City approves assessments, but budget still a concern

Kenneth Brown
News Reporter

The City of Toronto has moved one step closer to having light rail transit on Finch Avenue, with the Toronto Transit Authority giving the go-ahead for an environmental assessment, according to TTC chair Adam Giambrone. However, the city needs money from the province.
Giambrone said the board gave approval for environmental assessments on new Transit City light rail transit (LRT) lines in a meeting on Nov. 12. He said the contracts have been issued and the assessments should begin by the end of this year.
According to a TTC report, funds totalling $7.1 million have been included for the assessments to cover the initial work beginning next year. Yet with a four-year outline in place, Giambrone anticipates the province will provide a sizable slice of the money needed for the project.
“We only did it until 2008 because that’s when we expect to hear from the province on new funding for the environmental assessments,” he said. “The city is not able to go it alone.”
Meanwhile, Giambrone confirmed reports that Toronto is in the process of replacing its streetcars.
Ward 1 councillor Suzan Hall said the new streetcars are part of the 2008 budget and their purpose is to address over-crowding and replace old cars.
The new cars are not for Toronto’s new light rail systems, she said, but the city plans to purchase more over the next five years as the new LRT lines are built.
Hall emphasized the dates are only projections and could easily change. “You have to realize that construction right now is being proposed for two of the lines to get the shovel in the ground by 2009,” Hall said, with the Finch line set to begin late in the year. It will run from Finch Station at Yonge St. straight to Humber College, she added.
Hall wants the LRT line extended to Woodbine Racetrack through Pearson Airport right into Mississauga. She said it’s very important to get people in North Etobicoke out of their cars and onto the TTC, but transit frequency is a major factor.
“I want to see us have the option of getting out of our cars for the sake of the environment, and for the sake of congestion,” she said. “The only way we’re going to do that is if we get speed, and the only way we’re going to get speed is through this light rail.”
The estimated cost to replace the existing streetcars is $1.4 billion Giambrone said, while cars for the new light rail lines are estimated at $2.4 billion.
The light rail vehicles will be air-conditioned, longer than the existing streetcars, and fully accessible to individuals with physical disabilities.
The earliest Humber students can expect to get off a streetcar at the college is the end of 2011, but it will likely be 2012, Giambrone said.
With the approval of the assessments, Giambrone said the project is on-track, but inadequate funding from the province could quickly derail things.
“If money isn’t announced in the 2008 provincial budget, we won’t be able to start construction in 2009.”