Doug Ford is promising to be the subway premier to ease traffic congestion and transit overcrowding but isn’t saying how quickly he could get new lines built or where a Progressive Conservative government would find the cash if elected June 7.

Repeating his pledge for an extra $5 billion toward Toronto subway construction, Ford said Wednesday his priorities are a downtown relief line from Pape station to Queen — now slated to open in 2031 — extending the Yonge subway line north to Richmond Hill and looping the Sheppard subway to the Scarborough Town Centre.

Estimates for those three projects alone peg the total costs at $16.1 billion.

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“Getting new subways built, that will be my job,” vowed Ford, a businessman and former city councillor who has pledged to cut government spending by $6 billion and reduce taxes.

“It’s time to think big and build the transit that we need,” added Ford, criticizing what he characterized as delays in building the $3.35 billion Scarborough subway extension to replace the aging rapid transit line between Kennedy station and the Scarborough Town Centre.

Ford wants to also restore the Scarborough subway to three stops instead of one, saying the needs of local residents have been “ignored” for too long.

“We’re going back to the original plan.”

Construction on the Scarborough subway is not expected to begin for at least two years, with completion in 2026. The two extra stops would add $1 billion to the project and raise the cost to at least $4.6 billion. Planning on the Yonge subway extension to Highway 7 in Richmond Hill is already in the early stages and looping the Sheppard subway to the Scarborough Town Centre is not on the city’s priority list.

Ford, who marks his second month in the job Thursday, maintained a PC government could get subway projects completed faster through a provincial takeover of the building and maintenance of TTC subway lines, leaving the city of Toronto responsible for day-to-day operations.

He hinted money to pay for the subways would be borrowed but had difficulty explaining in detail when asked twice how the financing would work.

“We’re amortizing it over a long period of time,” said Ford, who took just five questions from reporters before walking away from his news conference. “The city of Toronto can’t,” he added in an apparent reference to the municipal debt ceiling.

He also could not answer a reporter’s query on how legislation is passed at Queen’s Park, something that is often taught in high school civics classes.

“You know something, my friend? We can run through that,” he replied curtly. “I know this is a ‘gotcha’ question and everything because that’s your game.”

A transit advocacy group welcomed Ford’s $5 billion transit pledge but said his subway fixation would leave many riders in the lurch on other routes, such as busy Finch Ave. West where planning on a $1.2 billion light rapid transit line is well underway.

“Ford’s plan won’t help TTC riders in Etobicoke and Scarborough who are stuck on the bus for hours,” according to Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of TTCriders. “Instead of a handful of subway stops, we need new, cost-effective transit lines...where they will serve the most riders.”

The governing Liberals said Ford would cut $18 billion on transit across the province when compared to money earmarked in the spring budget while NDP Leader Andrea Horwath noted a previous Conservative government cancelled and filled in the Eglinton West subway line that was under construction in 1995.

It is now being replaced by the Eglinton Crosstown rail line, with Ford pledging “we’re going to make sure that the future Crosstown expansions are only built underground,” referring to extensions to Pearson airport and the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus.

In contrast, his press release said those portions would be built underground “where feasible.” Burying the lines could add billions to their costs.

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Ford’s extra $5 billion for subways is on top of $9 billion the Liberal government has already pledged to transit expansion in Toronto, for additional GO Trains, improved service to Niagara and local projects in other cities.

Ford’s predecessor as PC leader, Patrick Brown, had also promised an extra $5 billion for transit.

The new PC leader also committed to two-way, all-day GO train service to Bowmanville, Niagara and Kitchener and to current transit projects in Ottawa, Hamilton, Mississauga, Kitchener-Waterloo and London.

With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

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