Give Metrolinx power: experts
Transit City plan requires co-ordinated leadership
If the much-ballyhooed Toronto Transit City and MoveOntario 2020 plans are to succeed, Metrolinx will have to take on a stronger and more co-ordinated leadership role, according to a group of transit experts.
Metrolinx is the regional transit authority charged with creating an expanded and integrated transit system spanning the GTA.
Former TTC chief general manager David Gunn, transportation finance authority Harry Kitchen and transportation consultant Ed Levy spoke on the matter at a conference hosted by the Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario Monday, May 5.
The plan calls for a total of 52 new regional transit initiatives including a light rapid transit line stretching across Toronto and into Peel Region along Eglinton Avenue, the extension of the Yonge and Spadina subway lines to Hwy. 7 and an air-rail link from Pearson airport to Union Station.
Gunn said the promise of funding and the push to expand transit throughout the GTA in a more seamless manner made for an exciting time, but warned the various projects being proposed are not being put forth in a particularly well co-ordinated manner.
"You get everybody coming out of the woodwork and throwing money at these projects," he said. "But what is the goal? There's no clearly enunciated goal. No body or group is the traffic cop who says 'This is the region, this is the problem and this is how we're going to solve it'."
Gunn took issue with the fact that light rail seems to be the chosen solution on many routes, including the planned Eglinton Avenue light rail line, and light rail lines along Don Mills Road, Sheppard Avenue, Finch Avenue West and Jane Street, among others.
"If you're going to have a transportation plan that deals with gridlock, you have to have more than a streetcar plan," he said.
Gunn added the cost of rail lines compared to the benefits may not make light rail the ideal solution on the planned routes, saying that once again, an apparent lack of leadership and planning are involved.
"You want to think about the (type of transit to be used) after you realize what you want to accomplish and how much money you'll have," he said.
He noted the plan seemed to be primarily politician-driven, with some authorities potentially prone to pushing their own pet projects rather than examining the overall needs of the region. He said Metrolinx should become the definite authority over the transit plan, and should be given the authority to co-ordinate MoveOntario in its entirety.
"It's a great opportunity, but if you don't grab control of it, it can be very disappointing," he said.
Kitchen, a Trent University professor who recently wrote a detailed report on transportation finance, recommended the use of pay-as-you-go transit fees, so that people who travel farther on the system pay higher rates. He also recommended that GTA residents should be footing the bill for transit, preferably through municipal gas taxes.
"If you don't have a price on the service use, you have no idea what it actually costs," he said. "There's no incentive for people to make efficient decisions on where to live and where to work."
Kitchen recommended toll lanes on some major roads to pay for road maintenance, with other municipally raised monies then freed up to help fund transit.
He also echoed Gunn's call for stronger leadership in helping to make the planned transit expansion a reality rather than a boondoggle.
"If you don't have some governing body with some teeth, then you don't get the sort of integrated transit you're talking about," he said.
Levy said he wanted further examination of the suggested lines to ensure that communities across the GTA are best-served by the proposed light rail lines. Like Gunn, he questions whether streetcars are truly the way to go.
"There is some doubt whether some of the lines are rail-worthy," he said. "There's not much in a quantitative fashion to support that sort of thing. Toronto has always loved streetcars, and I'm a lover of them myself, but they're not always the way to go."
The alliance recently funded an independent study, written by former University of Toronto chair of civil engineering Richard Soberman, to examine the planned expansion. The alliance Executive Director Andy Manahan said both the report and the conference were meant simply to encourage debate and thought on the Transit City and MoveOntario plans.
"Our hope is to stimulate more debate from this," he said. "We want to get the public involved and get them talking."
The alliance's full report is available at www.rccao.com/research.
