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Toronto’s transit boss says that if he had to choose, he would pick building a Downtown Relief Line over the contentious Scarborough subway.

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Andy Byford made the comment on Wednesday, after the TTC endorsed an extension of the Bloor-Danforth line that would run under McCowan Road, to Sheppard Avenue.

“If I had to pick one, I would choose the Downtown Relief Line,” said Mr. Byford when asked by a reporter.

But the TTC chief executive said it is not as simple as picking one project over the other, pointing out that the aging Scarborough Rapid Transit line (SRT) needs to be replaced. “I don’t think it’s a perfect choice,” said Mr. Byford. However, he said building an underground line that connects the Danforth directly to the core remains “the priority” for him.

A Scarborough subway extension is likely to funnel more people to an already packed Yonge, so at the very least planning for the relief line should be done in parallel, he argued.