Mayor Olivia Chow pushes for quicker work on Scarborough East transit plans
· Toronto Sun
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow wants city staff to move more quickly in their efforts to design a rapid transit line across Scarborough East.
At Wednesday’s meeting at city hall, Chow proposed rebranding the project from Eglinton East LRT to Scarborough East Rapid Transit and sought additional funds to move it along at a faster pace.
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“I want to emphasize why this Scarborough East transit line is so desperately needed,” Chow said.
She said 80,000 residents would be within walking distance of rapid transit. Students and staff at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus in Highland Creek would be better served in addition to visitors to the Toronto Zoo.
“Right now, whether you live in the eastern quadrant of Scarborough … or you go to the U of T Scarborough campus, or you visit the zoo, it takes a huge amount of time to take public transit there,” Chow said.
The mayor previously wrote to the Executive Committee on April 14 about the need to push the transit line’s design faster in an effort to secure billions in funding.
Council voted 25-0 to adopt the item.
The Scarborough line is currently not funded as the provincial and federal governments have yet to commit to the project.
But that hasn’t stopped city staff from putting in work toward the project’s final design, including whether some stops will be above ground or below.
Recommends more investment in design
Chow said $18 million has already been spent to date and is recommending a further $10 million be allocated to the transit project to expedite design work toward the 30% completion milestone.
“As Mayor, I am not waiting,” Chow wrote in her letter. “The City of Toronto is ready with our share of the funding and moving forward designing the line, while we work on landing a funding deal.”
The current design features 27 stops along the proposed 18.6-kilometre route beginning from Kennedy Station. The line will head east along Eglinton Ave. E. to Kingston Rd. and connect to U of T’s Scarborough campus. From there, the line continues north to the Malvern Town Centre before it heads west along Sheppard Ave. E. to the future Scarborough subway extension at McCowan Rd.
According to city staff, an early estimate to build the Scarborough transit line is approximately $4.6 billion, which is based on work already done. But that figure could potentially be higher as further details need to be ironed out before a final plan is completed.
Chow also points out in her letter that the city struck a deal with the provincial and federal governments late last month to equally share the costs of the Waterfront East LRT line, securing $2 billion in funding.
Bradford asks about funding
Councillor Brad Bradford, who has been a vocal critic of Chow and has aspirations of becoming the city’s next mayor, peppered staff with questions about the project.
“One of the mayor’s big commitments in the letter is to change the name of the project,” Bradford said. “Is it staff’s view that that is going to get this thing built faster for the people of Scarborough?”
Staff replied it wouldn’t, but that it better describes the scope of the project which would serve the residents of Scarborough East.
Bradford also asked why the Waterfront East LRT was fully funded before the Scarborough line despite both being the mayor’s top transit priorities.
While the city negotiated to have the two lines funded, staff speculated that both partners were already involved in developments along the waterfront when they agreed to commit as one possible reason.
As of now, the city has spent $63 million on the Waterfront East LRT and just $18 million toward the potential Scarborough East RT.