Downtown Relief Line Public Consultation at Riverdale Collegiate Institute
Last night there was a public consultation at Riverdale Collegiate institute run by the TTC and Metrolinx. There are two related studies underway: one run by the TTC focusing on building a new subway line connecting the Danforth to downtown, and one run by Metrolinx studying other options for reducing crowding on the Yonge subway line. The photo of the display board below shows how the two studies are related. Both studies have the same goal of reducing crowding on the Yonge line.
The presenters mentioned that the Yonge line is close to maximum capacity during the morning rush hour, and that south of Bloor station the line is already over capacity. The new “Rocket” subway cars will have increased capacity on the Yonge University Spadina Line (line 1) by 10% once they are fully rolled out, and Automatic Train Control will allow more frequent and reliable service and increase capacity by 25%.
Display Board at Downtown Relief Line Public Consultation showing how the TTC and Metrolinx Studies are related
The consultation started with an open house, where attendees could view the display boards and talk with the staff from Metrolinx and the city. There was a brief joint presentation where Metrolinx and the City gave an overview of their studies before separate meetings for each project got underway.
TTC – Relief Line Project Assessment
In 2009, Toronto City Council asked the TTC to do a preliminary study on transit options for relieving crowding on the Yonge subway line. In 2012 this study concluded that a Downtown Relief line was needed. 1 Now the TTC is beginning to study the downtown relief line. They are currently at the beginning of this process – finalizing the terms of reference and public consultation plan for the study. This must take place before a long list and short list of alignments for the line are studied.
Attendees seemed frustrated with how long the studies take. One person was outraged that it took 3 years to determine that a line was needed. When discussing the study and consultation plan most people suggested accelerating the studies, or finding things that can be studied in parallel to speed up the process. Once this study is completed, a 6 month long abbreviated environmental assessment will need to take place, 2 followed by detailed engineering design which could take 2-3 years. Even in the best case where there are no political or funding roadblocks, construction is at least 4 years away. Construction would take 8-10 years.
TTC Relief Line Study Phases
Metrolinx – Yonge Relief Network Study
Metrolinx is studying all possible ideas for reducing crowding on the Yonge Line. Some of these options may be possible to implement in less time than the downtown relief line, which is clearly a very long term project. Metrolinx is doing this by coming up with a list of ideas, and evaluating them all in a standard way. Metrolinx has defined three categories for ideas to reduce congestion: Making better use of what we have, innovative policies, and building new lines and services. In the Metrolinx consultation the attendees were broken in to small groups to discuss these ideas.
Making Better Use of What We Have
These ideas focused on using GO infrastructure to relieve the subway network. More GO stations in the city, more frequent service and faster GO service could provide alternatives to the subway. For example frequent GO service from Kennedy Station to Union Station has the potential to reduce demand on the subway system, and provide Scarborough residents a faster trip downtown.
Innovative Policies
GO Transit is often not an attractive option for Torontonians because it is a separate and more expensive fare from the TTC. Trips in the city using GO would often require paying a TTC Fare, and a GO Fare. A lot of these ideas focused on integrating the fare structures, whether by fare by distance, linked fares or other options. Other policy ideas included incentives to stagger start times of businesses and schools to smooth out demand, land use policies and an integrated trip planner.
Metrolinx Innovative Policies Discussion Board
Building New Lines and Service
The downtown relief is the most obvious idea here, but other options were discussed including more express buses downtown, LRT in the don valley, and subway station capacity improvements.
Summary
These studies are long overdue. There was some frustration regarding how long the study process takes, as well as some cynicism that the public consultation is only being done for appearances. Overall it was an interesting and informative consultation, and it was great to see such strong community involvement.
Update – April 22 2014
The Regional Relief website has been updated with the Presentation Slides and Notes from the April 10th Session .
