Light (Rail) Reading

In Toronto it looks like things are heating up on the transportation front. Metrolinx (Greater Toronto Transportation Authority), the agency that is responsible for coordination, planning, financing and development of all transportations, and will be responsible for the region's GO transit system, is working on their transportation plan which the Globe and Mail had a look at. You can read the whole article at the Globe and Mail website, but one thing I wanted to point out was the debate between subway and light rail. It would seem that the City of Toronto wants Light Rail, but the Province (through Metrolinx) wants subway. Sounds kind of like Vancouver…

Adam Giambrone, the city councillor who chairs the TTC and also sits on the Metrolinx board, said yesterday he had not seen a copy of the plan. But he reiterated the TTC's objection to a subway along Eglinton, which he said is not warranted given the projected ridership numbers and would cost as much as $10-billion compared with a light-rail line with an estimated $2.2-billion price tag.

He warned it would also take much longer to build, meaning it might not happen at all - the fate met by the last subway planned for Eglinton, upon which construction had already begun before it was cancelled in 1995 by the newly elected provincial Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris.

It looks like the full report of Toronto’s transportation future will be released this month for public consultation.