First there was FAST — Friends and Allies of SmartTrack. Now another unfunded Toronto transit project has its own support group.

The Toronto Relief Line Alliance is advocating for a project that has been pushed down the line for decades.

But the reawakened debate about a subway for Scarborough will inevitably bring new attention to the relief line.

Once referred to as the Downtown Relief Line, it is now more frequently called just “the Relief Line.” Many versions have been discussed over the years, but most envision a subway running off the east end of the Bloor-Danforth line to downtown around Queen or Front St.

University of Toronto student Louis Mark, 19, who is behind the alliance, wants to focus on what he calls the Relief Line Long. It would extend north of the Danforth, up to about Sheppard Ave. and Don Mills Rd.

The Toronto Star spoke with Mark as he prepared to formally launch the alliance. Here’s an edited version of that conversation.

How many other people are involved in the alliance?

Between 15 and 20. I just put out a message online asking if anyone was interested. We have a few people who do have experience with city planning — nobody from the Toronto city planning department, though, because that would be a conflict of interest.

Why did you feel such a group was needed?

Nobody in the media or politicians are talking about the Relief Line Long. We’re looking to shift this discussion and make this clear — that it’s not just a downtown thing, that the Relief Line Long will bring tremendous benefits to people outside downtown. For example, one of the surprising things we found was, in looking at the travel time benefits for people in Scarborough, this line could reduce some commutes by up to 30 minutes.

How did you get interested in this?

Personally, I’ve been interested in transit maybe three or four years — just reading about it online, following the news. I’ve become increasingly frustrated with the political discourse in the city and just decided to create this group and try to make a difference.

From where you’re living now (near Allen Rd.) would a relief line make a difference to you?

Not directly. But you don’t have to live exactly on the route. You don’t even need to use it. It benefits everybody who would take the Yonge line to get downtown, making it less crowded, making it more reliable. It would bring tremendous benefits to Bloor-Yonge Station, bringing less crowding there. It brings less congestion to streets and economic benefits as well.

How will you advocate?

The first step in our game plan is to make sure Torontonians understand what the Relief Line Long is and what benefits it will bring, because nobody in Toronto outside planning circles knows what this thing is.

We believe strongly that the relief line up to Sheppard and Don Mills will be the most important infrastructure upgrade in Toronto since the Bloor-Danforth line opened. If you look at Metrolinx’s study, you will see this line is projected to have about the same ridership as the Yonge-University and the Bloor-Danforth lines when it opens around 2031.

Beyond that, we want to start putting pressure on politicians. We’re looking at doing a lawn sign campaign to make sure politicians know people support this. We’re arranging meetings with politicians.

Have you connected with any politicians yet?

We have met with the chief planner’s office and TTC staff, so they could become acquainted with our group and help us with staff reports. We will be scheduling several more meetings once we launch.

Have you raised any money?

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

No, we’re still setting up. We will begin our fundraising after we launch. We’ll have our website up at that point.

Do you have any theories about why the relief line has been put off so long?

For the past few years, the relief line has been pushed by some as being a downtown-versus-suburbs issue, which is nonsense. Even the relief line short has tremendous benefits to everybody in Toronto. But the Relief Line Long, especially — two-thirds of the route isn’t anywhere near downtown. If you go back to the 1980s, the relief line was rejected partly because downtown residents didn’t want development back then.

Read more about: