A better design for the downtown relief line: Edward J. Levy’s Big Idea

… the “relief” subway now being rigorously studied by both Metrolinx and the TTC could be designed so that users of both the subway system and GO Transit could be afforded more convenient, integrated service within Toronto’s heavily travelled central precincts?

What is needed now more than ever is the “missing link” that would transform our severely constrained system of poorly connected subways into a well-functioning network that would actually provide “relief” to users — users of the entire subway operation, not just those travelling into and out of the central area.

What I envisage as the “Regional Relief Line” would link the Don Mills area with the underserved districts of west Toronto through the financial district and the burgeoning precincts east and west of the core. It would interchange, to start, with both the Yonge and University subways, the Bloor-Danforth subway and the new Eglinton-Crosstown LRT.

More intriguingly, the “regional relief line” might well be the means to achieve the long-held vision for GO/TTC fare and service integration. This in turn would offer a sterling opportunity to “relieve” Union Station which, in spite of the vast sums presently being devoted to its expansion and revitalization, will almost certainly become overcrowded yet again well before mid-21st century as the financial district and condominium concentration continue to grow.

Clearly, the cost of the entire Don Mills-west Toronto regional relief line would be in the billions of dollars, and therefore would need to be staged. The tiresome truth is that much of the required financing would have to come from all levels of government. Yes, this means enhanced tax revenues, or “fiscal tools” to use the current euphemism. (No taxes = urban stagnation and even diminished civilization, sad to say!)

Other financial resources could come from various modes of direct private sector involvement.

Finally, let us not shy away from facing the reality of politically motivated, otherwise unjustifiable subway projects (for example, Sheppard (too late!) and Scarborough), which, if abandoned, could release considerable funding for more critically needed initiatives.