Toronto moves ahead on buying 60 new streetcars

Toronto City Council has unanimously approved the $568-million purchase of 60 new streetcars Wednesday at a special meeting dedicated to the deal.

“This keeps our transit system strong,” said Mayor John Tory. “We know that a strong transit system will be crucial in the wake of COVID-19.”

The provincial and federal governments recently committed $360 million to the project, and the city is paying the rest of the costs out of the existing transit budget.

The funding enables the city to buy 47 more vehicles, on top of the 13 Toronto already ordered with its original $140 million budget.

“We showed that we were prepared to put up our city’s share, our city taxpayers’ money when it came to our transit future, and I think it made a tremendous difference when it came to actually sit down with the other government at the table and get things done,” said Tory.

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Transit planners say the 60 streetcars are needed by 2025 to meet ridership levels. Already, the TTC is using 50 buses to supplement some routes. Councillor and TTC Board Chair Jaye Robinson called the streetcar deal a double win, because it would free up those buses to be re-assigned to some of the city’s busiest routes.

“We’ll be able to carry more passengers in those neighbourhoods that really require them,” she said.

Robinson notes each new streetcar has the same capacity as two-and-a-half buses. Before the pandemic, she adds that streetcars helped move 350,000 people a day, or 106 million people annually.

“This is about better transit, it’s about jobs, it’s about a greener Toronto, and it’s about connecting people to opportunity through public transit,” said Tory.

Builder Alstom SA, which took over Bombardier’s streetcar division, would be delivering the cars between 2023 and 2025, according to a May 21 memo from TTC CEO Rick Leary.

City of Toronto report on new streetcars by CityNewsToronto on Scribd

Under original supplier Bombardier, Toronto has had a fraught history of delayed streetcar deliveries. Leary’s memo to the TTC Board also indicates the transit commission has negotiated late penalties into this deal that are “among the strictest in North America.”

The exact details of the contract are not public. Tory also told council members Wednesday because the city is bulk-ordering cars, it’s been able to negotiate a lower price-per-unit with Alstom. 

The project also includes $97.5 million to do what Robinson calls a huge upgrade of the Hillcrest yard at Bathurst Street and Davenport Road to handle the additional streetcars.

“Streetcars have been an integral mode of transit for Torontonians,” said Robinson, “A beloved icon, a symbol of Toronto.”