Subway, LRT, SRT? What we know about transit in Scarborough
As council looks to finalize an alignment for a one-stop subway extension, it has left some residents questioning if they’ll be left on the bus.

Thestar.com
By JENNIFER PAGLIARO
March 15, 2017

The debate over the future of transit in Scarborough returns to city hall with a council meeting that begins March 28. As city staff look for direction to continue studying a subway plan — one that Mayor John Tory says will bring needed growth to the urban centre - rising costs have raised questions about whether Scarborough is getting the most transit with the money available. With $3.56 billion in funding committed, a town hall Monday night left some residents with lingering questions about the plan on the table and whether they’ll be left on the bus. We break down the options and answer some of the major questions.

So, how many new transit stops will Scarborough be getting?

With the current funding, Scarborough will be going from five SRT stops (in addition to Kennedy) to just one subway stop at the Scarborough Town Centre. If more funding can be secured, council is looking to build an 18-stop LRT along Eglinton Ave. East. There are no additional funding commitments for that line right now. A request has been made to the federal government.

Who’s paying for the subway extension?

The province committed $1.48 billion (in 2010 dollars, with the province responsible for inflationary costs), originally pledged to the seven-stop LRT, the federal government committed $660 million, and the city will contribute $910 million for a total $3.56 billion. Of the city contribution, the majority is being raised through a special property tax from all Toronto residents that began in 2014 and will continue for the next 30 years. If instead of a subway, the seven-stop LRT was to be built with provincial money, the federal and city contributions that have been committed to Scarborough transit would almost cover the cost of the 18-stop Eglinton East LRT.

How many people will ride the subway extension?

Ridership during the rush hour in the busiest direction is expected to be 7,400 an hour in 2031 - well below the accepted minimum threshold for a subway of 15,000 people and the maximum capacity of 36,000 people. The capacity of an LRT is 2,000 to 15,000 an hour depending on the configuration. The daily ridership of the planned subway extension is expected to be 30,800 in 2031 - less than the SRT’s current daily ridership of nearly 39,000.

Will I get where I’m going faster?

City staff confirmed with the Star this week that replacing the SRT with the proposed subway extension “would save customers approximately eight minutes for travel from Scarborough Centre Station to any station west of Kennedy.” But that doesn’t factor in the bus trips for individual users, who may spend more time on a bus getting to a rapid transit station with the one-stop plan. It also doesn’t consider the time that could be saved compared to the LRT plan.

What is an LRT?

LRT is just a short form of “light rail transit.” It is technology widely used in European and North American cities and in its own right-of-way can run just as fast as a subway. Though the Scarborough LRT has been compared to the existing streetcar network, the LRT had more in common with the Eglinton Crosstown line under construction now, using longer, higher capacity, low-floor vehicles. It would have run in the SRT corridor and never interacted with traffic. An improved transfer with a single flight of stairs was originally planned at Kennedy Station. With changes to the redesign of that station, the connection could be made by simply crossing the platform on the same level, which staff has not studied.

Will there be new stations at Centennial College or the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus?

There will be no station at Centennial. The seven-stop LRT gave the college its own station, before that plan was scrapped.

There is a station planned at UTSC on the 18-stop Eglinton East LRT, but that line is currently unfunded.

Will there be a stop at The Scarborough Hospital?

No. Former mayor Rob Ford’s three-stop subway plan proposed a stop at McCowan Rd. and Lawrence Ave., but that stop has been eliminated in the revised subway plan.

Hasn’t council already voted to build a subway?

Since May 2013, there have been at least seven key votes on Scarborough transit. But the subway project is not a done deal with funding agreements yet to be signed, design yet to be advanced and construction contracts yet to be tendered. Though subway proponents have tried to blame a delay on advocates for the LRT alternative, the delay has been exclusively related to staff reports not being ready on time, additional review of subway options recommended by staff and regular processes involved with billion-dollar infrastructure projects. Staff are recommending they return to council again in “late 2018” with a more concrete cost estimate after more design work.

When is the subway extension expected to be finished?

City staff estimated construction would take approximately six years and that the earliest it could be done is the second quarter of 2026.