TTC board members are set to consider a report next week that makes an urgent case for a so-called downtown relief subway line before an overcrowding crisis reaches epic proportions.
Because of increasing pressure on the Yonge subway line and congestion at Bloor-Yonge station, a relief line that runs through the southern portion of downtown Toronto is needed to keep pace with growing ridership, according to a staff report prepared by TTC and City of Toronto employees.
Employees are currently studying which route would best link downtown stations to the city’s east end at a cost of $3.2 billion, but maps within the Downtown Rapid Transit Expansion Study suggest the proposed line should run from Pape Station on the Bloor-Danforth subway line to King and St. Andrew stations.
The second phase would head west to the Roncesvalles area and then north to connect with the Bloor-Danforth line.
By 2031, transit ridership into downtown Toronto is expected to grow by 51 per cent due to the city’s growing population, the extension of the Yonge subway line into Richmond Hill, and increasing GO Transit ridership, according to the report.
“The construction of an initial phase of a ‘Downtown Relief Line’ on the east side of the downtown would address these capacity concerns for the foreseeable future,” the report says.
The TTC and GO Transit have plans to increase the capacity of their systems, but those measures won’t be able to keep up with the “increase in longer-distance trips from the north and east,” the report says.
In the east, the relief line could be extended to Eglinton Avenue via Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park, the report suggests.
The study also considered a Lakeshore RT line between Rouge Hill and Long Branch.
Downtown population boom
In the downtown core, the number of people living south of College Street, from Bathurst to Parliament streets, is expected to almost double to 130,000 by 2031.
During that same period, employment is expected to grow by 28 per cent and the number of morning peak-period trips on the TTC is projected to increase by 55 per cent to 236,000 from 155,000.
GO Transit president Gary McNeil said any measures that can improve the transit system are good for riders.
As for his agency’s ridership, he said about 80 per cent of GO customers who commute to Union Station walk to work from there, meaning they don't have to continue their journey on the TTC.
A downtown relief line has been proposed before, but this latest study cites the urgent need for it as the transit system nears the limits of its peak capacity. TTC board members will consider the report at a meeting Wednesday.
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