This week’s TTC troubles prompts renewal in calls for downtown relief line

By Faiza Amin

After a week of multiple disruptions and service that the TTC itself called “abysmal,” transit advocates are calling on the city to speed up the work needed for a downtown relief line.

The transit commission apologized to commuters this week after they experienced a series of operation and signalling issues that resulted in unprecedented overcrowding on subway lines.

Transit advocates like TTCRiders, a group dedicated to giving a voice to commuters, is calling on the city to fund the relief line as soon as possible.

“Transit riders were really upset this week who experienced the crowding […] because it was dangerous,” said Shelagh Pizey-Allen, the Executive Director of TTCriders. “But it was unsurprising because the TTC has been underfunded for years.”

Following the week’s transit chaos, Mayor John Tory held a press conference, saying the city is doing everything it can to advance its construction.

The downtown relief line is expected to be up and running by 2031.

“Consistent with the challenge of putting one’s money where our mouths are, we have fully funded the planning, design and engineering work that will lead to shovels being in the ground to actually build the relief line,” Tory told reporters on Thursday.

The line is expected to allow commuters to bypass Bloor-Yonge Station and have trains traveling southbound from Pape Station to Queen and Osgoode stations on Line 1.

Toronto city councillor Josh Matlow says the project has been slipping through the cracks as new governments come to power, and though some progress on the line has been made, he adds that other transit projects have been prioritized.

“Preliminary planning and all the work that’s been done now should have been done years ago, but I think all of us need to demand that the relief line be prioritized and focused on,” said Matlow.

“When the mayor has a meeting with the premier, I hear about the one-stop subway, I hear about Smart Track. We all need to focus on the relief line, because frankly, that is the priority of people,” said the Ward 22 councillor.

Tory says the city has a timetable that needs to be followed, but he’ll once again ask staff about their transit priorities. “I will further ask them again, a question that I’ve asked repeatedly, publicly and privately,” Tory said. “Is there any work that’s being done on other transit projects that’s slowing the relief line down in any way? I’ve been repeatedly told the answer to that question is no.”

The city says a detailed design of the relief line will be completed by next year.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today