Rush-hour commuters sardined into subway cars on Toronto’s packed Yonge line can relax. According to York Region’s politicians, the notion that capacity on this route is exhausted amounts to an urban myth. That’s why they’re lobbying to extend the Yonge line north to Richmond Hill, to take on even more riders.

It’s an exercise in folly. This proposed new seven-kilometre subway expansion would channel a torrent of additional travelers into an already-deluged system. Toronto Mayor John Tory was spot-on this past week when he pointed out that such a move would be nothing short of reckless without first delivering major relief from existing congestion.

“We just can’t do it,” he told CP24. “How irresponsible would it be to have the trains, when they get to Finch, be full so no one can get on?” Right now, Tory noted, they’re full by the time they reach the York Mills or Eglinton stops.

Councillor Josh Colle, chair of the Toronto Transit Commission, echoed that concern, saying: “We’re nowhere near being in the position to extend Yonge north. It’s just not feasible right now.”

Measures already in the works to ease congestion on the Yonge line should give commuters a bit of breathing space over the next few years. But it would be exceedingly ill-advised to respond by having an influx of York riders inundate the system.

That didn’t stop a delegation of 16 York Region mayors, councillors and senior staff from travelling to Ottawa and meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ask for infrastructure funding. And the Number One priority on their list was extending the Yonge subway north from Toronto’s Finch station to Richmond Hill.

As reported by the Star’s Tess Kalinowski, Richmond Hill deputy mayor Vito Spatafora said shovels could be in the ground as soon as 2019, with the project finished in about 10 years.

While this construction is going on, York officials expect congestion on Yonge to be eased by measures such as an upgraded subway signal system and automatic controls, which would allow trains to run more frequently, as well as expanded GO Transit service and the opening of the Spadina subway extension.

In light of these prospects, Vaughan Councillor Alan Shefman declared to the Star this past week that the claim there’s no capacity on Yonge amounts to “mythology.”

If only it were so. The problem is that Toronto’s population and subway transit needs will continue to grow in decades to come. And building a major, multi-billion-dollar subway extension on Yonge — in the hope there will be room for a flood of York riders — is a risky gamble.

It’s better to do as Toronto officials suggest and concentrate on building a “relief line” designed to ease pressure on the Yonge underground. When fully built, this would resemble a great “U” connecting eastern and western stops on the Bloor-Danforth line to Toronto’s downtown. Suburban subway riders would be able to reach the city’s core without having to board a Yonge train.

Such a route was first envisioned more than 100 years ago, and the need for it has never been greater with congestion on Yonge approaching crisis levels. Work on a relief line is listed in the next round of projects under consideration by Metrolinx, but no funding has yet been allocated and it’s not clear when development might actually start.

Only about 15 per cent of York commuters currently use public transit, and it’s entirely understandable that the region’s leaders are trying to do better by giving motorists more incentives to leave their cars at home.

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In the fullness of time, it will be necessary to improve transit between Finch station, on the Yonge line, and Richmond Hill. But the best option may not be a subway. Serious consideration should be given to the benefits of light rail. A more expensive, harder-to-build subway option may still emerge as the desired choice. But, either way, it shouldn’t happen before a downtown relief line is in place.

That must be a priority. Until real “relief” is at hand, transit officials would do well to steer clear of any expansion of the Yonge line north into York Region. To do otherwise would be to court disaster.

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