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TTC
UNVEILS GROWTH STRATEGY
Proposals include exclusive bus and streetcar lanes
From Toronto Star - March 20, 2003
PAUL MOLONEY
CITY HALL BUREAU
The Toronto Transit Commission has a brand new ridership growth
strategy and a new chair to sell the package, which includes contentious
proposals to attract riders by giving buses and streetcars exclusive
lanes so they can move faster on busy streets.
Councillor Howard Moscoe, elected yesterday to head the commission,
said his first battle will likely be an exclusive streetcar line
down the middle of St. Clair Ave. W. from Yonge St. to Runnymede
Rd.
"There'll be resistance to that from the merchants along St.
Clair, but hopefully we can work through it," said Moscoe (Ward
15, Eglinton-Lawrence). "If that's successful, it will be the
first of many projects."
The TTC believes ridership could grow dramatically by creating reserved
bus and streetcar lanes along 12 routes, which under the city's
official plan would see new residents and workers move in over the
next 10 to 20 years.
In addition to St. Clair, the high-priority routes include Downsview
subway station to York University; Yonge St. north of the Finch
subway; Dundas St. W. from the Kipling station to Etobicoke Creek;
and Lawrence Ave. W. from the Lawrence West station to Jane St.
The growth strategy, hailed by transit advocates as revolutionary,
would see improved service at a cost of $139 million annually by
2008.
The package is designed to boost ridership to 500 million a year
from 411 million now, and far beyond the previous peak of 463 million
reached in 1988.
Only then would the TTC embark on a $175 million a year program
to extend the subway system at a rate of one kilometre every two
years, focusing on taking the Sheppard subway east from Don Mills
Rd. and the Spadina line north to York University.
Moscoe, who takes over the helm from Betty Disero, who has left
politics, said he wants to begin campaigning immediately for money
from the provincial government.
Toronto has for years been seeking a share of provincial gasoline
taxes for transit, and Moscoe thinks the time is right to up the
pressure as the Ernie Eves government gets set to call an election.
"The time to get commitments from governments is when they're
walking into an election," he said. "I hope to be able
to convince them that investing in public transit in Toronto is
a good political investment. I know we've got public opinion on
our side."
Environmentalist Gord Perks said a key selling point in seeking
money is that the strategy attracts more riders at far less cost
than ambitious transit expansion plans being touted by York Region.
"Operating a transit service is about putting bums in seats,
and this report tells you the most cost-effective and shortest route
to putting more bums in seats," said Perks, of the Toronto
Environmental Alliance.
The transit commission strongly endorsed the package, but parts
of it will have to first be approved by city council, beginning
next year.
Commissioners noted it will be tough to implement because it requires
motorists to give up some traffic lanes.
"People love their automobile," said Councillor Brian
Ashton (Ward 36, Scarborough Southwest).
"It's not going to be an easy process to dislodge them, and
that's not a good thing for politicians because it's not often how
you get elected."
Councillor David Miller, who had pressed TTC management to draft
the strategy, said city council doesn't have a lot of choice in
the fight against traffic gridlock as the city's population grows
by 600,000 or more over the next 30 years.
"The way Toronto is going to be healthy and work is if people
can get around the city easily, and the only way to do that is through
public transit," said Miller (Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park),
who is running for mayor.
"The official plan ... sets out the blueprint for how the city
is going to grow. What the ridership-growth strategy does is set
out the blueprint for how we're going to make that work."
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