Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Scarborough subway line may have to wait: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

Mayor Rob Ford
Mayor Rob Ford takes the bus from Don Mills subway station to a rally at Victoria Park and Sheppard Aves. to promote building the Sheppard subway in this file photo from March 15, 2012. (Veronica Henri/Toronto Sun)

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TORONTO?-?

Mayor Rob Ford won?t push a Scarborough subway ahead of a downtown relief line if that goes against TTC staff advice.

Ford ? who campaigned on building a subway to Scarborough ? admitted Monday he?ll take TTC CEO Andy Byford?s advice when it comes to expanding the transit system despite the mayor?s promise.

But Ford again repeated his belief that more subways would be built in the city, including the Sheppard subway.

Byford has been voraciously advocating the need for a downtown relief line.

?I?m all in favour of subways,? Ford said. ?I?m glad that people are thinking about subways.

?Now which one is a priority? That?s the one we?re going to have to sit down and talk about.?

Despite council?s decision earlier this year to build the Eglinton LRT at street-level in Scarborough rather than below ground, Ford said he still wants the LRT to be buried in the city?s east end.

?And I want the Sheppard (subway extension) and eventually Finch (subway),? he said.

?Now if the relief line is more important, let?s get our priorities ? what benefits the people of the city? That?s what we have to look at right now.?

Asked if he?s open to the relief line being the city?s next transit priority, Ford said it is up to Byford.

?I?m open up to the idea that benefits the city, that benefits the users of the TTC,? he said.

?I campaigned on subways. We?re going to get subways ? the relief line, the Sheppard line, Eglinton hopefully will go underground.

?Subways are coming to the city one way or another.?

TTC chairman Karen Stintz said the issue isn?t the line but the funding to pay for it.

?That remains our ongoing challenge,? Stintz said.

She said transit commissioners on Wednesday will likely recommend further study of the downtown relief line.

?We already know we need it and the question remains how are we going to pay for it,? Stintz said. ?We do need to get to the funding discussion, there is no question. And if we only talk about lines on a map then we will only ever have lines on a map.

?We need to find a way to pay for them.?

Are you Team Subway or Team Streetcar?

Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/22/scarborough-subway-line-may-have-to-wait-toronto-mayor-rob-ford

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