WHERE'S THE SUBWAY? The Yonge subway extension can't move forward until a few "key network related considerations" -- like improving the Yonge-Bloor station and a possible downtown relief line -- are sorted out, consultants say. (Philip Alves/Vaughan Today)
If you’re dreaming of riding the rocket down Yonge St. from Hwy. 7, you will have to dream a while longer.
The Yonge North Subway Extension has at least two major hurdles to overcome before any work can be started: the added strain of expansion on the existing line and money.
This according to a consultants’ report of the project presented in July to Metrolinx, the body responsible for implementing the regional transportation plan for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area.
Before the Yonge extension can move forward, “a number of key network related considerations” must be addressed, the report states.
Those issues include the added cost in improvements to the Yonge-Bloor station, the subway yards strategy and a possible downtown relief line to reduce congestion on the Yonge-Bloor bottleneck.
“Metrolinx, in close collaboration with the City of Toronto, TTC and York Region, will undertake additional analysis to more comprehensively understand these matters and how they impact the network and project scope,” the report said.
That analysis is currently being conducted by the TTC and VIVA.
The document set a target date of late 2009 for the analysis to be completed. Vaughan Today recently learned the target date has been pushed back to late 2010.
No funding set aside yet, report suggests
The report also stated no funding has yet been allocated to the Yonge North Subway Extension project.
But Metrolinx says these obstacles are a natural part of the planning process and rebuffed the idea the project is off-track.
“There are a bunch of issues that we need to take the next few months to look at before we can recommend a funding commitment,” said John Howe, vice-president of investment strategy at Metrolinx. “We’re doing all of this to ensure that we’re going to achieve the best value for money for the taxpayer.”
He pointed out that the project remains one of the top 15 priorities in The Big Move, the province’s regional transportation plan.
Yet some Vaughan officials have expressed frustration that other projects, such as Toronto’s light rail plans, have already been allocated funding from the province’s initial $11.5-billion commitment last year.
“Toronto got the money and we were left dead in the water,” Ward 5 councillor Alan Shefman said. “Money that had been intended for the Yonge extension is going to Toronto surface transit initiatives. The most intelligent transit you can build is an interconnected system and the largest interconnected system we have in the GTA is a subway system.”
However, Howe was quick to point out the new VIVA bus rapid transit system for Yonge-Hwy. 7 is among the first five projects to have already received a funding commitment. The province has already allocated $1.4 billion to that project, which will service York Region. If all goes as planned, it will break ground this fall.
Howe said it’s understandable residents feel frustrated that work is not yet underway on projects like the subway extension.
“It’s difficult to keep pace with all the announcements and pre-announcements,” he said. “It’s important that we’re able to show taxpayers and customers that we can have a short time from the announcement to the shovel in the ground. We have to restore confidence that, yes, we can build transit again.”
The July report on the Yonge-extension project examined three options for the Yonge north corridor: a bus rapid transit system, a five-stop subway and a six-stop subway. It concluded subway options provide higher service quality and more reliability than bus rapid transit.
It also estimated the incremental value of land development to be anywhere between $500 million and $1.2 billion for the subway options.
Metrolinx plans to re-examine the Yonge North Subway Extension when both the TTC and VIVA report back on the outstanding issues by late 2010.
Once those issues have been resolved, it will be up to the province to decide whether funding will be allocated to the project so that it can move ahead.
Metrolinx itself has undergone several big changes over the past few months. In May, the province replaced its board of politicians with a new 15-member group composed of individuals appointed by the province from the private sector. At the same time, GO Transit was merged into Metrolinx, empowering it to more comprehensively enforce The Big Move.
The plan, adopted by Metrolinx in November 2008, serves as the blueprint for developing the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area’s transportation infrastructure through 2020 in order to help it compete with other major urban regions in North America.
Most recently, former Torstar Corporation CEO Robert Prichard replaced Rob MacIsaac as Metrolinx chair. MacIsaac was recently named president of Mohawk College in Hamilton.
