Toronto transit report identifies billions in unfunded projects headed for a council vote

Heads are spinning at city hall ahead of crucial meetings where councillors will be asked to endorse a largely unfunded plan affecting the city’s transit future for decades.

Thestar.com
June 21, 2016
By Jennifer Pagliaro

As Toronto council anticipates building a future transit network of heavy rail, subway and light rail lines, at least $11 billion of the overall plan remains unfunded.

That figure, found in a 329-page report released Tuesday, has left some heads spinning at city hall. “We can’t afford to build any of this right now,” stressed budget-minded Councillor Gord Perks, saying council’s only option is to get serious quickly about raising property taxes.

The report doesn’t offer insight into how the projects might be funded, even as the report asks councillors to endorse the plan at a series of crucial meetings over the next few weeks.

All this leaves more questions than answers ahead.

Here’s what we know so far:

Scarborough

A one-stop subway from Kennedy to Scarborough Town Centre will cost $2.9 billion, while a proposed LRT with at least 17 stops along Eglinton Ave. to the U of T Scarborough campus will cost almost $1.7 billion.

Factoring in costs to extend the life of the Scarborough RT and decommission it later, the total cost tops $4.8 billion, leaving the city $1 billion short in committed funding from three levels of government.

For the first time, the city has revealed that the cost to operate and maintain the subway extension would total $5.49 billion over its 60-year lifecycle. (No annual figures were given.) The city is responsible for that cost.

New estimates say the six-kilometre extension could be completed by late 2025, if construction began in 2020, but only if council approves an alignment for it, currently recommended along McCowan Ave., next month.

The 10.5-kilometre extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT could be built by late 2023, if construction started in 2020.

Downtown relief line

Deemed a “critical” priority to relieve subway congestion, the DRL would cost $6.8 billion - source unknown.

That’s more than double a 2012 estimate of $3.2 billion. TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said the price in today’s dollars ranges upward from $4 billion, depending on the alignment, but is expected to grow to $6.8 billion in the actual years of construction.

The eastern portion - likely from Pape Station, along Eastern Ave. to Queen St. into downtown - could be built by 2031 if work begins in 2021. At 7.5 kilometres and eight stations, the line would cost more than $900 million per kilometre.

Waterfront transit

The city is considering options for building new rapid transit along the waterfront, including an LRT in its own right-of-way on Lake Shore Blvd. Some 16 concepts have been shortlisted. Staff are now asking council to approve advancing to phase two, where the various options would be costed out and potential ridership studied. Staff plan to report back in the second quarter of 2017.

Fare integration

The city and Metrolinx have been negotiating for months over the complicated issue of how to merge the fare systems of the TTC with GO Transit and nine other GTA transit operators.

Metrolinx sees integration as key to breaking down barriers to cross-border travel in the increasingly interwoven region, but Toronto wants to rectify what it sees as inequities in the current system that give the city’s taxpayers a raw deal.

The report indicates the city wants Metrolinx to lower GO’s base fare, increase its distance-based fare, and subsidize a TTC co-fare that would let TTC riders board GO trains without paying two full fares. Metrolinx is still studying its options, according to a separate report.

Most other transit services charge only a small co-fare for trips connecting to GO trains. Switching between the TTC and GO requires paying two full fares. This means that a Mississauga resident who pays the 80-cent co-fare to take a MiWay bus to the Port Credit GO station and then takes the GO train to Union Station travels 21 kilometres and pays $6.80 with a Presto card. But a Toronto resident who pays $2.90 to take a TTC bus to Long Branch GO station, and then goes to Union, travels a shorter distance (16 kilometres), but pays more ($7.88 with Presto).

Toronto residents currently pay about $75 million a year to subsidize the rides of commuters from neighbouring regions who take the TTC once they get into Toronto.