GET THE FACTS
FACT CHECK:
Claim: LRT expansion is cheaper than Subway Expansion
FACT: Based on existing studies and the 1992 EA, Subways are far more cost effective over the long run. The long term operational savings of subways greatly outweigh the cheaper up front capital costs of LRT networks.
Claim: LRT’s could help alleviate traffic congestion in more neighbourhoods.
FACT: LRT expansion would increase noise and traffic congestion. Removal of lanes of traffic to accommodate street cars and LRT’s, both during and after construction, will result in traffic chaos.
Claim: LRT’s would reduce green house gases and smog
FACT: Increased traffic congestion from the addition of LRT’s to already busy streets will worsen pollution and traffic times. Congestion already costs the GTA $6 billion a year.
Claim: There is insufficient ridership numbers along Sheppard to justify subways.
FACT: The population of the GTA is expected to double in the next ten years. While a subway system delivers the capacity required to accommodate future growth in Toronto, an LRT is greatly restricted in its ability to accommodate future ridership.
New expanded subways will make Toronto work better. A well planned subway network allows a vast number of people to be moved efficiently but does not interfere with surface traffic.
It should provide excellent economic value. Grid lock is costing Toronto $6 billion dollars annually. High speed subways will reverse that huge hit to the local economy.
Most people don’t work where they live. Using a car in the majority of cases is a necessity adding enormously to congestion in this City. Rapid subway transit in the Sheppard and Eglinton corridors will remove thousands of cars from the road because it will provide benefits that a car cannot match. It is faster, it is more convenient and it costs far less.
A Subway is high speed, reliable, able to move the greatest number of people and is more cost efficient over its useful life. Convenient inexpensive UNDERGROUND mobility to all parts of this city not just downtown equates to “world class”.
Other Subway supporters who have excellent sources of information:
