A busway to replace the Scarborough RT has been delayed... again! Construction should have started months ago. Now Scarborough transit riders will be stuck on replacement buses in traffic for even longer than expected. A dedicated, off-street busway is projected to save riders up to 20 minutes each day.
Mayor Olivia Chow is not responsible for creating this mess. But during her campaign, she made a promise to get the Scarborough busway built if Premier Doug Ford does not come through.
Take Action! Ask Mayor Chow to keep her promise to fund the Scarborough busway
Fill out the form to send an email message to Mayor Olivia Chow and your City Councillor. Mayor Chow presents her budget on February 1st, then all of City Council votes on February 14th, 2024.
Although Mayor Olivia Chow has proposed to raise property taxes to prevent cuts to services like transit and to invest in freezing TTC fares, there is still a $250 million shortfall that the federal government is being asked to fill. And there are important projects that do not have funding yet, like the promised Scarborough busway.
How delayed is the project?
Construction was supposed to start in November 2023, after the Scarborough RT was officially decommissioned, and was supposed to finish in 2025. Now, construction will likely start in 2025 and finish in 2027!
If the project is delayed, is it still worth building?
The Scarborough Subway Extension is supposed to open in 2030... if we're lucky! It could be delayed. And, TTC staff say the busway will be an important link even after the subway opens, feeding bus riders into the subway extension, future GO rail, and the BRT planned by Metrolinx on Ellesmere.
Why was the project delayed?
The project has already been delayed once due to lack of funding. Between April 2022 and May 2023, staff only completed 30% of the project design due to lack of funding. Now, the busway has been delayed yet again, due to 3 factors: 1) the need for a different type of barrier to separate the busway from the GO corridor; 2) an archaeological assessment, and 3) the need to initiate an Environmental Assessment because TTC staff had assumed that one was not required.
Shouldn't the province pay for a busway?
The province should chip in because they are responsible for delaying the Scarborough Subway Extension by at least 3 years. But transit riders can't afford to lose more time while elected officials argue over who should pay. And a lack of funding has already delayed this project once. Toronto has already spent $3.9 million on busway design and asked the provincial government to reimburse the cost -- they could take the same approach now.
How did we get here?
Here's a timeline of some of the most recent decisions that affected the fate of the Scarborough RT:
- 2019: Premier Ford announces he will "upload" the Scarborough Subway Extension project to provincial control. He announces it will become a 3-stop project, which requires new design work and delays its opening date to 2030, 3 years later than the TTC had planned to open it.
- February 2021: TTC staff announce that the Scarborough RT will close in 2023. Staff report that even if they were to invest half a billion dollars into overhauling and maintaining the RT, they could not guarantee it would provide reliable service until 2030.
- February 2022: TTCriders publishes a community report based on surveys with over 300 Scarborough RT users that shows overwhelming support for an interim busway replacement.
- April 2022: The TTC Board votes to approve the conversion of the Scarborough RT right-of-way between Kennedy Station and Ellesmere Station into a busway, with stops at Tara Avenue, Lawrence Avenue East, and Ellesmere Road.
- May 2023: Staff tell the Executive Committee that they have completed 30% design on the busway, but more design work has stopped due to lack of funds. City Council authorizes the TTC to spend $2.9 million to continue design work, and requests the provincial government to reimburse them.
- January 2024: TTC staff report that the busway has been delayed yet again, due to 3 factors: 1) the need for a different type of barrier to separate the busway from the GO corridor; 2) an archaeological assessment, and 3) the need to initiate an Environmental Assessment because TTC staff had assumed that one was not required.