Key transit projects in limbo as PCs do ‘line-by-line audit’

Thestar.com
Ben Spurr
Sept 20, 2018

Almost four months after the Progressive Conservatives swept to power, a handful of key Toronto-area transit initiatives remain in limbo, with the new provincial government refusing to commit to billions of dollars worth of projects championed by the ousted Liberals.

Facing questions from reporters Thursday for the first time since the June election, Transportation Minister John Yakabuski declined to answer directly when asked whether the Conservatives will follow through on pledges their predecessors made, including reducing fares for shorter GO trips and electrifying large portions of the GO network.

Yakabuski, who was at GO Transit’s Willowbrook yard to announce a major expansion of rail service on the Lakeshore corridors, said the government would announce decisions on those matters following the completion of a “line-by-line audit” designed to “determine the financial state of the province.”

Asked whether the government intends to complete the Finch West light rail transit line, the minister said the Conservatives are “committed to improving the transit experience.”

“Announcements that will be made will be made in due course and at the appropriate time,” he said, predicting the audit would be done “very soon.”

Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency responsible for the GTHA, has already spent more than $236 million on the Finch project. The 11-kilometre LRT in northwest Toronto is expected to cost $1.2 billion, and is scheduled to open in 2023.

Electrifying core portions of the GO network, including the Union Pearson Express, by 2025 was part of a major planned expansion of the regional rail system launched under the Liberals and valued at $21.3 billion. Converting to electric power would reduce GO’s greenhouse gas emissions and allow trains to run more efficiently that diesel vehicles.

The previous Liberal government also pledged to reduce the cost of GO trips to $3 if they were shorter than 10 kilometres or within Toronto, making the price equivalent to the current adult TTC fare. The initiative was expected to cost $90 million over three years.

“Improvements like GO electrification, the Finch West LRT, and $3 GO fares will help commuters and make transit more affordable. (Premier) Doug Ford should not be putting these projects in jeopardy,” said Jessica Bell, NDP MPP for University-Rosedale and the party’s transit critic.

Ford promised during the election to find $6 billion in unspecified “efficiencies” in the provincial budget. Bell said the purpose of the government’s “line-by-line audit” is to identify spending to eliminate.

“I’m deeply concerned that transit will be one of the important infrastructure projects that are cut,” she said.

Yakabuski announced Thursday that starting Monday, GO will add 220 new trips per week on the Lakeshore East and Lakeshore West lines. The additional trains represent a 21-per-cent service increase on GO’s two busiest corridors, and the minister described the initiative as “the largest GO service expansion increase in five years.”

Most of the new service will be added outside of peak periods, where Metrolinx is hoping to grow ridership. Additional trains will enable midday frequencies of 15 minutes on the Lakeshore East Line, and an average of 20 minutes on Lakeshore West.

GO will add 27 new trips per day on the Lakeshore East line, which will double midday weekday service between Oshawa and Union Station, and enable trip frequencies of 15 minutes outside of peak periods.

Seventeen new train trips will be added each weekday on Lakeshore West, with six of those during rush hour. The 11 additional trains during midday represent a 50-per-cent increase in off-peak service, and mean 20-minute frequencies during midday.

“Improving public transit to better serve those who travel within the GTHA is vital to our economic development,” Yakabuski said. “Less time spent worrying about catching that train means more time spent on the valuable things that people care about, like family, friends and work.”

While the Conservatives framed the announcement Thursday as an example of the party following through on its promises to improve transit, Metrolinx has been adjusting its operations for months in order to add trains to its Lakeshore corridors, and the initiative predates the PCs’ election victory.

Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster said that between the morning and evening, “anyone on our Lakeshore corridor can arrive at a station with the expectation to have a service within 15 or 20 minute average.”

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said the agency is adding trips to the Lakeshore lines at no additional cost. To increase capacity on the corridors, GO is reallocating coaches from other lines, and putting into service “deadhead” trains that used to run on the network without passengers.