Metrolinx’s trimmed-down, delayed plan to build light rail in Toronto got its official debut early Monday, May 17 at a Toronto Board of Trade breakfast, as the regional transportation body’s chair Robert Prichard urged Toronto leaders to back the plan for what it was.
The plan is a step back from the far-reaching, $9.5 billion transit plan originally announced by the provincial government a year ago. That plan would have seen light rail built from the Pearson airport to Kennedy Road along Eglinton – 12 kilometres of it underground – light rail along Finch and Sheppard, a new Scarborough Rapid Transit line to replace the aging structure; and in York Region, an exclusive bus rapid transit line.
The Toronto portion of that plan would have been worth $8.1 billion.
But the whole game changed when the provincial budget cut the initial investment by $4 billion.
The new plan puts off completion of the Sheppard line and the Eglinton line until 2014 and 2020 respectively, and delays start of the Scarborough RT line until after the Pan Am Games are complete in 2015. It will be finished in 2019.
The plan will be formally endorsed by Metrolinx at its Wednesday, May 19 meeting. On Monday, Prichard put the case forward to Toronto business leaders – and sent a clear message to political leaders who are interested in subways, faster implementation, or a halt, to choose their words carefully.
“From my perspective, and I think from the province’s perspective, surely it is better to proceed with the three projects immediately – Sheppard, Eglinton and Viva – than to proceed with none at all. Surely it is better not to allow perfection to be the enemy of the good. Surely it is better to proceed with $7 billion of the $9.5 billion in projects than not to proceed at all,” he said.
He also invited Mayor David Miller and Toronto City Council to put up money themselves if they wished to see the plan proceed more quickly – but he rejected a city plan to borrow between $1.5 billion and $3 billion, and have the province pay it back later.
He said Toronto could work to purchase land that will be needed in 2015, extend the Sheppard LRT to Meadowvale itself at the cost of $100 million, or extend it to the aquatic centre at a cost of $150 million. Finch West would cost about $900 million.
But Prichard acknowledged the city may not be in a financial position to do that. He said Metrolinx and the TTC have been working on ways to shave the program since February, when it was clear the approved projects would cost considerably more.
He said Metrolinx had planned on delaying an extension of Eglinton to the Pearson International Airport because the GTAA had indicated it wouldn’t be in a position to finance a station there until 2022.
“So it made sense to defer that portion to go to the airport until the partner at the airport can partner with us,” he said.
Similarly, he said it made sense to hold off on the RT work until after the Pan Am Games, and tie Finch West to the Spadina Subway extension.
He said immediately, Metrolinx needs to purchase tunnel boring machinery to dig the underground portion of Eglinton through the central portion.
He pointed to that portion of Eglinton as an example of de-facto subway construction.
“We are building a 12 kilometer subway at Eglinton,” he said. “It’s a terrific idea. Eglinton is 33 kilometres long and in the middle part, it’s a subway... It’s moving at the same speed in the tunnel as a subway, it’s spread 180 seconds apart and it’s in a tunnel. That’s a terrific service.”
Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne was on hand for the speech.
“They’ve done exactly what we asked them to in the period of time,” she said, adding she hoped the plan would mollify Mayor David Miller, who has been leading a grassroots campaign to convince the provincial Liberals to restore the funding they had committed in 2009.
“My hope is the plan, having been articulated now and after it goes to the Metrolinx board, the mayor and those that have been wanting things to be happening more quickly will see it’s rational and doable,” she said. “I understand the mayor continues to be disappointed but council has approved all these plans.”
Miller didn’t seem any less disappointed following the speech – which he didn’t attend. He spoke with reporters early Monday evening.
“We haven’t seen the underlying report yet but Robert Prichard’s speech confirmed everything I believed – that the province is about to squander a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build public transit that Torontonians need, that Torontonians deserve, that Torontonians in our neediest neighbourhoods have come to expect,” he said.
“What Mr. Prichard spoke about was building part of the Eglinton LRT – and there is no funding committed from the province of Ontario for the Finch line or the Scarborough RT – and those are the areas of our city that need public transit the most.”
Miller maintained that any funding promise beyond 2015 amounted to an election promise – because the Liberal government cannot otherwise budget that far ahead.
“In essence it’s an election promise for the 2014 election, and the funding is cut from those lines. Metrolinx may plan to re-instate it, but that funding was announced a year ago.”