Mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat’s transit plan would see the King Street Pilot made permanent, the Eglinton Crosstown LRT extend to Pearson and would largely omit John Tory’s SmartTrack, a plan she called a “mirage” and a “distraction.”
“It took us away from building a true transit network,” the city’s former chief planner said Thursday.
Under Keesmaat’s plan, which she says would take nearly 30 years to complete at a cost of $50 billion, a new LRT would also be built along Jane Street, connecting to the Finch West LRT, and the Downtown Relief Line would expand in size and snake up north to Don Mills and Sheppard Avenue.
She also wants at least a section of the Downtown Relief Line up and running three years earlier than the current estimated completion date of 2031.
The plan would also make the car restrictions on King Street, between Bathurst and Jarvis streets, permanent.
“This is low hanging fruit; we didn’t need to build anything,” she said of the pilot, adding that nearly 80,000 people ride the King Streetcar each weekday, up from 65,000 just a short time ago.
The Scarborough Subway extension would remain, as long as the Ford government honours a previous commitment of $5 billion for Toronto transit, which she said would be put toward building the extension. The Scarborough subway would link to a separate LRT that would link University of Toronto Scarborough campus to Malvern.
Keesmaat insists she would oppose any attempt to privatize the TTC or to have a separate entity operate any element of the transit network inside the city.
SmartTrack was ‘back of napkin’ promise: Keesmaat says
Keesmaat pounced on Tory’s signature SmartTrack promise, saying it was brought to her when she was the chief planner, and it appeared to be poorly thought out.
“I learned of the chaos it causes when a politician draws up a line on a napkin and says ‘implement this,’ like John Tory did with his SmartTrack mirage,” she said.
She said that the fact that Tory’s plan now consists of six stations, down from the 22 originally promised, and relies on GO train rolling stock instead of the “London-style surface subway” originally envisioned, means the plan is no longer as useful to Toronto commuters.
Speaking in the Port Lands, Tory pointed out that SmartTrack rail lines are already under construction.
“The construction on this huge project, one of the biggest of its kind in North America, is actually happening. While the whole project won’t be finished until 2023, the significance is that we got it started.”
Later on Thursday, Tory’s campaign team said Keesmaat’s plan is basically the same as Tory’s.
“Keesmaat unveiled her “bold” new transit plan for Toronto, which amounts to shifting two stops in Scarborough. The remainder of the plan is exactly the same as the transit network expansion plan championed by Mayor John Tory and approved by City Council.”
