Did Liberals sway Metrolinx GO station decisions in York? PC critic asks

yorkregion.com
April 5, 2017
By Adam Martin-Robbins

The Liberal government appears to have influenced the selection of multimillion-dollar GO train stations in the ridings of two York Region cabinet ministers despite an expert report slamming the choices, Conservative transportation critic Michael Harris said.

Last June, the government and Metrolinx approved the Kirby station in the Vaughan riding of Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and the Mulock station in the Newmarket-Aurora riding of Housing Minister Chris Ballard.

But last month, a newly released consultant’s report, commissioned prior to the approval of the stations, listed numerous flaws with both locations.

Harris has significant concerns about how the stations were approved, adding that of the dozen stations approved as part of a GO system expansion, Kirby and Mulock appear to be the only ones approved despite “glaring” challenges in the consultant’s reports.

“Something is seriously wrong, obviously, with this scenario when you’ve got Metrolinx approving GO stations in ministers’ ridings when their own studies strongly advise against them. They clearly indicate the locations don’t meet very basic transportation needs,” he said.

“So, really, the question is why are we, in fact, are we moving ahead with them? The answer is obvious. Liberals do what they do best and they will use your money to advance their cause, and when it serves them best, they’ll do so, ignoring the experts’ advice, and they’ve done so in this case.”

Ballard dismissed Harris’s concerns.

“Other than bringing forward the community’s desire for a station to Metrolinx’ attention, I had nothing further to do with the process,” he said.

Del Duca, who rebuffed interview requests and responded with a statement, didn’t directly address Harris’s concern about any influence that may have been used in selecting the Kirby station.

While Harris said MPPs, including cabinet ministers, are supposed to advocate for projects that benefit their communities, he questioned how the consultant’s report was so blatantly disregarded.

“When you’ve got high capital costs, negative net present values, longer travel times, costly losses as a potential, why are we moving forward with them?” he said.

The report on the $100-million Kirby station found the benefits “are not large enough to outweigh the anticipated negative impacts to GO Transit and the economy.”

Among other things, it predicts GO passengers who board “upstream” from the Kirby stop would see their travel times rise to the point where about 3 per cent would jump in their cars and drive instead.

That would translate, over a 60-year period, into a net loss of 3.3 million transit trips and the addition of 688.1 million kilometres of car travel, adding to gridlock and pumping more greenhouse gases into the environment, the report says.

The cost to transportation users and society would total $374.4 million, the report said.

The consultant found the Mulock station supports a few of the strategic, financial and economic criteria required for new stations, and none of the operations and deliverability case criteria.

The initial financial case evaluation could result in a negative net-present value of $185.7 million, which weighs the combined capital and operation costs against fare revenue.

Other concerns include the site not meeting the minimum requirements for future residential and employment growth, and not having direct connections to other high-order transit.

In his statement, Del Duca said with 35,000 people expected to live in the area around the Kirby station, Vaughan city officials, including Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua, lobbied Metrolinx for the station.

He added that the consultant found “Kirby station ranks high for ease of construction, construction affordability and development potential” and that it supports other criteria such as real estate market demand.

While Del Duca cited a figure of 35,000 residents, the consultant’s report put the figure much lower at between 19,000 and 27,000 by 2031.

Based on that, the consultant calculated the Kirby stop would only attract 5,100 daily riders, but most of those would be existing GO riders currently using the King City and Maple stations.

Metrolinx, meanwhile, declined an interview request to discuss how the stations were chosen given the consultant’s findings.

Instead, the agency issued a statement.

“Metrolinx has developed a clear process and methodology for assessing locations across the GTHA to support a fair and consistent approach for determining station priorities,” spokesperson Kim Johnson said.

“All new stations planned are at the very early concept stage - and much more study and planning work is required before final decisions are made.”

She noted the Kirby station “ranked high for ease of construction, construction affordability and development potential” and said it “was chosen because it is within a designated ‘new community area’” in Vaughan, and the city recently expanded its planning for the area to include a GO Transit Hub.

As for the Mulock station, Johnson said, the expert’s report concluded it meets “a few of the strategic, financial and economic criteria for new stations.”