A subway expansion could change lives for commuters in York Region. Will it ever get built?

The 7.4-kilometre line would include 5 stops, and run from Finch station to Highway 7 in Richmond Hill

Cbc.ca
October 1, 2018
Nick Boisvert

On a typical workday, Lina La Rocca spends around two-and-a-half hours going to and from work, but that can stretch even longer on a bad day.

"Some days I'm waiting 20 minutes, 30 minutes for the 2 Milliken to my home in Thornhill," said La Rocca, standing near the Toronto-Vaughan border at Steeles Avenue and Yonge Street, on her way home.

Like many people in York Region, La Rocca begins her morning commute with a bus ride to Finch subway station, where she later transfers to the Sheppard line before taking one last bus to her workplace.

It's a journey that could be significantly reduced if the long-discussed Yonge subway extension ever opens.

"It would make a huge difference in my life if they had a subway station close by," La Rocca said.

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The proposed extension would include five new stations along a 7.4-kilometre stretch of Yonge Street, connecting Finch station to Highway 7 in Richmond Hill.

York Region estimates daily ridership of 165,000 on the proposed extension.

York Region's transit agency, Viva, calls the extension "the critical missing link" in the GTA's transit network. Early estimates are forecasting daily ridership of 165,000 passengers.

But despite pleas from riders and local governments to begin construction as soon as possible, the project faces an uncertain future thanks, in part, to its unclear standing among the various transit projects proposed around the GTA.

'The most justifiable' subway expansion
While planning work started on the extension earlier this year, there is no long-term funding plan for the actual construction of the project.

"The Yonge subway is the most justifiable subway investment in recent history," Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti told CBC Toronto.

Sitting inside the city's empty council chambers, Scarpitti points to a shovel he had signed by Doug Ford during the Ontario premier's summer election campaign. It was a pledge, Scarpitti says, that Ontario's new government would throw its full support behind the extension.

"This project really continues to be at the front of the line when it comes to the number of people that it would serve," Scarpitti said. "If we turn our back to such an important transit project, there will be further chaos out there."

During his campaign, Ford promised $5 billion for expanded subway service in Toronto, though it's not yet clear where the priority lies among the city's three ongoing subway projects: the Scarborough subway extension, the Yonge subway extension and the downtown relief line.

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The controversial Scarborough extension, which is the farthest along in planning, has a preliminary price tag of $3.35 billion. The other two projects do not have price estimates yet, but are anticipated to cost several billion dollars each.

The federal government has also pledged $8.3 billion for transit projects, though the money is earmarked for all of Ontario.

Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti poses with a ceremonial shovel signed by Doug Ford during the premier's election campaign. (Nick Boisvert/CBC)
"We need the subway and we need it now," said Ricardo Mashregi, the chair of a local ratepayers' association who recently launched a bid for the city's Ward 1 council seat.

Mashregi has been advocating for the Yonge extension for the past six years, arguing that York Region's explosive growth has already exceeded the area's transit capacity.

"He's a little short on the math," said Mashregi of Ford's $5 billion pledge. "So it's our responsibility to ensure that our provincial representatives step up and do the right thing."

Would other projects do more?
The TTC's outgoing chair Josh Colle said money for the proposed Yonge extension would be better spent on other projects, such as Smart Track and regional express rail.

"I think there are Toronto projects that would serve far more people," Colle said. "Those are billions of dollars that would help York Region and the City of Toronto."

Despite that position, Colle believes the Yonge extension is likely to go ahead, although he said the downtown relief line will have to open first to ensure the line can handle the increase in ridership.

The two projects, he said, have become "married" to each other, politically speaking, meaning the city is unlikely to begin construction on the downtown relief line without simultaneous work on the Yonge extension.

While that is not Colle's ideal construction plan, he said Toronto's long history of "pitting lines against each other" has to end.

"The reality is that we've got to be building forever, and never stop," Colle said.