TORONTO – There has been no shortage of stories written, comment offered and hyperbole spewed on the need to build subways in Scarborough.
Mayor Ford championed the call for subways during the 2010 campaign. For the most part, he failed to deliver on his plan only barely getting through the Scarborough subway through council.
We can blame a dysfunctional council, the mayor’s personal indiscretions, the federal government, the provincial government and/or Metrolinx for the planning going off the rails.
But amidst all the multi-directional finger wagging, one statistic recently jumped out at me.
An expert panel on transit options along Sheppard Avenue drilled down on transit use in Scarborough and laid out several options, including light rail transit or subways in March 2012.
For all the righteous indignation, for all of the “us and them” accusations, for all the hue and cry to better connect Scarborough to downtown Toronto – consider this: Only 1 in 4 Scarborough TTC users travel beyond Scarborough to a destination in the 416 (downtown, midtown, North York, Etobicoke).
Fewer than 1 in 8 TTC riders go from a Scarborough stop to downtown Toronto. Every other Scarborough rider starts and ends their ride in Scarborough.
Nearly 70 per cent of all TTC trips that begin in Scarborough end in Scarborough, York or Durham regions.
Do we need improved rapid transit connectivity between Scarborough and the current subway routes? The answer is obviously “Yes.”
Subways would move faster, the LRT would have more stops and be more accessible for more commuters but isn’t it clear from these numbers and the analysis that we’ve overstated the need for rapid transit to improve the Scarborough-downtown connection?
We seem to have missed the point.
We should be focussed on building transit for Scarborough transit users who use the TTC to get around Scarborough.
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