Scarborough replacement busway delayed, cost $12M more to complete

In another blow to Scarborough transit users, the dedicated busway that is supposed to replace the Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) Line 3 is behind schedule and costs have skyrocketed.

When the SRT was decommissioned in 2023, four months ahead of schedule after a train car derailed last July, the plan was to transform the existing rapid transit infrastructure into a busway to fill the transit gap while the Scarborough subway extension was being built. But a report presented to the TTC board on Thursday says construction on the busway will be delayed until 2025 and will now cost $12 million more to complete.

“I’m going to be putting forth a motion that looks to reallocate some of the existing money in the TTC’s capital budget to come up with the money they need just to keep the initial work going,” said Coun. Jamaal Myers, the chair of the TTC.

The design for the busway is only 60 percent complete and funding for the project was not included in the recent draft of the City budget. The City has been pushing the province to fund the busway as part of their commitment to invest in Ontario transit. Those negotiations are expected to conclude this June.

“This project is especially frustrating because it’s been so long in the making and we knew this was coming,” said Matti Siemiatycki, geography and planning professor at the University of Toronto. “This should be going at top speed and we should be trying to find strategies to accelerate this because the riders in Scarborough demand and deserve an effective public transit.”

Shuttle buses are scheduled to ferry riders from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre for the next seven years until the three-stop Scarborough Subway is completed in 2030. While dedicated bus lanes have been created, users say travel has been slow and unreliable.

“What was an eight-minute SRT ride is now taking twice, even three times as long,” said Zain Khuram, the transit lead with the Toronto Youth Cabinet. “While other transit projects across the city are prioritized this simply wasn’t. Olivia Chow did promise in her mayoral campaign that she would make the Scarborough busway a number one commitment or a big commitment for Scarborough residents.”

The SRT busway would operate on priority lanes between Ellesmere and Kennedy stations, and according to the TTC, would save commuters up to seven minutes of traveling time compared to the current trip which uses bus priority lanes on Kennedy Road and Midland Avenue.