Taxpayers are on the hook again to pay more bills for the problem-plagued St. Clair streetcar right-of-way.
About half the platforms along the dedicated St. Clair transit lane — which has been labelled a “fiasco,” a “disaster” and worse by some city councillors — needs to be adjusted to fit new, longer streetcars that will be in service next year.
The TTC is now surveying platforms along the much criticized stretch of streetcar track in a bid to figure out which ones are too short or too tall
to accommodate the bigger low-floor streetcars set to start rolling next year.
"We don't need to rebuild it or anything, the platforms will just be adjusted here and there," TTC spokesman Brad Ross told the Sun Friday.
How did this happen? When the TTC built the dedicated right-of-way, the new streetcars hadn’t been selected.
The entire right-of-way, which cost more than $100 million — around double the original budget, was built to meet the specifications of the old streetcars.
City council ordered the new streetcars in 2009 — a year before the St. Clair right-of-way was completed.
Ross said the situation couldn’t have been avoided.
“When the right-of-way was built, we had no specifications for the new streetcar. We didn’t know what kind of vehicle we would have, how long it would be or those types of things,” Ross said.
The new streetcars are 30 metres long — twice the length of the existing fleet and include small ramps that come out when the doors open so wheelchairs or strollers can roll on and off the cars.
“Some of the platforms on St. Clair will need to be modified to ensure accessibility requirements are met, as we’ve done on Spadina,” Ross said. “When the platforms were built, we didn’t have specifications for the new streetcar. Now that we have those specs, we’ll do the work necessary to make the platforms accessible where they aren’t currently.”
Around 21 of the 25 platforms on Spadina were “modified” last year to make them accessible. Four platforms are currently being updated between King and Front Sts. The TTC expects that work to be completed this summer.
On St. Clair, the TTC still doesn’t know how many platforms will need to be updated, said Ross.
“Some will be fine; some will need some adjustments,” Ross said. “I think we’re looking at less than half right now, that could change.”
The TTC has no cost estimate on the new St. Clair construction.
