[URBAN NOTE] "Toronto council to debate transit future"

[rfmcdonald]

I learned at the Toronto livejournal community that Karen Stintz, the city councillor and chair of the Toronto Transit Commission whose alliance with Mayor Rob Ford has been buckling over disputes about Toronto's transit future, has openly broken with Ford and called for a special session of city council to settle the matter.

Mayor Rob Ford's plan to bury a large portion of the Eglinton Cross Town route has led TTC chair Karen Stintz to file a petition demanding the special meeting.

The petition asks council to renew its commitment to the 2009 Transit City plan of former mayor David Miller, which calls for light rail lines on Eglinton, Sheppard and Finch Avenues. It would also call for the Scarborough Rapid Transit line to be replace by an LRT.

Ford is on record saying he wants subways — including an extension of the Sheppard line.

[. . .]

Stintz said the mayor's plan is not doable. "There's no funded subway plan. An underground LRT is not a subway," she said.

The issue re-emerged in late January when Stintz proposed — with the knowledge of the mayor's office — a compromise plan for the Eglinton section of the line.

Instead of burying the entire line, Stintz proposed an underground section only in the portion that travels through the centre of the city. The section built east of Laird Drive would be above ground.

Stintz lost a vote at the last TTC board meeting, when other board members — who are also city councillors — voted down a proposal to study the option.

The Eglinton project and the extension of the Sheppard subway are expected to cost about $8.4 billion. Stintz estimated that her proposal would save about $2 billion — and suggested that money could be re-directed to the subway project.

[. . .]

"I must reiterate: there is no funded subway plan. An underground LRT is not a plan," said Stintz, who also admitted she will probably be replaced as TTC chair.