For the past two weeks, STA has been canvassing in communities near Lawrence East and Ellesmere stations, two stations which will effectively shut down under Council’s current plan for a one-stop Scarborough subway extension (SSE), but would have remained with a 7-stop LRT. (For those who are not aware: There are three stations between Kennedy and STC on the RT line, and all three – Lawrence East, Ellesmere, and Midland – will be eliminated under the plan for the SSE.) We have been informing residents of Council’s plan, and were surprised to discover something:
Toronto has spent years dealing with the consequences of underfunded public transit. Aging infrastructure, delayed repairs and subway slow zones have all placed pressure on a system that millions of Torontonians rely on. These problems cannot be fixed overnight and require sustained investment in the workers, vehicles, tracks and infrastructure that keep transit moving.