that in the distant burbs has sky rocketed. More lines from the inner burbs to d/t do not seem reasonable. For instance, what`s the point of a Don Valley https://terb.cc/vbulletin/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=4085319subway line from Don Mills and Eg to the East Waterfront? And why replace the LRT with a subway line?

And the extension of the Sheppard line to Downsview station is a useful idea, but it involves constructing or adapting a bridge over the West Don River ravine. That is presumably why someone hasn`t built the extension already.

And you know the quoted price tag is lying-ass Bullshit. It`ll end up costing 10 times as much as the quote.

This is just more crap from a couple of petty polls trying to bootstrap their political careers.

That will probably be a lower priority line..... but will be put in place as the eastern part of the city develops. Remember this is a 30 year plan. It is highly likely I will be dead by the time it is completed.

 

[nottyboi]

The question would be how many of those in the burbs work downtown.

The current lines are all jammed, so apparently quite a few.. also the 404/DVP, 400 south and all east and west highways are utterly jammed at rush hour. Where do you suppose all those people are going?

 

[larry]

I like the plan. As a home owner I am more then happy to chip in my $45/year so we can build a world class transit system. I like to see a large and well thought out plan with some foresight. We have reasonable taxes in TO, and I for one am happy to see a major plan roll out. Even if you don't take the TTC, you should be happy to pay for this to reduce congestion.

i have 0 belief that it will be $45 a year. That $750 million shortfall was going to result in a 25% raise in house taxes (that's what they said). if this is $45, then fixing our water infrastructure will be about $150. Do you really believe these politicians while they have their hands in your pocket?

 

[Butler1000]

While I like the concept my issue is with how the city can guarantee the money will solely go towards ttc upgrades. These things tend to end up in the general coffers and city council can vote to use the funds as they see fit. Remeber how the gst was only for debt reduction? Even if she became mayor she couldn't make any guarantees how the money is actually spent.
I do wish they would get more creative with taxes. A 1 percent hospitality tax on hotel rooms as an example would go a long way towards something like this. And the money would come from outside!
If Fors opposes this it sounds like(despite her saying no) an excellent election issue 2 years from now............

 

[fuji]

We'll find out now whether Ford really wants subways, or whether he was just using them as an excuse to block surface transit development.

 

[oldjones]

I wish for once these politicians would figure out ways to save money instead of legally stealing it from the pockets of home-owners.

Cannot be done. It would be nice if people stopped asking for fairytales and miracles and realized ya gotta pay for what ya get.

We note that even Ford who swept into power promising everything for nothing has now committed to raising your taxes, because he can't keep up the gravy pretence any longer. Just imagine what a solid popular base he'd have built if he'd bothered to put the effort into planning that Stintz did.

Not that her plan is anything really new. The needs and the routes to serve them have been obvious to serious people who think since the 1900s when the technology was radial railways. Then expressways, and lately Transit City. The maps look much the same.

But Ford and the fools who believed him still think you get subways by wishing for them and waiting for Magic Gravy.

 

[larry]

seriously? are you saying the payroll and resultant work output is exactly in proportion and there are no changes that can be made? if that's so, and the cost of public servants is only going to go up, perhaps we need a 100% moratorium on new spending. that's it. i'm not talking about a few hundred a year tax increase. that's just a story. these politicians will spend the common man into the ground. they don't care.

just last month or so, we committed to spending 8 billion. now 30 billion more. what's next?

 

[Moviefan-2]

But Ford and the fools who believed him still think you get subways by wishing for them and waiting for Magic Gravy.

Interesting comment from the guy who didn't vote for any of the three candidates running for mayor on Oct. 25, 2010.

 

[james t kirk]

We'll find out now whether Ford really wants subways, or whether he was just using them as an excuse to block surface transit development.

It didn't take long for Mayor McCheese to announce he will not support this initiative.

http://www.thestar.com/news/transpo...city-transit-plan-draws-fire-from-ford-allies

The man is devoid of any ideas or foresight or ability to lead.

 

[K Douglas]

I think this a good starting point to a compromise between the right and left members of council.

 

[oldjones]

Interesting comment from the guy who didn't vote for any of the three candidates running for mayor on Oct. 25, 2010.

If you imagine there were only three you must have avoided voting altogether. Does this irrelevant personal crap have anything to do with any topic of general interest?

 

[oldjones]

I think this a good starting point to a compromise between the right and left members of council.

Right on! Actually Day1 of this new Council shoulda been that starting point, and the new Mayor did have lots of goodwill and the political winds blowing his way that he could have built on instead of squandering in silliness. Sadly his knee-jerk response to this plan has been to ashcan it instead of seeing how much of it he could take credit for and actually get passed.

It may be that he can't see some of this is 'his' subways, but with financing attached, because in his universe the only star that shines is, "Tax-cuts, first, last and always". But taxcuts don't build an inch of anything, and this falling-apart City needs a lot of building. Let's hope he climbs aboard to help steer this through instead of lying in the road to block it.

 

[Moviefan-2]

If you imagine there were only three you must have avoided voting altogether. Does this irrelevant personal crap have anything to do with any topic of general interest?

Putting aside fringe candidates, there were only three candidates in the running on Oct. 25, 2010 -- Rob Ford, George Smitherman and Joe Pantalone. Two other candidates who had been running -- Rocco Rossi and Sarah Thomson -- dropped out before election day.

By your own admission, you didn't vote for any of the three candidates who were still running.

It's hardly irrelevant.

You say people who voted for Ford were "fools" while dancing around the fact that you couldn't find a better candidate in 2010. Otherwise, why didn't you vote for that person?

 

[oldjones]

In a democracy we don't put aside candidates. Anyone qualified and nominated gets to run. I voted in our municipal democracy, not your personal version of it.

Your version amounts to, no matter who you think best, you can only vote for the three—why three pray tell?—who you say are the most popular. Who made you King? Or whoever judged this popularity contest of yours?

Anyway, it isn't anything I'd want to encourage. And fortunately, our system is different. You oughta try it. Anything on the topic? Or of general interest? Or of any interest at all? Your one-man electoral system doesn't qualify. Nor for that matter does how I voted.