If urban and suburban transit riders, jammed onto the over-crowded Yonge subway line, were hoping for relief from the Ford government, they won’t find any consolation in the speech that Ontario Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek gave to the Toronto Region Board of Trade last week.

Yurek outlined the province’s plans for Toronto’s subway system, which the Ford government plans to take over in the New Year. But not once did he mention the all-important downtown relief line.

That’s right, the No. 1 transit priority of Mayor John Tory, city council and the city’s former chief planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, didn’t rate a word from the minister in charge. That’s despite the fact the planned line between Osgoode and Pape stations is absolutely necessary to divert thousands of passengers from a Yonge line that is already operating dangerously over capacity.

Yurek emphasized instead that the province would “be able to push the subway further into York, Peel and Durham regions,” reviving fears that the government wants to upload the subway system to the province simply to pander to voters in the suburbs, where the Progressive Conservatives have strong support.

Even when Yurek was given a chance later to clarify his remarks, he would only concede that the relief line was “a” top priority, not “the” top priority.

If suburban transit riders think all that is good news, it isn’t.

After all, the relief line won’t primarily serve downtowners. By relieving pressure on the main north-south Yonge line it will make it easier for commuters from the suburbs to get to and from their jobs in the central core.

As the Star’s Ed Keenan has written: “It will provide a faster, more comfortable ride into the city for thousands of daily riders from the north and east of the city, and at the same time allow us to consider ways to better serve further-flung riders by making it possible to contemplate extending the lines we have now.”

Now that sounds like a sensible plan all political leaders in the GTA should support.

In fact, they did just that before Doug Ford threw all the cards into the air with his out-of-the-blue announcement last May that he would take over the system if the PCs won the June election.

Back in 2017, York Region Chair Wayne Emmerson, Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti and Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow joined forces with Tory to ensure that the relief line would proceed at least at the same time as any northward extension of the Yonge line.

The fact is, unless the relief line opens at the same time — or before — the Yonge extension into Richmond Hill, Markham and Vaughan, passengers from all points will find themselves clamouring for a space to stand, never mind sit.

Indeed, capacity for the Yonge line is 28,000 passengers per hour in each direction, but on a typical weekday it carries 28,300. That would explain why riders heading home from work in the downtown core — to all parts of the GTA — already must wait for several trains to go by before they find one they can squeeze onto.

What would happen if the Yonge line is extended before the relief line is built? Already people are in danger of being pushed off congested platforms onto the tracks below every time trains are delayed during rush hour.

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It should go without saying that a transit system that moves 1.8 million riders daily shouldn’t be a political ping-pong ball. Indeed, the whole region benefits when Toronto’s transit system works efficiently.

It’s not only the smart thing to do from a planning perspective, it’s the right thing to do for passenger safety. And that should count for something.

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