Toronto: $55 billion transit plan

[Mister F]

$55-billion Toronto transit plan sets stage for political battle

Proposal pits mayor against province over light-rail line

Link to story (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080903.wtransit03/BNStory/National/home)

JEFF GRAY
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
September 3, 2008 at 3:39 AM EDT

A confidential draft plan for combatting commuter congestion in the Toronto region calls for spending $55-billion over 25 years on a network of new subway and light-rail lines, improved commuter rail, express bus routes and longer and wider roads.

The blueprint, drawn up by Metrolinx, the provincial transportation agency, also promises to set up a political fight between Mayor David Miller - who sits on the agency's board - and the province. The Metrolinx plan runs against the mayor's signature Transit City light-rail plan by calling for what the TTC has warned would be a prohibitively expensive subway-like transit line on Eglinton Avenue.

The Metrolinx plan, a copy of which was viewed by The Globe and Mail, is being presented to board members and provincial officials, including Premier Dalton McGuinty, this week.

It is more modest than other scenarios contemplated by Metrolinx, including one concept that would have cost $90-billion. The plan says it would cost $2.2-billion a year over 25 years, with most of the spending in the first 15 years. Many of the new transit lines it includes have been proposed, in one form or another, before, or were included in the province's $17.5-billion MoveOntario 2020 plan. The highlights are:

Express GO Transit rail service from downtown Toronto to Hamilton, Oshawa, Brampton, Richmond Hill and Mississauga, running every 15 minutes, all day, in both directions;

Express rail service every 15 minutes to Pearson Airport from Union Station;

A "Downtown Core" east-west subway line;

Thousands of kilometres of longer and wider roads, including the extension of Highway 407 east to Clarington, as well as extensions to the 404, 427 and 410;

Local rapid-transit bus or light-rail services along major routes in Hamilton, Halton, Peel, York and Durham Regions;

$500-million for "active transportation," such as bike lanes;

Northward extensions of TTC light-rail lines planned for Jane Street and Don Mills north to Highway 7 in York Region;

GO Transit commuter rail service expansions or improvements including routes to Niagara, Kitchener-Waterloo, Bowmanville and Aurora.

Metrolinx's 11-member board, made up mostly of Greater Toronto Area municipal politicians, with four seats from the city of Toronto, will debate the draft plan at a retreat this weekend in King City. Premier Dalton McGuinty is also scheduled to have a briefing on the plan this week, one source familiar with the plan said. A final-draft version, which may include modifications to the current plan, is to be presented this month for public consultations.

Other potentially controversial policies under consideration by Metrolinx - such as road tolls for the 400-series highways or new taxes on parking spots or gasoline - are to be presented in a separate financial plan.

For now, the revisions to the TTC's Transit City plan will likely generate the most political heat, as public meetings on the mayor's proposed light-rail lines, including a partly tunnelled line on Eglinton, are already going ahead.

While the Premier previously appeared to endorse the city's light-rail agenda, which is now expected to cost about $10-billion, Metrolinx is supposed to fine-tune the region's transportation plan and set priorities for provincial funding. Mr. Miller campaigned on the plan to run new, more modern streetcars along a partly tunnelled route on Eglinton, so scrapping that for a subway would put Toronto's mayor and Metrolinx on a collision course.

Adam Giambrone, the city councillor who chairs the TTC and also sits on the Metrolinx board, said yesterday he had not seen a copy of the plan. But he reiterated the TTC's objection to a subway along Eglinton, which he said is not warranted given the projected ridership numbers and would cost as much as $10-billion compared with a light-rail line with an estimated $2.2-billion price tag.

He warned it would also take much longer to build, meaning it might not happen at all - the fate met by the last subway planned for Eglinton, upon which construction had already begun before it was cancelled in 1995 by the newly elected provincial Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris.

"I think we have said very clearly that we are not going to build a Metro or a subway on Eglinton," Mr. Giambrone said.

Metrolinx chairman Rob MacIsaac has argued previously that Eglinton is busy enough to warrant more than just a light-rail line.

[Mister F]

Toronto's transit plans on separate tracks

Regional draft offers alternative to TTC's light rail network

Sep 04, 2008 04:30 AM
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter

Link to story (http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/490345)

It is a competing vision of how to solve Toronto's growing gridlock crisis.

A draft proposal of the Metrolinx regional transportation plan shows a juiced-up version of the planned light rail line across Eglinton, the conversion of the Sheppard subway to light rail and another U-shaped subway that includes Queen St.

If the plans were to proceed, the three east-west endeavours could derail significant pieces of the TTC's highly touted Transit City plan to build $10 billion worth of light rail lines to Toronto's borders.

They're also among a few surprises contained in a preliminary draft of the regional transportation plan by Metrolinx, which has repeatedly promised a bold approach to attacking road congestion in the GTA.

Metrolinx, formerly the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority, was created by the province in 2006. Its 11-member board, which includes Mayor David Miller, has been mandated to develop a regional transportation plan designed to be "a seamless, integrated transit network" from Hamilton to Newmarket to Oshawa.

Metrolinx chair Rob MacIsaac stressed yesterday that the versions already circulating among board members and transportation insiders aren't the ones that will be released to the public at the end of the month.

But he expects many of the ideas will be the same.

The plans include campaigns to devote more road space to transit, promote biking and walking, expand GO service around the region to two-way service every 15 minutes, extend major regional highways and build a high-speed rail link between Pearson airport and Union Station.

The early drafts include a map showing a "Metro" line along Eglinton, as well as a light rail line where the Sheppard subway currently exists. Sources have said Metrolinx has been pushing for a subway line along Eglinton.

MacIssac denied this. "I do not anticipate we will be recommending a subway on Eglinton," he said, admitting he doesn't want to inflame tensions between the provincial planning agency and Toronto.

"I really want to downplay that we're in a pitched battle with the city. We need to continue to work with them to try so that the regional and local needs are met on Eglinton," said MacIsaac.

Asked whether Metrolinx plans to recommend against portions of the Transit City lines, MacIsaac said, "the heart and soul of Transit City will be in our plan, I predict."

If there's limited money on the table, the last thing the 905-area municipalities are going to want is $6 billion chewed up by a subway, said Toronto transit advocate Steve Munro. "It's like the Sheppard subway. The problem with these gigantic projects is they use all the money. But what portion of the regional demand does it address?"

One city source, who wouldn't be named, pointed to the draft's designation of Eglinton as a "Metro" line. Metrolinx defines "Metro" as grade-separated electric rail, which can run below ground or elevated such as Vancouver's SkyTrain. But it can also mean light rail on the surface, as the TTC has planned.

But Vancouver-style light rail would never get off the ground since the city owns the road, said the source.

MacIsaac said the idea of a subway line running from Don Mills station down to Queen St., west to Dundas West station is "not inconsistent" with the TTC's plans and only appears under the longer-term 25-year Metrolinx proposals.

TTC chair Adam Giambrone, also on the Metrolinx board, said such a line to relieve overcrowding on the Yonge subway might be appropriate after 2018, when the bulk of the seven proposed Transit City lines would be operational.

"What I can tell you is the city is very committed to implementing Transit City as is," he said. "We want to help accommodate longer distance travel but it can't be at the expense of local travel.

"This is not all about regional express service. If we're serious about getting more people on transit we need good local transit."

Miller said he hadn't read the regional transportation plan draft but told reporters, "it's an issue of meeting transportation demand and being affordable.

"Those are the issues. Can we build rapid transit for Toronto's neighbourhoods in the near future? Is there a way to finance that cost? And does it meet the transportation demands? Those are the questions the TTC asked itself in developing Transit City. And those are certainly the questions I'll look at when I review the draft Metrolinx plan."

The Metrolinx board will discuss the draft plan at a King City retreat tomorrow and Saturday.

Premier Dalton McGuinty also said he had not seen the Metrolinx draft. He noted his government's MoveOntario plan is worth $17.5 billion, including one-third federal funding that Ottawa has yet to fully commit. "The issue is what's the best way to invest this money," he told reporters.

How Metrolinx proposes to pay for the transit and other improvements is still unclear. Some early plans value the costs at about $55 billion. The TTC has suggested an Eglinton subway would cost about $10 billion.

But MacIsaac said the final version of the regional plan would not be worth $55 billion.

"We're working within the constraints that we've been given. Although we recognize MoveOntario 2020 is a huge start it's not the end and I don't think anybody ever said it would be," he said.

A draft investment strategy, addressing possible revenue tools such as a gas tax, road tolls and parking levies, is to be released along with the regional transportation plan at the end of the month.

With files from Paul Moloney and Rob Ferguson

[MalcolmTucker]

Once the Metrolinx plans are reconciled with the city plans I think the only part that will stay is making GO Trains 15 minute service both ways all day on all lines, and electrifying those lines as they are upgraded to higher capacity.

This is a broad enough project to have deep political support.

Transit City will get some fine tuning, such as either lengthening the Eglinton tunnel section, or putting in a second tunnel section to increase speeds. Speeds can also be increased on this line by having much less frequent stops than normal street car service (which operates more like a local bus).

In is interesting that Metrolinx has decided that the downtown reflief line should be a new Queen St subway rather than the cheap(er) option that has been reflected in plans for sometime.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/TtcV233.png
source: wiki

[Cirrus]

$55 billion is just amazing. American cities CANNOT do this in the current US DOT funding system. Can't.

That’s $2.2 billion (Canadian, but we're close to parity) per year–more than the entire American allotment for New Starts.

Be jealous, folks. Be very jealous.

[DC83]

^^ The $55 Billion goes far beyond just the City of Toronto -- it covers the better part of the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Horseshoe). Including a $1.1 Billion plan for 2 Light Rail lines up and across Hamilton, along with better GO (commuter) service across the region.

This is going to be great for Southern Ontario as a whole!

[vid]

I'd like to see subway expanded into Mississauga, as far as Square One perhaps.

It would be nice if the province's big plan included other communities outside of the GTA. :\

[hkskyline]

Good luck trying to get 1/10 of that funding from the government!

[J. Will]

$55 billion is just amazing. American cities CANNOT do this in the current US DOT funding system. Can't.

That’s $2.2 billion (Canadian, but we're close to parity) per year–more than the entire American allotment for New Starts.

Be jealous, folks. Be very jealous.

I read that the U.S. has spent over $1 trillion fighting the war in the Middle East. Imagine if just half that had been spent improving public transit in the U.S. instead. Such a shame...

There are other areas money could be saved in the U.S. and put towards public transit. Like stop putting so money people in jail for what are basically victimless crimes. Maryland has more people in prison than Canada with 1/6th the population. Almost 1% of the adult population in the US is incarcerated. The percentage in Canada is a fraction that.

[Jared]

I'm a bit confused here, how many transit plans does Toronto have anyways? TransitCity? MoveOntario2020? Metrolynx? Can somebody clarify what (and when) all these plans are?

[ardecila]

They're three conflicting visions for what transit in Toronto should look like, made by agencies that should be working together...

This is what happens when politics gets in the way of practical and sensible planning. By the way, each of these plans costs money to prepare, so these competing plans are also wasteful....

We've had this problem in Chicago for years, where CTA, the city, and CATS each have different plans for system expansion. Of course, right now it doesn't matter, since the chances for expansion in the near future are zero.

[Mister F]

I'm a bit confused here, how many transit plans does Toronto have anyways? TransitCity? MoveOntario2020? Metrolynx? Can somebody clarify what (and when) all these plans are?
Transit City is the transit plan approved by the City of Toronto. It's mostly light rail with a couple subway extensions to the outer suburbs, and no new transit of any kind downtown. MoveOntario2020 is the provincial plan that basically funded every serious mass transit plan in the province, including TransitCity. Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, and I think Ottawa got funding. MoveOntario2020 and TransitCity don't conflict.

Metrolinx is where it gets complicated. Metrolinx is the new greater Toronto regional transit body created by the province. I really don't know where its jurisdiction begins and ends but it includes regional/commuter rail. Ultimately the province has the power to impose any transit solution it wants on the city. The Metrolinx plan doesn't have funding. Some of it is consistent with TransitCity but it goes further, with a new east-west subway downtown for example.

This plan is just a leaked document, the official announcement is in a couple weeks.

[Justin10000]

Right now, the City, and Metrolinx are at odds with what to do with Eglinton Ave.

Metrolinx wants ART Technology on the line, while the City wants LRT. I am siding with the city on this one. LRT is more for the ridership projection, and intended devlopment planned for this Avenue.

[brickell]

Wasn't Toronto closing libraries last year because they were budgets were so out of whack? Help me out here Mike.

I am jealous, but also wonder where the money is coming from.

[Cirrus]

I am jealous, but also wonder where the money is coming from.American cities generate that much money, if not more. Difference is we spend it all on widening and maintaining a road system that doesn't work.

The current 6-year federal surface transportation bill has a budget of like $300 billion, and most of that money is matched by state or local funds. So on average the US spends AT LEAST $100 billion per year on surface transportation, easily in the range of the $2.2 billion / year for major cities that Toronto will be spending for this plan.

So what I said earlier isn't really true. We DO have the money. But it's all tied up in wasteful programs that nobody has the political will to change.

Obama says he will try. That's the most anybody has ever promised.

[waterloowarrior]

Wasn't Toronto closing libraries last year because they were budgets were so out of whack? Help me out here Mike.

I am jealous, but also wonder where the money is coming from.

they have a number of different options they are looking at, including parking taxes, tolling existing highways, having a regional sales tax, and things like having the provincial government provide dependable funding for transit like they did before the 90s. They will be announcing the funding plan in the near future.

[Andy6]

Wasn't Toronto closing libraries last year because they were budgets were so out of whack? Help me out here Mike.

I am jealous, but also wonder where the money is coming from.

It's just the price of a wish list put together by the transportation agency, as far as I can tell from the article. I'm sure that the money isn't going to be coming from anywhere, at least not $55 billion worth of it.

[DJM19]

With 55 billion, los angeles could build a dream system worthy of a population it has.

[Mister F]

Draft Regional Transportation Plan (pdf): high res (http://www.metrolinx.com/Docs/DraftRTPandIS/Metrolinx%20Draft%20RTP%20-%20High%20Res.pdf), low res (http://www.metrolinx.com/Docs/DraftRTPandIS/Metrolinx%20Draft%20RTP%20-%20Low%20Res.pdf).

Draft Investment Strategy (http://www.metrolinx.com/Docs/DraftRTPandIS/Metrolinx%20Draft%20IS.pdf)

[Lee_Haber8]

Other potentially controversial policies under consideration by Metrolinx - such as road tolls for the 400-series highways or new taxes on parking spots or gasoline - are to be presented in a separate financial plan.

There's a company based in Toronto called Skymeter (http://www.skymetercorp.com) that has developed technology that allows for the tolling of all roads using GPS. They say that this could be used to fund transit and/or replace government taxes that go to funding roads.

Here's a recent announcement of some of the work they are doing in Korea (http://www.skymetercorp.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=103)

[miketoronto]

Adam Giambrone, the city councillor who chairs the TTC and also sits on the Metrolinx board, said yesterday he had not seen a copy of the plan. But he reiterated the TTC's objection to a subway along Eglinton, which he said is not warranted given the projected ridership numbers and would cost as much as $10-billion compared with a light-rail line with an estimated $2.2-billion price tag.


I can not believe the chair of the TTC can actually say something like that. The projected ridership numbers are low for Eglinton because people will not ride a slow LRT line.
It seems the TTC has not done studies to see how many more people would ride the Eglinton line if it was a subway instead of LRT.

Thank goodness planners and the TTC in the 50-60's did not have this logic, because we would have no subways now. There was a time parts of the Toronto subway network did not run on Sunday's, and trains ran only every 7 minutes. Fastforward now and trans are packed seven days a week, with headways of 5 min or less at all times.
Sometimes you gotta plan ahead.

Anyway a new group has just formed headed by someone I know. The group is called RAPID TRANSIT NOW, and they are going to be lobbying the TTC for subways where they are needed. Like on Sheppard and Eglinton.

Mayor Miller and the TTC must be taking some pretty strong "LRT obsession" pills. Because that is all they want, and will not even look at alternatives like subways at this time.

I have emailed the TTC and asked for detailed travel time information on the proposed LRT lines compared to the current bus lines. I expect once these stats come out, it will show just what a waste this LRT proposal is.
People on Sheppard already know they will see almost no time savings with LRT over the current bus service. And that was told to us at the public meeting for the line.

[SteelTown]

Hamilton's LRT Video

http://www.myhamilton.ca/myhamilton/CityandGovernment/ProjectsInitiatives/RapidTransit/RapidTransitVideo.htm

[J. Will]

There was a time parts of the Toronto subway network did not run on Sunday's, and trains ran only every 7 minutes.

I know it would have to suck to put up with 7 minute headways, but even in 2008 the residents of many cities have to put up with 10+ minute headways off-peak. It just shows how little some agencies care about waiting times.

[Doady]

I know it would have to suck to put up with 7 minute headways, but even in 2008 the residents of many cities have to put up with 10+ minute headways off-peak. It just shows how little some agencies care about waiting times.

It is not about waiting times. It is about capacity and ridership, and ridership is a function of density.

No transit agency can provide 7 minute service on any given route unless there is the density to support it.

[J. Will]

It is not about waiting times.

Maybe not for you, but for most of us it is.

[Justin10000]

Not it's not. No one is going to care about having to wait 2-3 extra minutes.

People care when they have to wait 15 minutes, only to be greeted by a packed bus.

[Doady]

Maybe not for you, but for most of us it is.

Are you even reading what I am saying? At the very least you could remember what you were saying. It is not the personal preferences of me or you being discussed here.

[J. Will]

Are you even reading what I am saying? At the very least you could remember what you were saying. It is not the personal preferences of me or you being discussed here.

Actually that is what mike and I were discussing.

[MalcolmTucker]

It is not about waiting times. It is about capacity and ridership, and ridership is a function of density.

No transit agency can provide 7 minute service on any given route unless there is the density to support it.

In Toronto the problem isn't ridership of potential high frequency corridors but ongoing service costs. Torontonians aren't willing to pay the property taxes to support the system they want (or at least their councilors think that).

It doesn't help that city councillors from areas well served by transit vote against service to underserved areas.

Such as this:

DART
METRO COUNCILLORS JACK LAYTON AND OLIVIA CHOW. For parochialism. Layton and Chow, who represent the Downtown and Don River wards in the City of Toronto, are the only two New Democrats on Metro Council who voted against the Sheppard subway. New Democrats usually back public transit, but these two used all sorts of tortured logic to justify their votes. But their arguments just provided cover for what was really old-fashioned political parochialism: Layton's and Chow's constituents are already well-served by public transit, so why spend money on those in other wards who aren't?"

(DARTS & LAURELS - The Toronto Star, Saturday, August 17, 1996, Page: B2, Section: Editorial)

[vid]

The Sheppard Subway wasn't the most logical subway, though, was it? Have you looked at a map? It's North York's penis.

[Wright Concept]

The design of this network in Toronto, they should consider both Low floor in the Downtown and pedestrian friendly areas and High floor LRV's on the outer lines. High Floor LRV's like the ones used for Calgary and Edmonton would work beautifully for this tunnel and provide the continual connection all the way through Sheppard East. Just close the subway on weekends. string up the catenary and adjust the platforms for those trains and walla more ridership because the tunnel infrastructure is better utilized.

Even serve as a replacement to the Scarbourough (Sp?) IRT cars.

[miketoronto]

The Sheppard Subway wasn't the most logical subway, though, was it? Have you looked at a map? It's North York's penis.

Why is it not logical? Sheppard was and still is one of the busiest bus routes in the city. It operates next to North America's busiest freeway, and connects two major areas of the city together(North York Centre & Scarborough City Centre). In addition, Sheppard Ave is lined with high-rise housing alongs almost its entire length.

Sheppard has been traffic clogged for over 20 years. It needs rapid transit right through to Scarborough.

[Justin10000]

In Toronto the problem isn't ridership of potential high frequency corridors but ongoing service costs. Torontonians aren't willing to pay the property taxes to support the system they want (or at least their councilors think that).

It doesn't help that city councillors from areas well served by transit vote against service to underserved areas.

Such as this:

For one, the area served by the subway is STILL underserved. The Subway did nothing for the local residents. The traffic on Sheppard is atrocious, while the subway is underused. Mr. Layton, and Mrs. Chow had the gall to stand up against it. It's should have been light rail, or they should have pushed the subway at least to Vic Park, where it may have been more useful.
Hell, 2 Billion could have built a LRT metro all the way to Scarborough.

[Justin10000]

In Toronto the problem isn't ridership of potential high frequency corridors but ongoing service costs. Torontonians aren't willing to pay the property taxes to support the system they want (or at least their councilors think that).

It doesn't help that city councillors from areas well served by transit vote against service to underserved areas.

Such as this:

For one, the area served by the subway is STILL underserved. The Subway did nothing for the local residents. The traffic on Sheppard is atrocious, while the subway is underused. Mr. Layton, and Mrs. Chow had the gall to stand up against it. It's should have been light rail, or they should have pushed the subway at least to Vic Park, where it may have been more useful.
Hell, 2 Billion could have built LRT all the way to Scarborough.

[twoNeurons]

No transit agency can provide 7 minute service on any given route unless there is the density to support it.

That's not true.

Vancouver's hardly dense compared to many cities and its had 2 minute headways for years. From Day 1, there were no more than 5 minute headways.

This was achieved through automation and shorter, more frequent trains. Long Subway trains and platforms are somewhat of a relic from the past when automation was technologically difficult or unreliable... and higher frequency meant much higher costs (more drivers). The future is shorter, more financially responsible, and more convenient for riders.

Full length subways are financially irresponsible for all but the largest of cities.

And ultimately, it's better for the passenger.

[miketoronto]

Vancouver and Toronto are the only cities in North America that provide subway service every 5 minutes or less seven days a week at all times.
Even in Europe you do not get this.

[SSLL]

I don't know about Vancouver, but IIRC Sheppard has 6 minute headways most of the time, and the other lines after 9pm on weekdays.

[ssiguy]

During rush-hour the SkyTrain runs every 80 seconds. Even during the day it never decreases below every 3 minutes.
Even the new Canada Line light-metro on opening day will run every 3 minutes all day.
In Vancouver the trains are shorter but the frequencies are incredible. You literally never wait for a SkyTrain.

[Fresh]

I must admit those Vancouver frequencies are absolutely remarkable.

[Justin10000]

I don't know about Vancouver, but IIRC Sheppard has 6 minute headways most of the time, and the other lines after 9pm on weekdays.

It's 5 mimutes on the Sheppard Line.