Many want another look at Scarborough subway: poll

A firm majority - 61 per cent - want a downtown relief line before the Scarborough extension, a Forum phone poll has founds.

Thestar.com
Aug. 5, 2015
By Tess Kalinowski

Mayor John Tory and Premier Kathleen Wynne have said the matter is closed. But nearly half of Torontonians think city council should reopen the hot-button Scarborough subway debate, according to the latest Forum Research poll.

Forty-eight per cent said they would like council to reconsider its approval of a $3-billion, three-stop subway extension from Kennedy Station over the abandoned plan, which promised a $1.8-billion, seven-stop LRT.

Thirty-four per cent don’t want the topic reopened, the poll found, while nearly one in five respondents said they didn’t know whether it should be discussed again.

Public opinion likely won’t be enough to persuade council to reconsider its position, said Forum president Lorne Bozinoff.

The public has had time to think about other transit projects that haven’t achieved their ridership projections, including the Sheppard subway, he said. But “it’s a done deal politically for Tory and Wynne. Even if they don’t like it, they’ve got to go with it now.”

The appetite for reopening the Scarborough transit debate is somewhat surprising given that the public is anxious for results, he said.

“John Tory, to his credit, has really been pushing these achievements. He was talking about the (completed) island airport tunnel. There is real hunger for getting things done, and he’s reflecting that,” said Bozinoff.

The poll also shows that voters are split on whether a subway or LRT would best serve Scarborough. Forty-four per cent favour the subway, while 39 per cent like the LRT.

A majority of the respondents - 61 per cent - believe that the downtown relief line should be built ahead of the Scarborough subway extension. Overall only 28 per cent want the Scarborough line built first.

Among Scarborough residents, however, only 35 per cent considered the relief line the priority, compared to 74 per cent of downtowners who want that relief line built first.

On another transit front, Forum found most Torontonians - 70 per cent - think the new airport train from Union Station should operate as part of the TTC with lower fares and more stops.

“In Metrolinx’s mind this is like a business service, a premium service. But I don’t think that’s how some people are perceiving it,” he said.

The idea has spread that the Union Pearson Express (UPX) should be part of the TTC, said Bozinoff.

Forum also found that dissatisfaction with UPX fares is on the rise again, with 68 per cent saying the cost’s too high. An April poll on the topic had suggested that the sticker shock of the regular $27 one-way fare was fading. Then only 58 per cent of residents thought the train was too costly, down from 69 per cent in Dec.

Asked what would be an appropriate one-way fare for a TTC express commuter service on the UPX and 64 per cent of respondents said between $5 and $14. Thirteen per cent said the fare should be less than $5 and 17 per cent suggested $15 to $19 would be a fair price.

Only 25 per cent thought it was priced right already. Nine per cent of residents said they had already tried the new service, which opened in June; the uptake was about the same across the city and across most income groups.

Among those who haven’t used the train, 58 per cent said they were not very likely or not at all likely to try it. Only 39 per cent said they were likely or somewhat likely to ride.

Forum Research polled 892 Toronto residents last Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 1-2) using an interactive voice response telephone survey that is considered accurate within 3 per cent 19 times out of 20.