Scarborough residents criticize SmartTrack plan at public meeting

Public consultation hears that Scarborough transit proposal "is going to leave more people on more crowded buses."

Thestar.com
March 7, 2018
By Ben Spurr

Mayor John Tory's signature transit plan got a rough ride at a public consultation in Scarborough Tuesday evening, with residents and activists asking pointed questions about the proposal to build two "SmartTrack" GO stations in the inner suburb.

The meeting at the Scarborough Civic Centre was held to unveil updated plans for new stations at Finch and Lawrence on GO's Stouffville line, and was attended by roughly 100 people.

The stops in Scarborough are two of six SmartTrack-branded stations being considered for addition to existing GO lines in Toronto as part of the mayor's plan. The proposal is part of a wider GO expansion known as regional express rail (RER).

In a question-and-answer session, speakers from the audience raised concerns about everything from construction noise, to service levels, and political interference in the planning process.

Moya Beall, one of several speakers affiliated with advocacy group Scarborough Transit Action, argued local residents would not be well-served by the proposal to replace the existing six-stop Scarborough RT with a SmartTrack station at Lawrence and a $3.35-billion one-stop subway extension to the Scarborough Town Centre.

An extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus is also part of the city's plans and has a tentative completion date of 2023, but the $1.6-billion project isn't funded.

"The model that you're coming up with is going to put more people on more crowded buses, for longer periods of time. It's not the kind of connectivity that people are looking for," Beall said.

According to the latest reports from Metrolinx, the regional transit agency that operates GO, by 2031 the Finch and Lawrence stations are projected to see ridership of 4,200 and 9,200 people per day, respectively. The figures include an unspecified number of riders who already use existing GO stations.

Brian Connolly, from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113's "Keep Transit Public" committee, asked "how can we trust these new ridership numbers" in light of revelations that former transportation minister Steven Del Duca pressured Metrolinx into approving new GO stations, including Lawrence, that weren't supported by studies.

Greg Pereira, Metrolinx's senior adviser for hubs and station planning, responded that the ridership projections were based on anticipated development, and that Metrolinx would study them further as it finalizes a full business case for the projects.

"I think we're quite robust with regards to the approach we've taken," he said.

Some residents became frustrated when Pereira couldn't definitively say how frequently trains would stop at the Scarborough SmartTrack stations.

Each station added to GO lines within Toronto adds travel time for inbound riders from outside the city, and in a bid to lessen delays for those passengers, Metrolinx is proposing to run some express trains that will bypass the SmartTrack stops

"Now people from Scarborough can sit on the Lawrence platform waving to RER trains going by that they can't get on because they're not stopping. Why are 905 people more important than Scarborough people?" asked Randy MacDougall, vice-president of the Agincourt Village Community Association.

Pereira replied that the agency anticipates seven trains an hour could stop at Lawrence and Finch, which would work out to one roughly every eight-and-a-half minutes. But he said the actual service level "hasn't been determined."

"It's not something that's set in stone today," he said.

Mayor Tory sat in the audience for most of the session, but left shortly before it concluded. A spokesperson said he had to leave early in order to travel to Ottawa for a summit on gun and gang violence Wednesday.

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Ward 38, Scarborough Centre), a strong proponent of the mayor's transit plans, also attended, and afterward said he was glad residents had aired their concerns.

"I thought the input tonight was very valuable," he said.

While he acknowledged that the unfunded LRT extension to the Scarborough campus may not be built for years after SmartTrack and the subway extension are completed, he predicted most Scarborough residents wouldn't be bothered.

"Because if you live up here or in Malvern… you get to the Scarborough Town Centre, and you're getting on a subway. And people will dance," he said.

"Absolutely, there will be a huge benefit to the people of Scarborough when this system is built."

The SmartTrack project, which also includes an extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT in the city's west end, is expected to cost $3.7 billion. The current version of the plan is significantly smaller than the version Tory pitched during his election campaign, which called for 15 new rail stations.

Metrolinx has not released cost estimates for all its new stations. But as the Star has previously reported, Lawrence is expected to cost $155 million. City council has agreed to pay all of the capital costs for new stations within Toronto, as well as the incremental cost to GO of operating the new stops.