It’s a rare show of unity on the transit file at City Hall.
With the fight over subway versus LRT now decided, two councillors from opposite ends of the political spectrum are burying the hatchet and joining together to advocate for better rapid transit for Toronto’s west end.
On Wednesday council will consider a motion put forward by Councillor Frances Nunziata – a close ally of Rob Ford – that calls for a major revamp of the Air Rail Link planned to run between Pearson Airport and Union Station by 2015.
The motion was seconded by left-leaning Councillor Mike Layton, and urges regional transit agency Metrolinx to build ten stops along the ARL instead of the planned two at Weston Rd. and Bloor St., effectively turning it from an express link for air travelers into a local commuter line.
“Yes we need that link to the airport but there should be more stops so people in various communities can access it,” says Nunziata.
She wants stations all along the line, which will run through CN’s Kitchener corridor, at Liberty Village, the Junction, Carleton Village, Jane Street, Etobicoke North, Eglinton Ave., Woodbine, and Humber.
According to Layton, the additional stops would allow the line to serve a similar purpose to the proposed Downtown Relief Line. The hypothetical DRL would connect the outer stretches of the Bloor-Danforth subway to downtown, and many see it as a priority project to ease congestion on the overloaded Yonge-University-Spadina line.
“[Adding local stops to the ARL] is an opportunity to connect more people to the downtown and get more people off the regular subway lines that are already running at pretty high capacity,” Layton says.
The rookie councillor has been lobbying for a stop in his ward at Liberty Village since he took office. He argues it’s not fair to ask local residents to have a passenger train line running through their backyards without allowing them access to it.
“We’re putting a rapid transit route right through the centre of the city. It would seem to make sense that this line would serve the community,” Layton says.
Turning the ARL into a commuter route isn’t as simple as building more stations, however. Metrolinx has yet to set the price of a ride on the line, but says it will be competitive with a taxi from downtown to the airport, putting it far out of the price range of daily riders.
While Nunziata’s motion is largely symbolic (it would only ask the premier to direct Metrolinx to build the new stops, not compel the agency to do so), she says she’s been emboldened by the recent council debate over the mayor’s transit plan. Throughout that process, both the premier and Metrolinx indicated it was up to council to decide whether the agency should build either above- or below-ground rail.
“Since the premier has indicated he respects any decision council makes, this is an opportunity for us to state how we feel about the ARL,” says Nunziata.
But Metrolinx spokesperson Vanessa Thomas suggests that even if council votes in favour of the additional eight stops on Wednesday, it will be ignored and the ARL will be built with only two intermediate stations, at least initially.
“The design and project scope for opening day has already been determined, and we’re well into construction,” Thomas says. “For opening day the ARL will connect Union Station and Pearson Airport. It will have two stops.”
However, she doesn’t rule out a future transfer station to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT once that line is completed in 2020. Plans call for the two lines to intersect.
“Connecting to the Eglinton Crosstown LRT is an important future consideration for the ARL,” she says. “The design process is continuing on the Crosstown.”
Thomas stresses that the attraction of the ARL is its 25-minute travel time, and more stops will only make it less appealing to riders.
Because Nunziata’s motion is a late addition to council’s agenda, it will require a two-thirds majority vote just to open it up for debate. Aside from calling for more stops, it would also reiterate council’s preference that trains running on the ARL be electrified instead of diesel.
Despite local residents’ strong opposition to the pollution and noise associated with diesel, Premier Dalton McGuinty has already pledged to run “clean diesel” engines on the line at first, and switch to electric at an unspecified future date.
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