Facts

Here is some information about our transit development plan called Move Toronto. The plan is almost ready and will be released next week or two.

Q: Won’t this plan cost more than Transit City?
A: Transit City is a 15 year plan, projected to cost $15 billion. The 15 year portion of Move Toronto will be cost-neutral to Transit City, also costing $15 billion. Not included in either of those estimates are the Downtown Relief Line (DRL), the Spadina Subway extension, or the Yonge Subway extension. They are being funded independently, but are included in Move Toronto.

For the same cost as Transit City, Move Toronto will provide true, grade-separated rapid transit to many areas of Toronto.

Q: Will Transit City help reduce congestion at Bloor-Yonge station, or on the subways leading into downtown?
A: No. There is nothing in the Transit City plan that will reduce congestion at Bloor-Yonge station, or on the Yonge and University lines south of Bloor. If Transit City succeeds at boosting ridership, it will likely make the congestion even worse.

However, Move Toronto is proposing the Downtown Relief Line (DRL), a wider U-shaped line passing through downtown which, according to Metrolinx, will take approximately 17,000 rush hour passengers off the Yonge-University-Spadina subway south of Bloor.

Q: Will Transit City help reduce congestion on the subway network at all?
A: No. The entire Transit City plan is based around dumping LRT riders onto the existing subway network. Under Transit City, there are no new subway lines or extensions inside the 416. This will only increase congestion on existing subway lines that are already congested. In essence, Transit City is a $15 billion project to make it more efficient for people to reach a backlog on the subways.

Move Toronto proposes several new subway lines, which will have several advantages. They will relieve the existing lines by providing passengers more rapid transit options. They will also provide service to areas that are currently under-served. They will also mean shorter travel times on your local bus in order to reach the subway system.

In addition, Move Toronto will eliminate the transfers at Don Mills and Kennedy, providing an increase in convenience for thousands of commuters. These transfers would remain in place under Transit City.

1) Too many transfers. Takes two transfers to go from Agincourt to Downsview or from STC to Yonge St. Continues to force hundreds of thousands of riders a day to transfer at Kennedy station and Don Mills needlessly. Will impose a new transfer on riders travelling along Eglinton from east of Kennedy.

2) Too slow. While buses average 17 km/h and subways average 30 km/h, the LRTs will average 23 km/h. The Transit City proposal won't provide rapid transit across northern Toronto and won't be a significant improvement over the buses for local travel either. >From Meadowvale till Don Mills, the maximum amount of time a rider can save would be about 14 minutes. However, the closer a rider is to Don Mills, the less the time that will be saved. West of Agincourt, the reduction in frequencies from today's buses could actually increase total travel time even if the transit time is shorter due to longer wait times.

Welcome to SOS: Save Our Subways!

Save Our Subways has been created to promote subways in Toronto, in particular to replace the Scarborough Rapid Transit line from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Centre, and to finish the planned Sheppard Subway from Don Mills to Scarborough Centre, and from Sheppard-Yonge to Downsview.