$150M Spadina subway plan gets OK from TTC


Torontosun.com
March 26, 2015
By Don Peat

The $150-million plan to finish the TTC’s Spadina subway extension received the approval from transit commissioners Thursday.

After several hours of debate, the commission voted 9-2 in favour of CEO Andy Byford’s plan to spend $150 million more on the $2.6-billion delayed project to get it finished by December 2017.

The fix - which Byford billed as a major “reset” - would see a third-party management company take the reins of the project from the TTC.

City council will have to approve its $90-million share of the $150-million bill next week, with York Region being asked to foot the bill for the remaining $60 million.

The TTC is proposing to fund the fix in three ways: using some of its 2014 surplus, deferring some projects and selling land.

Commissioners rejected a push by Councillor Joe Mihevc to put the project management job out to tender rather than allowing the TTC to negotiate a contract with one staff-preferred company. TTC staff predicted the tender process would cost an additional $30 million and add six months to the project.

The approval didn’t come without grumbling from commissioners.

“All these options kinda suck ... they do,” TTC chairman Josh Colle told the commission. “What we’re tasked with right now is getting this on track and getting this line built.”

Earlier in the day, Colle acknowledged “there is lots of blame to go around” on the project but pledged to fix it.

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker described the options presented by TTC staff as “horrible” and “ugly.”

“I wouldn’t want to vote for any of them,” De Baeremaeker said, before voting for the staff-recommended option.

Byford made the recommendation last week after letting two of the top people in charge of the project go.

He said Thursday that he brought in outside experts to examine the project “because I did not believe I was being given an accurate picture of project progress.

“The two reports confirmed my suspicions and led to the action I recommended that was agreed by the board - and the change in personnel announced last week,” Byford said.