York Region encourages public to lobby for Yonge Street subway extension

Yorkregion.com
July 6, 2016
By Lisa Queen

York Region has launched a campaign to rally public pressure for the extension of the Yonge Street subway north to Richmond Hill.

The region and the York Region Rapid Transit Corporation want to build on the momentum created by a $55-million investment by the province last month.

The money will be used for preliminary design work needed to bring the subway north from Finch Avenue to Hwy. 7.

“The Yonge North Subway Extension project is now on track and moving forward thanks to the generous support of our partner, the government of Ontario,” regional chairperson Wayne Emmerson said in a statement Tuesday to kick off the campaign.

“We now need to secure a long-term funding commitment to make this subway a reality.”

The $4-billion subway extension is the region’s top transit priority and would accommodate more than 165,000 riders on weekdays.

“The Yonge North Subway Extension is the No. 1 rapid transit priority of regional council for good reason," Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, chairperson of the transit corporation’s board of directors, said. "There are currently 20,000 people a day packed into buses along Yonge Street between Finch Station and Highway 7.

“It will also help us keep up with the tremendous growth and job creation we are experiencing throughout York Region.”

The first phase of the campaign includes the launch of a website, yongesubwaynow.ca, which includes a petition residents can sign asking the provincial and federal governments for funding.

The 7.4-kilometre extension would include five stations - Cummer/Drewry, Steeles, Clark, Langstaff/Longbridge and the Richmond Hill Centre.

The Steeles and Richmond Hill Centre stations would include bus terminals.

“Individuals and businesses across York Region have told us that increasing traffic congestion is by far their most pressing issue,” transit corporation president Mary-Frances Turner said.

“In response, York Region, along with our partners at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa, has made significant investments to increase and modernize our public transit options, including investments in Viva rapidways and the extension of the Spadina Subway into Vaughan. The Yonge North Subway Extension is the critical missing piece.”