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Transit City
Plan touches every corner of Toronto

IT’S a bold and ambitious expansion plan stretching the reach of public transit to every part of the city. It envisions a new light rapid transit (LRT) network estimated to cost $8 billion to build and stock with vehicles. And it will provide fast and reliable transit services for a projected 175 million riders a year.

The TTC’s Toronto Transit City – Light Rapid Transit Plan (“Transit City”) calls for the construction of a 120-km network of streetcar-only rapid transit lines. Transit City was unveiled in March 2007. The provincial government endorsed the plan the following June and included funding for it in its Move Ontario 2020 transit plan. The plan has also been endorsed by Metrolinx and the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority.

“The Transit City plan is designed to bring high-quality light rapid transit to every corner of Toronto,” says TTC Chair Adam Giambrone. “When completed in 2021, a network of seven lines covering 120 kilometres will carry 175 million customers, of which 100 million will be new riders.”

Late last year, the TTC approved engineering and design work on three of the seven projects outlined in the Transit City plan – the Sheppard East, Etobicoke- Finch West and Eglinton-Crosstown LRT lines. These three lines were ranked as the projects that needed to be started first.

The TTC is deep into the environmental assessment for the Sheppard East project. It has recommended a preferred design for an LRT on Sheppard Avenue East running from the Don Mills area to Meadowvale Road in northeast Toronto.

“It will totally change the way people travel in Toronto.”

Construction on one of these projects must begin in 2009 in order to build all the lines in 12 years as set out in the Province’s Move Ontario 2020 plan.

“Toronto is aiming to be a world leader in combating climate change and global warming,” says Mayor David Miller. “Building a network of fast and reliable electric light rail transit lines that get people out of their cars and onto environmentally-friendly public transport is fundamental to this objective.”

The new LRT network will be more than just streetcars on the road. It will be something new and completely different for Toronto – new low-floor vehicles that travel on an exclusive right-of-way.

The entire network is dependent on financial support from all three levels of government. The TTC is proposing light rapid transit because, says Giambrone, “For the price of one subway you can build three light rail lines.”

“I believe LRT is the correct mode of transit for the areas Transit City plans to expand into,” says Matthew Blackett, publisher of Spacing, a local magazine focused on public space issues. “The construction of these lines will improve the urban design of some of our main streets, encourage development built on the principles of dense neighbourhoods and improve the speed and reliability of transit service.”

“It will totally change the way people travel in Toronto,” says TTC service planning manager Mitch Stambler. “It will be environmentally sustainable, help the city combat climate change and restore Toronto’s stature as a leader in urban transit.”

Based on detailed ridership projections prepared by the TTC, the network of streetcar-only routes will require more than 300 modern LRT vehicles similar to those currently proposed for the replacement of the current streetcar fleet.

The planned LRT connects the seven proposed routes to each other, with existing subway and surface routes, and with the future Spadina Subway extension into York Region. It also provides the basis for a more seamless GTA-wide network with proposed connections to GO Transit and 905 transit systems.

Visit www.ttc.ca to find out more.

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