Toronto’s four new LRT lines will be operated by its public transit agency and not a private company, transit officials said on Wednesday.
The announcement was made at a joint press conference with Ontario Transportation Minister Bob Chiarelli and TTC Chair Karen Stintz, putting to rest a simmering conflict over the management of the new lines.
The new deal means that that the lines will remain publicly owned and will be operated by the TTC.
The tracks and stations will be built and maintained by private operators, Chiarelli said.
“For this historic investment to be implemented, it means that Metrolinx and the TTC will be joined at the hip,” Chiarelli told reporters on Wednesday.
The Ontario government is investing $8.4 billion to build four new light-rail transit lines in Toronto. The LRT lines are set for construction along Eglinton Avenue, Finch Avenue West and Sheppard Avenue East.
The Scarborough RT line is also scheduled to be upgraded and extended north of Sheppard Avenue.
Construction of most of the lines is scheduled to be completed by 2020. Sheppard Avenue East is scheduled to be completed by 2021.
Metrolinx, the province’s transit planning group, said last month that it would seek a private company to run the new lines, rather than hand day-to-day operations over to the TTC.
The TTC claimed that private operations of the new lines would cause serious problems with how the LRT lines fit within Toronto’s transit system.
Stintz said on Wednesday that the new deal means that TTC riders will be able to use the entire system without being forced to pay separate fares and face hassles when transferring between lines.
“These transit lines will be built, they will be built online. It will be an integrated system; it will be a seamless system, and it will be a user-friendly system,” she said.
