Provincial Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli says the province won’t back the new OneCity transit proposal that was recently announced by TTC Commission chairwoman Karen Stintz.
Chiarelli said the ambitious OneCity proposal, which would see a massive expansion of the city’s existing transit infrastructure, requires time consuming legislative changes that the city doesn’t have time for.
“OneCity is not implementable in the near time frame. It requires a lot of work, a lot of decisions and a lot of debate,” he said during a press conference on Friday.
Instead, Chiarelli said the Liberals have approved an expanded Toronto transit plan that was passed by Toronto city council in March.
This plan includes the building of light-rail lines along Eglinton and Finch Avenues, which are expected to be completed by 2020. It also includes the replacement and extension of the Scarborough LRT and building a light-rail line along Sheppard Avenue.
Chiarelli said the plans to expand Toronto’s transit have been bogged down by too much debate between Ford and city council, and he wants the already approved light-rail expansion to proceed as planned.
“We’ve had too much delay,” said Chiarelli. “Further delay in these four projects as I’ve said is unacceptable at this time.”
The OneCity transit plan, which includes plans for six new subway and train lines and 10 light-rail transit lines, was recently rejected by Mayor Rob Ford.
Ford called the plan “irresponsible” and “unaffordable” and vowed he would not support it.
The OneCity plan is estimated to cost $30 billion and is to be funded for by an annual property tax increase of 1.9 per cent for four years.
OneCity would also require funding from the provincial and federal governments.
