Queen’s Park and city have a $12.4B TTC deal
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau Chief
Tess Kalinowski Transportation Reporter
The Better Way will get a lot bigger under a new $12.4 billion plan to extend the Sheppard subway line in both directions and build a new Eglinton light rail line from Jane St. to Kennedy station, the Star has learned.
Premier Dalton McGuinty is to announce Thursday that the province is giving Toronto $8.2 billion to pay for the TTC’s new 20-km Eglinton Crosstown Metro. It would run underground all the way from Black Creek to Scarborough Centre and continue above ground along the existing Scarborough Rapid Transit route, which would be converted to the same LRT technology.
But it will be up to Mayor Rob Ford and city council to determine how to finance the $4.2 billion it will cost for the Sheppard subway extensions he wants to build west to Downsview station and east to Scarborough Centre.
Questions remain about whether it is feasible to raise that much money using development charges and tax increment financing to boost the Toronto Transit Commission.
“There are only four ways to do it: existing revenue tools, like property taxes; a private-public partnership; increased federal funding; or, down the road, some kind of new funding arrangement with the province,†one source confided.
The provincial funding had previously been earmarked for Transit City, which was a plan for more extensive light rail on Eglinton, Sheppard, Finch and the Scarborough RT.
But Ford declared that deal dead as soon as he took office last October, vowing there would be no more tracks down the middle of Toronto’s streets like the St. Clair Ave. line.
As a result of the mayor’s objections, the proposed Finch line from the upcoming Finch West station to Humber College has been scrapped.
While Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne was tight-lipped Wednesday, she confirmed a deal was “close.â€
“There’s no more money, but on the Eglinton line we want to get going,†said Wynne, mindful that the Liberals hold 19 of Toronto’s 23 seats and face re-election on Oct. 6.
“It’s been a back and forth conversation for a number of weeks,†she said of the weeks of ongoing negotiations between Queen’s Park and city hall.
“The whole point of this ... has been to find the common ground, to find a way to preserve our principles and to allow the city to move forward on what it wants to do.â€
Construction will start this year, with completion set for 2020.
Ford’s dream of an extended Sheppard subway will be the city’s $4.2 billion responsibility alone — in the west, it will run 5.45 km from Downsview station to Yonge; in the east, it will go from Don Mills to Scarborough Centre. It should be finished in 2019.
The plan would take traffic off the Bloor-Danforth line, according to one provincial source. Studies show many people would switch to Eglinton to travel to the Yonge and Eglinton area.
Under former mayor David Miller’s administration, Metrolinx was prepared to fund about 56 km of light rail on separate lanes running down the middle of the road by about the end of the decade.
The idea was to enhance the commutes of residents living in some of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods such as Jane and Finch, where transit access and social services are scarce.
Light rail advocates argue that such lines encourage mid-rise development that leads to livelier, pedestrian friendly streetscapes.
Ford — and those who voted for him — disagreed, saying construction snarled traffic and removed precious lane space from busy city streets.
In a major concession, meanwhile, the TTC will abandon its “open payment†smartcard and work with Metrolinx to implement the Presto fare card already in use.
“That’s a big win,†said one provincial insider, recalling the feud between Queen’s Park and the previous TTC administration over Presto.
