City planners are poised to recommend that John Tory’s signature transit line be built with seven new stations, six fewer than he promised during the mayoral campaign.

In March, city council directed staff to consider two options for SmartTrack, Tory’s plan to add transit service using existing GO Transit corridors: one that would include seven to eight new stops, and another that would include four to five.

With staff due to make their recommendation in a major transit report in two weeks, acting director of transit and sustainable transportation James Perttula said staff believe an alignment with seven stops is the best option.

The seven-stop plan would have slightly lower ridership than the four- or five-station alignment, because the additional stations would increase travel times and make service less attractive to some riders. But Perttula said ridership is only one factor that staff considered.

“By having more stations we provide improved access for more people, and more access to employment opportunities, which is a key part of this, connecting people and jobs,” he said.

The proposed stops are at St. Clair West, Liberty Village, the Unilever site, Gerrard and Pape, Lawrence East, Ellesmere, and Finch East.

An eighth stop along the Kitchener corridor between Liberty Village and Union Station was also considered because it would have strong ridership, Perttula said, but staff determined it wasn’t physically feasible due to the high number of tracks that converge in that part of town.

Existing GO stations would also be part of SmartTrack, which is being built as part of Metrolinx’s previously planned regional express rail project.

A spokeswoman for Metrolinx said the agency was still studying how many new stations to build as part of the expansion and she couldn’t comment on how many new stops will be built to serve SmartTrack.

The alignment favoured by city staff is a departure from the vision of that Tory presented during his 2014 mayoral run. Maps of SmartTrack included in his campaign material showed a 22-stop line, with 13 new stations.

Chris Eby, the mayor’s chief of staff, said that regardless of the number of stations, Tory’s office is “very confident” that SmartTrack is “moving ahead in a way that . . . meets all the key deliverables and commitments that we made during the campaign.”

Those commitments included easing congestion on the subway network, reducing gridlock, and providing subway-like service on SmartTrack.

“We’re going to deliver on the promise that we talked about from the very beginning,” Eby said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Tory’s original plan was already pared down in March, when council adopted staff recommendations to scrap the section of SmartTrack that would have extended to the Mississauga Airport Corporate Centre, and replace it plans for a light rail line instead.

According to documents presented at a city public consultation on Wednesday, the alignment of seven new stops would put stations within 500 metres of 24,100 residents and 19,000 jobs. It would carry 27,600 daily riders on top of the increased ridership GO’s regional express rail plan is expected to attract, and reduce ridership on the overcrowded Yonge subway south of Bloor by 3,900 people during morning rush hours.

Perttula said staff are still working on a final service model, but a March report estimated that during peak times trains would run every five to 10 minutes.

Read more about: