John Tory ‘furious’ at ballooning costs of Spadina subway extension

Mayor says “accountability ... includes people losing their jobs” while the TTC chair is calling for third-party review of all capital projects.


Thestar.com
March 6, 2015
By Betsy Powell and Robert Benzie

Mayor John Tory is livid that the cost for delayed York-Spadina subway extension has ballooned - repeating what he called a disturbing pattern of large capital project overruns.

He was reacting to revelations in the Star that the troubled line is $400 million over budget.

“We have lurched from one fiasco to another costing taxpayers ... tens of millions of dollars, and just as important, delaying the day we get desperately needed transit service to move people,” Tory said Friday at city hall.

“I am furious that this happens over and over and over again.”

He blames what he called “an entrenched culture of nonaccountability at city hall.”

Tory said TTC chief executive Andy Byford, who is away, briefed him a few days ago on the possibility of significant cost overruns. The amount of money it will take to finish the extension depends on what options are chosen, including whether the subway could initially run only as far as York University.

While Toronto and York Region are contractually responsible for the overruns, the mayor said it is premature to speculate on how the additional costs will be paid.

Asked why no one ever gets fired for projects that run over budget, Tory said: “I think that’s a darn good question.”

“Accountability,” he said, “includes people losing their jobs, it includes people being recognized in a positive way who bring projects in on time and budget, and I just don’t think there’s been a lot of attention paid to that over time.”

Tory rejected any suggestion the Spadina subway delays and overruns have any implication on the Scarborough subway extension. It has not yet broken ground and will cost an estimated $3.56 billion.

This project overrun is not unique to the TTC and not a reflection on subways as a mode of transportation, Tory said.

“This is about how you manage things. I don’t think it says anything at all about the Scarborough subway. The Scarborough subway has been approved by all three levels of government and it will proceed, and the work is proceeding.”

Toronto Transit Commission chair Josh Colle, who echoed Tory’s concerns about wasted tax dollars, said the TTC board expects to learn the “extent” of the problems on March 26, when it receives a report on the project.

“At that point there will be a decision both for the commission ... and council to make on what steps we want to take and what investments we want to make to get that project on track ... and get people on that system,” he said.

Colle, who became TTC chair under Tory but served on its board under former mayor Rob Ford, said he is calling for an independent, third-party review of all the TTC’s capital projects, as well as insisting on updates at every TTC management meeting.

Earlier Friday, Premier Kathleen Wynne chided the TTC itself for not building the Spadina subway extension as a private-public partnership.

Speaking at the downtown YWCA on Elm St., she suggested the TTC could learn from the province on how to better build infrastructure.

“It’s interesting that this was not a project that was built ... according to the AFP model,” said Wynne, referring to the Liberal government’s “alternative financing and procurement” way of funding big infrastructure, such as the Eglinton Crosstown line, currently under construction.

“There’s been a lot of talk about how to bring these projects in on time and on budget and certainly I know Infrastructure Ontario will be happy to talk with the city and the TTC about how that AFP model actually allows for bringing these projects in on time and on budget,” she said.

Wynne was careful not to close the door to bailing out the extension to the tune of $400 million - even though cost overruns are supposed to be covered by the TTC, the city and York Region.

“This is a project that’s very important obviously to the network of transit that’s being developed. It was our government that put $870 million in the hands of the TTC to build the project,” said Wynne.

“We haven’t seen any formal request or formal engagement on this, but obviously it’s important to us that the subway be built. I’m sure it will be. It will be completed and it will be a great service,” she said.

The 8.6-kilometre, six-stop subway extension from Downsview Station to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre was originally expected to cost $1.5 billion before ballooning to $2.5 billion and, now, at least $2.9 billion.

The TTC has budgeted $444 million this year and $446 million next year toward the subway costs.

The commission’s $9.3-billion, 10-year capital plan projects a $2.35-billion shortfall. The transit agency has budgeted $1.15 billion in capital expenses this year. The vast majority of the money goes to maintaining the existing system in a state of good repair, including mundane items such as replacement vehicles, fire vents, bridge, tunnel and track work, roofing and paving. Only 4 per cent of the capital is allocated for expansion projects and system improvements.

Some of the TTC’s higher-profile projects lately have included the $167-million Leslie streetcar house and the $325-million installation of automatic train control and resignalling of the Yonge line that will add capacity to the overburdened subway.

Announced in the March 2006, the Spadina subway extension was supposed to open by this fall, but is now unlikely to be running before 2017.