Yonge subway extension to York Region takes step forward

Toronto transit officials insist the project can’t be done until other projects built to take pressure off Yonge line.

Thestar.com
June 2, 2016
By Ben Spurr

A controversial extension of the TTC’s Yonge subway line has gotten a boost, after the province announced it would fund design work for the project.

The Ontario government said Thursday it would provide $55 million to provincial transit agency Metrolinx to work with the TTC and the Regional Municipality of York on detailed planning for the Yonge North Subway Extension.

The project would extend the TTC’s Line 1 from Finch station to Highway 7 in Richmond Hill, and has been championed by municipal leaders in York Region for years.

In a statement Thursday, York Region chair Wayne Emmerson said the subway was the regional council’s “number one rapid transit priority” and the funding announcement was “a critical first step” in its completion.

“The Yonge North Subway Extension project is now on track and moving forward,” he said, adding that the subway would replace 2,500 daily bus trips currently serving that section of Yonge.

York Region estimates the 7.4-km, five-stop extension would help create 31,000 jobs.

But the project is contentious because it would add riders to the TTC’s busiest line, which is already overburdened. According to TTC spokesman Brad Ross, the Yonge line regularly carries 24,000 passengers an hour in the morning peak period, approaching its capacity of 25,500.

The commission expects to increase capacity to over 32,000 riders an hour by implementing an automatic train control system, but Ross said that the TTC won’t be able to handle more riders from York Region until new lines like the downtown relief line and SmartTrack are completed.

“We welcome a Yonge North extension, but not before a DRL and SmartTrack are in service to take pressure off of the Yonge line,” Ross said.

Mayor John Tory has said SmartTrack will be up and running in six years, while the downtown relief line is still at least a decade away.

At an event on Wednesday to announce similar provincial funding for designing the relief line, Tory said the downtown subway was “a precondition” to the northern extension.

“And there are many people who are interested in that extension, which we simply can’t do until we can provide some release to the capacity problems on the Yonge St. subway,” he said.