Item - 2016.EX11.5

The Executive Committee:

1.  Directed the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in collaboration with the Toronto Transit Commission, to continue technical work on remaining issues for the recommended Scarborough transit network, including public consultation on the proposed network in the context of current transit planning, improvements to bus transit for students to the University of Toronto - Scarborough and ensuring that any LRT is built with consideration for the University of Toronto - Scarborough Campus Master Plan, and report back no later than June, 2016, with findings.

The Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning gave a presentation on Scarborough Transit Planning Update.

On October 8, 2013 City Council confirmed support for the Scarborough Subway Extension and directed staff to confirm the alignment and station locations through an Environmental Assessment process (CC39.5 Scarborough Rapid Transit Options: Reporting on Council Terms and Conditions).

Since City Council confirmed its support for the Scarborough Subway Extension, transit options have been refined through technical analysis and public and stakeholder consultation of the Scarborough Subway Extension Project Assessment (SSEPA). However, the context for the project has changed due to the introduction of SmartTrack and Regional Express Rail, and the timing of the Sheppard East LRT.  These changing conditions present new opportunities to achieve enhanced connectivity and accessibility as part of an emerging, comprehensive transit network for Scarborough.  The purpose of this report is to articulate key elements of the recommended transit network for Scarborough in advance of the March, 2016 transit network and SmartTrack report, and related decision-making.   

Good transit planning is guided by priorities which reflect the policy context in which decision making must occur.  In Scarborough, the priorities are:

Priority 1: Support the development of Scarborough Centre as a vibrant urban node

Toronto's Official Plan envisions Scarborough Centre as the "urban focal point for eastern Toronto where employment, housing, institutional, cultural, recreational, commercial and community services and transit will be concentrated in a dynamic mixed-use location."This direction is supported at the Provincial level by the Provincial Policy Statement and the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, as well as other provincial and local planning policies.

In the future, the Centre will continue to develop as a meeting place: a location for cultural facilities, public institutions and major services for people from across Scarborough and neighbouring districts and municipalities. Providing excellent transit is one ingredient of a successful plan for the future of Scarborough Centre.  Other improvements will be identified through the upcoming Transportation Master Plan study that will consider refinement of the street layout, greater consideration of multi-modal options including quality connections to transit, as well as the upcoming Public Art Plan that will seek to enhance the area with high quality public art in support of the City's Official Plan policies, local precinct plans and the Scarborough Centre Public Space and Streetscape Master Plan.

Providing convenient, high speed rapid transit connection to this urban growth centre is a key tenet of the City’s Official Plan, to ensure Scarborough has the same degree of mobility opportunities that exist in other urban centres (such as North York and Yonge – Eglinton) and that are otherwise planned (including Six Points in Etobicoke).  The key transit planning priority for Scarborough Centre is to better connect the Centre to the rest of the Toronto city region in order to:

-  Encourage high-quality employment and residential growth in the Centre; and

-  Enhance the accessibility of Scarborough Centre; improving the speed, reliability and convenience of transit service linking Scarborough Centre and key destinations in the Toronto city region.

Better connecting Scarborough Centre to the rest of the City and Region is crucial to its success. The return on this significant public investment will be public and private development and economic prosperity.

Priority 2: Support the development of complete communities along the Avenues and improve local accessibility

Use transit to improve accessibility of local destinations within Scarborough to:

- Better connect people to everyday places;

- Make transit an attractive option for more journeys;

- Attract new transit riders; and

- Improve the quality of life for residents of Scarborough.

Investment in better transit, particularly along the designated Avenues, contributes to the creation of complete communities that meet people's needs for daily living, provides transportation choice and reduces auto dependency. 

Recommended Solution

The aforementioned transit priorities for Scarborough are somewhat distinct from one another and not easily addressed by a single rapid transit line. City staff have considered how infrastructure investments and network planning could best achieve these two key transit priorities through application of a variety of planning measures including the "Feeling Congested?" Rapid Transit Evaluation Framework. Initial conclusions are that the shorter-term transit network for Scarborough should include:

-  An extension of Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth Subway) focussed on serving Scarborough Centre via a McCowan Road alignment;

-  Crosstown East - an extension of Line 5 (Eglinton Crosstown LRT) to the University of

Toronto, Scarborough Campus;

-  A SmartTrack station at Lawrence Avenue East; and

-  Rapid transit on the Sheppard East Corridor.

This optimized solution, illustrated in Figure 1, better serves Scarborough residents in all facets, by serving Scarborough Centre with frequent, high capacity transit aimed at enhancing this key activity node, and by providing strategic linkages through the rest of Scarborough aimed at increasing accessibility to activity centres within Scarborough as well as providing convenient linkages to other parts of the City and surrounding regions. It also focuses capital funding on projects that serve the greatest mobility needs in the foreseeable future. Initial estimates indicate it is possible to construct the extension of Line 2 and the Crosstown East for a similar order-of-magnitude cost and in a similar timeframe as the three-stop Scarborough Subway extension originally proposed.  The two main reasons for this is the high cost of subway stations and the fact that the Crosstown East (Scarborough-Malvern LRT) has already been through an environmental assessment process meaning that it is close to being "shovel ready".

The recommended Scarborough transit network requires further evaluation of cost estimates.  Staff will include preliminary cost estimates in future reports detailing any required changes in total project cost as compared to the original estimate.

(See Figure 1 titled "2026 Recommended Rapid Transit network for Scarborough (including high frequency bus corridors", in the report dated January 21, 2016, from the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning)