With his SmartTrack plan going to public consultations this week, Mayor John Tory says his signature transit project has reached a major milestone.

But key questions about the plan remained unanswered Tuesday, including how many people are expected to use the service and how much it will cost them to do so.

At a news conference in Scarborough ahead of the first of three public meetings planned for this week, Tory predicted SmartTrack will bring “new and improved service where it is needed the most in our city.”

“Over the last year, city staff have been working hard at studying SmartTrack station locations and station designs …. City staff are now ready to take it to the public,” the mayor said, declaring it “an important day.”

The city is holding the consultations in three affected neighbourhoods, with the goal of getting feedback on the plan’s six proposed new stops.

Although they would be labelled SmartTrack stations, the stops would be added to GO Transit’s existing Kitchener and Stouffville/Lakeshore East lines. They would be operated as part of a wider expansion and electrification of GO Transit service known as regional express rail, which is being spearheaded by Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency for the GTHA.

City staff are hoping to get input on the design of the stops, including station entrances, accessibility for people with mobility issues, and land use around the sites.

However, James Perttula, director of transit and transportation planning for the city, confirmed at a media briefing that the city doesn’t yet have solid numbers for how many people are expected to use SmartTrack stations once they’re built.

Although previous reports have estimated that the stations could attract as many as 9 million new riders to the GO Transit network each year, key factors that will influence ridership are still being worked out.

According to the city’s public consultation materials, trains will stop at SmartTrack stations at frequencies of every six to 10 minutes during peak periods, and every 15 minutes outside of that. But Perttula told reporters details aren’t yet finalized. “Metrolinx is still working through their service model, and we have not been given updated service plans,” he said.

And though Tory has pledged that transit users will pay a “TTC fare” to board at SmartTrack stations, Perttula said he was “not sure” what the fares will be. How much it will cost will likely be subject to the outcome of Metrolinx’s efforts to integrate the fare systems of transit agencies across the GTHA.

Perttula also said he had “no answer” for whether trains servicing SmartTrack stations will be capable of “through service” at Union Station. If not, trains on the eastern and western arms of the SmartTrack “U” would turn back at Union, which would leave no direct link between stops on the two halves of the city and likely depress ridership.

Perttula said that despite the unknowns, it is still worthwhile to consult the public about the proposed stations because many questions about design “apply to a station regardless of the specific ridership.”

He said the city expects to release a report in the spring about “how the various elements of SmartTrack are shaping up” and may “need to update some of our analysis depending on how these other pieces of puzzle come together.”

Last month Metrolinx placed one of the proposed new SmartTrack stations, Lawrence East, as well as the proposed Kirby GO station in Vaughan, under review. The move followed a Star investigation that revealed the ministry of transportation pressured the agency into approving both stops despite internal reports that recommended they not be built.

Metrolinx has said that if the review doesn’t determine the stations are warranted they won’t go ahead. The provincial auditor general is also investigating whether the stations provide good value for money.

The version of SmartTrack going to consultation this week is significantly less ambitious than the plan Tory made the central plank of his successful 2014 campaign.

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He originally promised 13 new stations and a total of 22 stops, instead of six new stations and a total of 14 stops. His proposal to build a heavy rail link to the airport has since been replaced with a planned extension of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT. He also pledged on the campaign trail to complete the project within seven years, but said Tuesday it would be done by the “early 2020s.”

Councillor Gord Perks said that the current plan was not what the mayor promised.

“It’s a little rich to refer to a handful of stations as ‘SmartTrack.’ The mayor promised 22 stations in seven years, with subway frequencies at TTC prices, and we’re not getting any of that,” said Perks, who is a frequent critic of the mayor.

Last November, council agreed to be responsible for all the costs of the six proposed SmartTrack stops. The price tag is estimated at about $1.3 billion.

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