Mayor Ford: “Transit City Is Over”
Posted December 1, 2010 9:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Torontonians will find out in about six weeks exactly how much time and money it will take to replace the existing Transit City plan with Mayor Rob Ford’s vision for subways.
Ford met with TTC general manager Gary Webster early Wednesday morning in his new office at City Hall. The new mayor said he wanted to ensure the two were “on the same page” when it comes to his vision for the future of transit in Toronto.
The Transit City plan – work on which is currently underway – would see the construction of light rail transit (LRT) lines across the city, including priority lines on Finch Avenue West, Sheppard Avenue East, an Eglinton crosstown route and the Scarborough RT.
Future projects include lines along the waterfront, Jane, Don Mills and in Malvern.
“The plan we have in place was put together with a lot of thought and we supported it and we do support the plan as a good transportation plan,” TTC General Manager Gary Webster said of Transit City after a meeting with Ford Wednesday morning.
“The mayor is saying fine, but I’m looking at a new plan.”
Ford didn’t mince words when outlining his first actions in office.
“Transit City is over,” he said.
Ford campaigned on a promise to complete the Sheppard line as a subway route with 10 stations between Downsview and the Scarborough Town Centre at an estimated cost of $3 billion. He also vowed to extend the Bloor-Danforth subway line to connect to the Sheppard line. He estimates that will cost $1 billion.
Webster and the board of Metrolinx are now faced with the daunting task of steering the future of the TTC in a new direction.
“There’s been four years of effort on the existing plan. It’s very clear the mayor, as he said during the campaign, wants us on a new plan, he does not support the existing plan that we have in place today,” Webster said.
Approximately $130 million has already been spent on Transit City. Switching gears could mean breaking existing contracts worth $1.3 billion. Webster couldn’t comment Wednesday on the costs to the city in that regard.
“Until we have a new plan, we don’t know the impact on any of the contracts we already have,” he said.
Ford would then likely have to ask the province for help to build subways. Queen’s Park has already provided significant funding for Transit City and Ford may be forced to pay back some of that money.
Webster said existing work on an underpass will continue on Sheppard Avenue at the Agincourt GO Station whether it’s an LRT or subway going in. That construction is under a Metrolinx contract.
“We did talk about money spent to date on the existing plan. I did indicate to him that we’d need to continue to spend money because the existing staff needs to shift gears,” Webster said. “I indicated to him that we’re not going to know the answers to some of those questions until we have a new plan.”
Beaches-East York Councillor Janet Davis reacted to Ford’s plan Wednesday, expressing her disappointment.
“Leadership means getting the majority of council to support the directions. This is not a government run by one person,” she said.
“For the first time we have a city-wide plan where we’re going to have rapid transit built to corners that have never had it. To build subways that are going to cost far more with no additional funding from the province – that’s what it sounds like – means that all those other lines are in jeopardy.”
