Toronto the Transit City?

March 16, 2007 - Toronto unveiled its Transit City Light Rail Plan today. The plan calls for 60-80 km of light rail lines that criss-cross the City, particularly to areas that are currently under-served by the City. Total cost of the plan: $6.1 billion.

The plan consists of 7 new dedicated light rail right-of-ways, including lines along Finch, Don Mills, Jane, Morningside/Malvern, Waterfront West, Sheppard East, and Eglinton. The location of these lines are not surprising, as Etobicoke and North Scarborough have long been underserved by public transit.

Perhaps the most ambitious project in the plan is the Eglinton Crosstown line, which would link Kennedy Station to Pearson Airport (the first rapid transit line to the airport?). The section from Laird to Keele would also be placed underground, serving as a mini-subway along the busy midtown section (that means my future condo will be above 2 subway/LRT lines!). Total cost of this 30+ km line is $2.2 billion, approximately the same as the 8.6 km Spadina subway extension to Vaughan.

The catch of this plan is that neither the City or any level of senior government have the funding to implement it. While I believe this plan is a bold vision and it's also sensible and do-able, some critics argue that this plan is a step backwards, as what the city really needs is new subway lines. Sure, subways would be fantastic, but currently the City simply doesn't have the density to support new subway lines. I don't buy the argument that just because we don't have an extensive subway system we're a "second-tier" city - in fact many large cities in Europe, in particular Germany, use LRTs as a substitute to subways.

Sure, the Transit City plan is not perfect (i.e. there is limited integration with the GO train; the Sheppard East LRT should really be the Sheppard subway extension) but it's definitely a solid start. Hopefully this plan will inspire the city and the province/federal government to seriously start looking at expanding and updating TTC system back to its world-class status again.

Note: I was also very impressed by the new Transit City website that the TTC put up just minutes after the 10 am announcement. The site is clear and easy to navigate. My own critique would be they should have used a picture of a LRT vehicle (and not a streetcar) on its homepage. Way to go TTC! It's not every day that I'm impressed by you guys!