Rob Ford says he’d sell streetcars and development rights to pay for new subway construction along Sheppard Avenue and the Bloor-Danforth line into Scarborough in his long-awaited transit plan, released via YouTube early Wednesday.
Ford costs the plan for subways, off-road bicycle trails and road repairs at about $4 billion – $3.7 billion of which has already been provided by the provincial government for Transit City, the light rail rapid transit plan Ford says he’d scrap.
“What Toronto needs are more subways, and my plan is to focus our money on subways,” he said in his video. “That means fewer new lines, and each line will be fast and convenient. They move ten times as many people as streetcars. With a subway you can live in north Scarborough and work downtown. With a streetcar that’s impossible.”
The new subways would see the Sheppard line extended west to Downsview station, and east to Scarborough Town Centre – along the route currently set out for the Sheppard LRT line.
The Danforth line, meanwhile, would be extended along the existing SRT line joining Kennedy Station and Scarborough Town Centre. The two lines would create a loop between Sheppard and Danforth.
Ford also wants to end the “war on the car” by selling off streetcars and replacing them with buses along downtown routes.
“Where we can’t afford to build subways today – like along Eglinton – we’ll introduce new express buses using clean technology,” he said. “They’re cheaper, faster and safer than streetcars.”
Ford said he’d negotiate with the provincial government to get the lion’s share of the subway funding from the Transit City funding – then make up the rest by selling streetcars currently plying downtown routes and replace them with buses, and with private sector funding by selling development rights along the new line, a promise Ford has made since the beginning of the campaign.
Critics of Ford’s plan have suggested it’s unrealistic to think development rights are going to raise enough cash to make up the shortfall. George Smitherman pointed out that part of the money Ford is counting on has already been allocated for the York University subway extension.
“It seems to me like he’s killing that one,” said Smitherman. “It’s not a plan at all – it’s one piece that does nothing but leave suburban residents disconnected and stranded. It falls short in terms of vision and demonstrates his ongoing difficulties with the numbers.”
Smitherman pointed out that Ford needs to consider that the TTC has already entered into contracts to purchase new streetcars – both for Transit City and for the existing downtown streetcar lines.
“How much has he costed for contract cancellation? There are contracts let on the Sheppard LRT, there are contracts let with the new streetcars. There are high costs with that. And there are contracts let with an Etobicoke company to do tunnel boring equipment to do the Eglinton LRT that he’s not in favour of.”
Candidate Joe Pantalone said Ford had underestimated the cost of 12 kilometres of new subways, and the engineering challenges in putting a subway on the elevated track that currently carries much smaller light rail vehicles from Kennedy Station.
“He has no understanding of finances – he doesn’t understand that subways cost more than the high-speed European style trains we want to put on the LRT. It doesn’t make sense... And replacing the SRT with a subway doesn’t work. The curves on it are too tight. You would have to expropriate homes along the line.”
Ford is also talking about accelerating pothole repair on roads, adjusting the city’s bike plan so that more new trails are built off road and fewer on-street bike lanes are constructed.
And he’s promised a color-coded pavement painting system to let drivers know where they can and cannot park.