TORONTO

Call it his subway of dreams.

Mayor Rob Ford pledged on Monday that he will complete the Sheppard subway if he’s re-elected this fall and suggested the long underused stub-way, once connected to the Scarborough Town Centre, will see a jump in ridership making the project worthwhile.

“You build it, they will come,” Ford said outside Don Mills Station where the Sheppard subway dead ends.

Repeating his 2010 election promise to complete the Sheppard subway, Ford vowed to push ahead with the plan again during his next term as part of his $9 billion subway proposal.

“People want subways and this is just one part of my plan,” Ford said.

“As we build subways, density will come.”

“It is very, very simple my plan again is to build underground right out to Scarborough - just keep going,” he added.

Council rejected extending the Sheppard subway and opted instead to revive the plan for the Sheppard LRT that Ford tried to cancel in 2010. Metrolinx is currently planning the light-rail transit line now. Construction of the $1 billion Sheppard LRT is set to start in 2017. The line is expected to open in 2021.

“You know what they rejected the Scarborough subway also but then when the campaign came on and we had a Ford Fest out in Scarborough they changed their mind, they changed their mind,” Ford said.

“I’m pretty sure once we get this campaign (finished) the people will have spoken loud and clear that they want underground transit.”

According to the TTC, the Sheppard subway has around 50,000 rides per day but Ford shrugged off the lack of riders on the line during his ride from Sheppard Station to Don Mills Station.

Earlier in the day, Ford’s main rivals dismissed his transit plan.

“I’m not sure how seriously I take his interventions,” John Tory said in response to Ford’s Sheppard subway push. “This is part of his kind of fantasy subway plan that is not really real or realistic.”

Tory would push ahead with the Sheppard LRT.

“My first two priorities in my own work plan are of course the Scarborough subway and SmartTrack,” he said.

Olivia Chow - who also would leave the Sheppard LRT on track - argued the city has “wasted” four years on transit.

“It is time to move forward now,” Chow said.

“I believe that we need to get on with it.”

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