UrbanToronto is celebrating 20 YEARS throughout October with stories and images looking back over the last two decades. Today we start our looks back at transit over the period, the first of three deep dives.
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In the last twenty years, there have been five Mayors of Toronto, four Premiers of Ontario, four Prime Ministers of Canada, and about as many transit plans for the city and regions as there were heads of all three levels of government. Some of those proposals went nowhere, others were drastically changed or scaled back, and a lucky few made it to the funding and construction phase, with their opening dates now the biggest unknowns. Perhaps the only thing that happened ahead of schedule was the closure of the Scarborough RT, which occurred in August, 2023.
Toronto also saw its entire streetcar fleet replaced, as well as the majority of its subway trains. The service became more accessible to all riders, and there were also changes to how we paid our fares. The COVID-19 pandemic, which saw ridership crater and security issues rise beginning in March, 2020, posed new challenges which the TTC, the City of Toronto, and other transit agencies and municipalities are still struggling with.
It’s been, without a doubt, a bumpy ride, with many thrills and spills along the way.
Toronto: A Transit City
In November 2003, David Miller became Mayor of Toronto, promising to clean up City Hall after a computer leasing scandal under predecessor Mel Lastman’s watch. Miller inherited a budget crunch, combined with new development pressures as the city’s high-rise boom took off. His administration sought to support suburban neighbourhoods which were being left behind in the city’s economic resurgence.
Miller, along with Adam Giambrone, the TTC Chair, wanted to quickly improve transit service to priority neighbourhoods. Bus and streetcar service standards were improved, including a 10-minute network of core surface routes, and a 30-minute service minimum on all routes. New night-time bus and streetcar routes were added on corridors such as King, Spadina, Steeles, and Keele.
On March 16, 2007, after winning a second term, Miller and Giambrone unveiled Transit City, a master plan for new LRT lines along major arterials such as Finch, Sheppard, and Eglinton Avenues, Jane Street, and Don Mills Road. Under this scheme, the Scarborough RT would be replaced by low-floor light rail vehicles and extended by three stops to Malvern Town Centre. The flagship LRT route, Eglinton-Crosstown, would operate in a tunnel between Black Creek and the West Don River, but otherwise, the LRTs would mostly be operated at-grade, reducing costs and time involved in construction.
Transit City, image courtesy of the City of Toronto
Notably missing from Transit City and transit expansion plans in particular during the Miller era was a Downtown Relief Line subway route, though the York University-Vaughan and Yonge North-Richmond Hill extensions were depicted in the map. (The Vaughan subway extension was announced by the Province in the 2006 budget.) Long proposed, the DRL would connect Downtown with the Bloor-Danforth Subway in the east end near Pape or Donlands Stations. It was also unclear how parts of the Don Mills and Jane LRT routes would fit on the south end of their routes without a tunnel. On UrbanToronto, critics called it “Transfer City,” noting how the plan would require three transfers to get across the north end of the city, with the Sheppard East LRT, the Sheppard Subway, the Yonge Subway, and then the Etobicoke-Finch West LRT.
Detailed planning began soon after the Transit City plan was announced, with the Sheppard East LRT route expected to be the first segment under construction. In the spring of 2010, however, the Province, who promised to fund the entire project, pushed back the construction schedule and deferred or cancelled portions of Transit City, such as the western part of the Crosstown LRT through Etobicoke and the eastern part of the Finch LRT between Keele and Yonge.
Work actually began on Sheppard East with a new railway underpass near Agincourt GO Station before another municipal election, in October 2010, changed everything.
“Subways, Subways, Subways”
After a lengthy strike by outside city workers – most noticeably, in waste management – Miller decided not to run for a third term. The two front runners were former Liberal provincial cabinet minister George Smitherman and Ward 2 Councillor Rob Ford, who made a name for himself as a thrifty, outspoken conservative populist. Ford’s transportation platform could be described with just two soundbites: “war on the car” and “subways, subways, subways.” He had no use for streetcars, and no use for bike lanes, both of which, as he (and a lot of others) saw it, were just in the way of motorists. Rob Ford won that election against an uninspiring Smitherman, and his brother, Doug, became the new Ward 2 councillor.
Eglinton Crosstown Line Plan, image courtesy of the City of Toronto
Immediately, due to Ford’s win and a Province now eager to save money, Transit City ground to a halt, including the Scarborough RT replacement. But Transit City wasn’t completely dead: the Province and the City agreed to go ahead with the shortened Eglinton-Crosstown project. Groundbreaking on that project took place on November 9, 2011, with Rob Ford and then-premier Dalton McGuinty in attendance. After many delays, the Finch West LRT project finally began construction in 2017.
Finch West LRT Plan, image courtesy of the City of Toronto
Finch West LRT portal west of Keele Street in July 2023, image by Edward Skira
Another mayor, another vision
After an increasingly chaotic City Hall under Rob Ford’s watch – culminating in the infamous crack scandal – Torontonians were ready for change. John Tory – an affable establishment businessman and politician – was elected in October 2014, running against Doug Ford and Olivia Chow.
Though Tory promised to bring stability to City Hall, he brought one new idea with him – SmartTrack. The idea was to create a new “London-style” rapid transit service that would connect Mississauga in the west to Markham in the northeast, running mostly along existing GO Transit corridors. The plan, likely inspired by London’s Overground network of surface rail corridors in that city’s suburban regions, promised relief to Toronto’s crowded subway system, along with new connections in Etobicoke, Scarborough, and beyond. The most enticing part? It would be built in just seven years.
SmartTrack Plan, image courtesy of the City of Toronto
There were several concerns with the plan. The section between Mount Dennis and Matheson/Airport Corporate Centre would have been built on a vacant right-of-way reserved for a never-built expressway along Eglinton West in Etobicoke. Under Rob Ford, however, the lands were partially sold to developers for new townhouse development. The SmartTrack idea evolved from a development industry think-tank that was looking to better connect employment lands near Pearson Airport, Unionville, and the Unilever site at the mouth of the Don River. These were dismissed by Tory, and city planning staff began studying SmartTrack as part of Toronto’s transportation network.
SmartTrack then began to dissolve. The Eglinton West section was dropped, with LRT once again proposed for that corridor. In Scarborough, the planned Scarborough Subway extension (that Tory promised to continue with) would have cannibalized ridership on the eastern leg of SmartTrack. In 2016, a new one-stop subway extension from Kennedy to Scarborough Centre was proposed to ensure SmartTrack’s usefulness, along with an extension of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT to University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus.
The City-led one-stop subway proposal for Scarborough, January 2016
Eventually, the 0ne-stop subway plan was vetoed by the Province, and the three-stop subway, with stations at Lawrence and McCowan, Scarborough Centre, and Sheppard and McCowan, resumed, with the official groundbreaking on June 21, 2021.
Shoring at McCowan and Sheppard, June 2021, image by UubanToronto Forum contributor StealthyArrow
Today, SmartTrack remains the branding for several new local GO transit rail stations on the Kitchener, Barrie, and Stouffville Lines, including the planned East Harbour rail hub, discussed below. Meanwhile, GO Transit is building new stations at Mount Dennis, the Port Lands, and at Eglinton and Caledonia Road; those will be covered in the next 20 YEARS transit retrospective.
The highlight of the John Tory era was the completion and opening of the Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension on December 17, 2017, the official name of the project that brought six new subway stations to the network, including new connections to GO Trains at Downsview Park, and to GO, York Region, and Brampton Züm buses. The subway brought a long-promised subway connection to York University, and across Steeles Avenue to York Region. This was the first subway expansion since the opening of the Sheppard Subway in 2002.
Though it is well-known as a car-dependent suburb, the new transit terminal at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre has spurred many commercial and residential developments, creating a new sense of place for the sprawling community.
Vaughan Metropolitan Station on opening day, image by Jack Landau
Vaughan Metropolitan Station on opening day, image by Jack Landau
The Yonge North Subway extension, which will bring the Yonge Line five stops further north to Richmond Hill, will begin construction soon. The Yonge North extension is controversial as it will not be built with a station at Cummer/Drewry in North York and was rerouted to accommodate community opposition in Thornhill. But it will fulfill York Region’s demands for a subway extension, and support urban development near Langstaff GO Station. Though no dates for groundbreaking nor completion have been announced, the line is expected to open once a new downtown transit line has opened.
Yonge North Subway Extension Plan, image courtesy of the City of Toronto
The June 2018 provincial election put to an end a relatively friendly relationship between Toronto City Hall and Queen’s Park. Earlier that year, former Toronto councillor and losing mayoral candidate Doug Ford became the Ontario PC leader, with his party winning a landslide over the incumbent Liberal party. Ford spent little time shaking things up, including a sudden cut to Toronto’s City Council, even during an election period. The new government was also quick to move on some lingering transit projects: city planning on the Downtown Relief Line was taken over with a new Ontario Line proposal, so named as it would run all the way from Exhibition Station (near Ontario Place) to Don Mills and Eglinton (near the Ontario Science Centre). Groundbreaking took place less than two years from the initial announcement, on March 27, 2022, with completion expected in 2031.
Ontario Line Plan, image courtesy of the City of Toronto
With connections to the GO Lakeshore Line at Exhibition Station and the future East Harbour hub at the Don River, the Ontario Line is not only designed to relieve the TTC subway, but also Union Station. Unlike the subway, trains will be fully automated, with platform edge doors, much like Montreal’s new REM. Though the Ontario Line will be a “light metro” with shorter trains, it will have similar capacity as a subway by way of shorter waits between trains. Though the downtown and Pape Avenue segments will be tunneled, the northern section through Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park will be elevated. It will also share an expanded Lakeshore East GO corridor between the Don River and Gerrard Street.
At Exhibition and East Harbour Stations, The City of Toronto, Infrastructure Ontario, and property owners such as Cadillac Fairview (owners of the Unilever lands) are working on integrated urban development plans.
2022 illustration of the East Harbour transit hub and Unilever lands development, image courtesy of Infrastructure Ontario/Cadillac Fairview
This year, work began in earnest on building the downtown stations. Queen Street was closed between Bay and Victoria Streets to facilitate work on the complex subway interchange, Moss Park was largely closed off for the station there, and demolition began in Thorncliffe Park for the new maintenance and storage facility there.
2023 also saw Toronto’s rapid transit network shrink for the first time. On Monday July 24, at 6:45 AM, a Scarborough RT car on Line 3 derailed soon after departing Ellesmere Station, injuring five. The ageing line was already scheduled to be shut down in November, 2023, to be replaced by buses on dedicated lanes. The derailment and subsequent investigations forced the TTC to close the six-station route early.
Had, of course, the Transit City rebuild taken place, or if Rob Ford managed to get subway construction started early in his ill-fated term, there would not be this ignoble end to a mostly unloved train. But it’s a fitting result of a City and a Province which kept changing transit plans to suit the politics of the day.
But the whirlwind of transit plans wasn’t the only thing that happened in Toronto transit in the last 20 years. The TTC replaced much of its subway fleet with state-of-the-art Toronto Rocket trains, which feature North America’s first full open-gangway metro trains. The first Toronto Rocket trains came into service in July 2011; they now make up the entirety of the Yonge-University (Line 1) and Sheppard (Line 4) subway fleet. Along with the new trains, the TTC upgraded the signaling on Line 1 to Automatic Train Control (ATC), allowing for closer spacing between trains and one-person train operation.
Car 4401 at Hillcrest Yard in 2013, image by Sean Marshall
With its legacy streetcars (Canadian Light Rail Vehicles built 1978-1981 and Articulated LRVs built in 1987-1989) nearing the end of their lives, the TTC also replaced its entire fleet with larger, fully accessible vehicles. The first of 204 low-floor Flexity cars arrived from Bombardier for testing in September 2012, with the first two in-service cars placed into service on the 510 Spadina route on August 31, 2014. Due to manufacturing defects at Bombardier’s Mexico plant, it took two years for the TTC to accept the cars for revenue service, and another five years for the final CLRVs to be withdrawn from service, with the last rides on December 29, 2019. Eight years earlier, the TTC retired the last of its non-accessible high-floor buses – the venerable GM New Look – on December 16, 2011.
CLRV 4057 on Bathurst Street, December 20, 2019, image by Sean Marshall
Though the buses and streetcars were finally fully accessible, the TTC has struggled to complete the installation of elevators at all of its stations. Though 55 of its 67 subway stations have been outfitted with lifts, several will not be completed before 2025, particularly Warden and Islington Stations, both of which are busy transfer points.
Finally, the Presto farecard changed how Torontonians paid for transit. First led by GO Transit to replace an antiquated paper ticket system, Presto became a Metrolinx initiative to integrate fare payment across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. By 2013, GO Transit and the major suburban transit agencies were on board, but the TTC, which wanted its own fare payment system, including open payments (payments with debit and credit cards) resisted until the Province threatened to cut off capital funding unless it adopted the card. By 2015, all TTC streetcars had Presto readers, and by 2015, all subway stations and buses accepted the cards. New subway faregates installed by the TTC in 2017 all had Presto capability, and in 2023, open payments were finally made possible.
Finally, in 2018, the TTC introduced the two-hour transfer, which allowed for unlimited trips in any direction within a two-hour window of the first Presto tap.
In the last twenty years, the TTC gained six new subway stations, and lost a six-stop rapid transit line. It welcomed new buses, streetcars, and subway trains, and modernized its fare system. In the last three years, it has struggled to regain ridership after COVID-19 lockdowns, with many office staff still working from home much of the week. Chronic urban socioeconomic issues that were exasperated by the pandemic have been especially prevalent on transit as well. But as ridership slowly bounces back – especially on weekends – new infrastructure that’s now finally getting built will be essential for a growing city.
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Sean Marshall is a one of UrbanToronto’s earliest members and a moderator on the site, along with being a geographer, an urban issues advocate, and blogger with a particular speciality in transportation. You can read him at www.seanmarshall.ca
UrbanToronto will return tomorrow with another story celebrating 20 YEARS. A second look back at transit over the period, this time on regional plans, will appear next week. In the meantime, check back often to our front page and Forum to keep an eye on all the current and emerging trends, and you can always leave your comments in the space below.
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