As the mayoral candidates unveil their plans to ease transit congestion across Toronto, a new Forum Research Inc. poll finds that close to 50 per cent of Torontonians believe the Downtown Relief Line (DRL) is the highest transit priority for the city.

The poll, which was conducted on April 14 and surveyed 882 Toronto voters, found that 48 per cent of respondents believe the DRL is the most important transit project in Toronto, while 27 per cent said the Scarborough subway is top priority.

If approved, the proposed DLR line would run east-west through downtown Toronto, bending north toward the Bloor-Danforth subway line. Planners say the line would help ease congestion on the TTC, particularly at the Bloor-Yonge station.

Metrolink has supported a version of the proposal, which could cost up to $6 billion to complete.

According to the poll, the DRL was favoured most highly by residents in the downtown area (63%), the regions of Etobicoke and York (57%) and among John Tory supporters (64%).

Meanwhile, the Scarborough subway was favoured by 63 per cent of Scarborough residents and about half of Rob Ford supporters (48%).

In March, mayoral candidate Olivia Chow unveiled a proposal to expand bus service in Toronto, promising to spend $15 million to increase the city’s bus capacity by 10 per cent.

Chow also vowed to replace the planned Scarborough subway extension with an above-ground light rail.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been a strong advocate of the Scarborough subway plan, saying that he would fund the extension with money from all three levels of government.

Meanwhile, John Tory has also been a supporter of the subway extension and has promised to would make the DRL a priority if elected.

Lorne Bozinoff, Forum Research president, said the DRL is a key issue that may sway voters in the upcoming election.

“There is obviously a lot of support out there across the city for a mayoral candidate who puts the DRL on the front burner, and risks the heat from Scarborough,” Bozinoff said in a statement.

“While residents of that community see their subway as their entitlement, the rest of the city know the Yonge line needs to be relieved of crowding,” he added.

When it comes to the issue of commuter congestion on the TTC, 45 per cent of voters said adding more subways would relieve transit congestion, while 20 per cent said adding more LRT lines would relieve the traffic burden.

The majority of voters in favour of more subways resided in North York (52%) and Scarborough (54%) while the LRT was heavily favoured by downtown voters (28%).

Eighteen per cent of voters thought offering more bus services would relieve TTC congestion while five per cent wanted to add more streetcars.

The poll is considered accurate plus or minus four percentage points 19 times out of 20.

With files from CP24