Flush with success from last week’s budget victory, city councillors across the political spectrum are rallying support for a compromise on the mayor’s transit expansion plans.

Councillor Josh Matlow, a member of the now Mighty Middle, praised TTC chair Karen Stintz for speaking out against a plan to tunnel the entire length of the Eglinton LRT.

A solution to transit on Sheppard, Eglinton and Finch is now within reach, he said.

“I’m confident we will arrive at a response that will include a subway extension on Sheppard that the mayor can be very proud of,” he said.

Stintz told reporters Monday that Mayor Rob Ford’s deal with the province to bury the entire Eglinton LRT, at a cost of $2 billion more than the Transit City plan, makes no sense. The line should either run above ground in the east, where there is less traffic, or the whole thing should be designed as a subway.

Better to ask the province to put that $2 billion into Ford’s pet project, the Sheppard subway, than pour it into the ground unnecessarily, she said.

That prompted Councillor John Parker, another Ford ally on the TTC board, to agree there is no reason to bury the Eglinton line out in Scarborough, although it makes sense in denser stretches.

Stintz’s remarks also prompted Metrolinx to call for a clear statement of Toronto’s transit desires.

CEO Bruce McCuaig did not say that the province is willing to renegotiate the distribution of the $8.2 billion it has committed to Eglinton. But he reiterated Metrolinx’s willingness to work with the city on any project that was good for Toronto and the region.

McCuaig warned, however, that he needs a clear statement from the mayor or council in light of the TTC’s doubts about tunneling the east end of Eglinton, as raised by Stintz.

“We need Toronto to come to a consensus on their vision. If it keeps on changing, it’s going to be challenging for us to build transit in the city,” he said.

Even some of Ford’s staunchest opponents opened the door to the possibility of supporting a portion of the mayor’s vision.

Former TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc said he might be willing to support some money going to Sheppard, on the condition all of the $8.2 billion remains in Toronto.

“The Sheppard subway from Don Mills to Scarborough City Centre is a foolhardy project, and everybody knows it,” he said.

However, studies have shown there might be a case for extending it as far as Consumers Rd. or Victoria Park.

“That part of the mayor’s plan, and only that part, has merit,” said Mihevc.

Taking Sheppard to Victoria Park would cost between about $500 million and $1 billion, roughly half the $2 billion price of burying the east end of Eglinton, he said.

That would leave about $1 billion for other TTC capital projects.

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The Finch LRT that Ford cancelled upon taking office — when he declared his predecessor David Miller’s Transit City plan dead — was expected to cost about that much.

The mayor did not comment on Stintz’s remarks on Monday.

“We’re not talking about that today,” Ford told reporters at the weigh-in for his weight loss campaign.

TTC staff are expected to deliver a report to the city councillors on the Toronto Transit Commission next week on the governance and operation of the Eglinton line. Transit officials have indicated they’re not interested in having the TTC operate the line unless it is in charge of design and construction.

Metrolinx is considering a public-private partnership administered by Infrastructure Ontario to design, build and possibly operate the Eglinton LRT. But that decision won’t be made until Toronto is clear on the project’s definition, said McCuaig.

TTC’s staff recommendations on the route and operations of Eglinton aren’t expected until February.

Meantime, the man appointed by Ford to look at private financing for Sheppard agreed with Stintz that burying the entire Eglinton LRT isn’t necessary.

“Any engineer is going to tell you that once you go underground and start tunneling there’s no point in going LRT, you should go with subway,” Gordon Chong told the Star.

Building LRT above ground is “one way of freeing up funds for Sheppard, but it’s only one way,” he said.

His report on Sheppard funding and financing options is expected to be formally submitted to the mayor by the end of the week. Chong said he still expects private sector funding would only pay for 10 to 30 per cent, 40 per cent at the outside, of the $4.7 billion cost of Sheppard.

With files from Daniel Dale and David Rider

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