Scarborough transit rethink a lesson for all of us
Ten lessons to take away from the recent changes to SmartTrack and the Scarborough subway.
Thestar.com
Jan. 20, 2016
By Royson James
So, what have we learned from a year of transit meddling from Mayor John Tory? Let’s count the top 10 lessons:
One. Tory’s signature SmartTrack transit plan, sold as a transformative idea, was a gross oversell that was not clearly costed, considered and conceived. We should be careful about accepting his future great ideas at face value.
Two. Tory’s blanket acceptance of the Scarborough Subway as a fait accompli, the subway that sidelined the fully-funded LRT plan, was ill-advised and violated numerous planning principles.
Three. Notwithstanding the above two lessons, Tory benefits greatly from his transit misdemeanours. Wrong as he was on key aspects of his transit platform, it was a winning election strategy. In fact, it could be argued that Tory is mayor today precisely because he sold the city something he should have known he could not deliver.
Four. Tory’s mea culpa this week doesn’t seem to have long term political ramifications. Citizens are so hungry for transit improvements that they will swallow anything that remotely appears to make their commute better.
Five. Citizens should be extremely skeptical of transit plans hatched during an election. Ditto for any proposal politicians dream up, without exhaustive research and documentation and data to support it. That’s an old lesson. The people keep forgetting it.
Six. While Tory deserves kudos for pulling back from the more reckless elements of SmartTrack, he doesn’t get a medal for seeing the light after a year of wilful blindness. No one should.
Seven. No Toronto transit plan is ever final - until it’s built. No matter what city council votes, somebody, somehow, some way, at some time will have a better idea.
Eight. When we leave transit matters to the transit planners, we open up an avenue that is infinitely more rewarding than one instructed by a political agenda.
Nine. A mayor can mess up the transit file as easily as he or she can bring warring political factions to heel and deliver progress. So pick your mayors carefully.
Ten. Judge all proposals, including the most recent ones, with eyes wide open. They are never exactly what they appear to be.
Each of the above lesson could generate a 50-page chapter in a revised version of Ed Levy’s book, Rapid Transit in Toronto: A century of plans, projects, politics, and paralysis.
Compromises are never perfect. Transit compromises always end up hurting commuters. But, as political compromises go, the two-pronged “peace treaty” signed over the SmartTrack plan is as good a solution as can be expected.
This file was already damaged. Tory said he would build 22 stops on existing GO Transit tracks, plus a new heavy rail spur out to Pearson airport. His election opponent Olivia Chow challenged him directly on the western spur, only to be dismissed with a flick of the wrist.
On Tuesday Tory was forced to admit his $8 billion plan had a huge problem. The western leg alone could cost close to $8 billion. And the originally proposed LRT there would deliver two to three times more riders for $1.3 billion.
But the rest of the plan is solid - in fact, it’s even more robust than first thought, Tory said Tuesday.
Upon further review, not quite.
Two days later you are to hear that there are problems with the SmartTrack East on the Stouffville line. Only, it won’t be framed that way.
The problem with SmartTrack East has always been that it was too close to the planned Scarborough Subway to make sense. To fix that, the mayor’s office pushed the subway east to McCowan. That didn’t solve the problem. So, the chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat found a solution:
Reduce the subway to one stop - the only one that could, maybe, possibly, make sense - at the Scarborough Town Centre. Save more than $1 billion and use that money to extend the Eglinton Crosstown LRT from Kennedy and Eglinton east to Kingston Rd., and north to the U of T Scarborough campus at Morningside near 401. And, turn the Stouffville GO line into a local commuter service with stops at Ellesmere and Lawrence for a total of eight stations between Unionville and Kennedy.
The compromise works on several fronts. Scarborough politicians deliver on their subway promise. Tory gets SmartTrack. Scarborough residents actually get better transit than the subway-only plan. Keesmaat doesn’t have to stand up in council and slag SmartTrack and the subway cannibalizing each other. And city council?
“This is something we can live with, to be honest with you,” said Councillor Michael Thompson.
“There might be peace,” said Glen De Baeremaeker, who admits political guerrilla tactics needed to land the subway might have seen him assume an irrational position on the subway plan.
