An extra station was just announced for Toronto’s next subway extension

BlogTO.com
April 21, 2022

Toronto's suburbs just got the promise of yet another TTC subway station, Ontario Premier Doug Ford dropping the news Wednesday morning.

The Yonge North Subway Extension project was initially announced as a three-stop expansion north into the 'burbs with the potential for three additional stations. Two of the three have since been confirmed.

The fourth station, Clark, was announced in 2021, and the latest reveal by the premier inks in a fifth stop to the line at Yonge and Royal Orchard Boulevard in Vaughan.

"There will be a fifth station," said Ford at a press conference in Thornhill, stopping to thank Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti for his involvement in pushing for what will be known as Royal Orchard Station.

Funny enough, this station will be built in the same neighbourhood that has fiercely fought against the subway project.

"This fifth station will serve the great people of Markham, Thornhill, and York Region," said Ford, speaking of the province's "historic $28.5 billion investment in transit infrastructure, the largest transit investment in Canadian history."

Transit-oriented communities, or TOCs, will be constructed along the line's Bridge and High Tech stations that are expected to add over 40,000 homes and support 19,00 in the area in the coming years.

Provincial revenue from these TOCs will be used to fund the additional station at Royal Orchard, with Ford saying that "these transit-oriented communities form a crucial part of our plan to build Ontario for the future, and they will help bring the dream of homeownership closer to more Ontarians."

The move doesn't come without controversy, though, as the TOCs are being advanced through controversial Minister's Zoning Orders, or MZOs.

Proponents of MZOs within the provincial government claim they are a critical tool to "cut unnecessary red tape and deliver more homes and transit sooner," though critics point out that they strip away carefully thought out municipal planning policies for the benefit of developers.

There is still potential for one more stop on the line, with a possible Cummer/Drewry station in the cards just north of the existing Yonge Line terminus at Finch.