When Mayor Ford tried to unilaterally cancel Transit City in order to bury the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT for its entire length, he not only tried to waste billions of taxpayer dollars unnecessarily creating a “subway” where there aren’t enough people to support it, he also tried to make the lives of people in the Eglinton-Finch West and Sheppard areas significantly worse. And, while doing all that, he tried to waste $65 million in cancellation fees for work that was already underway on Transit City.

The two plans can factually and accurately be summarized as follows: Transit City will bring 52km of already funded transit to Etobicoke, North York, and large sections of Scarborough. Ford’s approach would be half as much distance covered, for half as many residents, and only in one section of Scarborough. All for a more expensive price tag.

Eglinton-Crosstown

Instead of the Crosstown (route map) costing around $6 billion, Mayor Ford’s idea that it be built entirely underground added billions, bringing the cost to $8.4 billion, which would have made it impossible for the rest of Transit City’s first phase to be built. It is entirely unnecessary for the Crosstown to be tunneled while outside the core of the city—Eglinton is seven lanes wide for much of its length in Scarborough, with plenty of median—but further, tunneling imposes other costs other than financial. It would take longer for the Crosstown to open, because tunneling takes longer. Stations need to be farther apart, because they’re more expensive and more difficult to build, which also imposes a toll on local merchants, who would benefit from tighter spacing of stops and the ability for people to see where they’re going.

You can see a route map of the Crosstown here, though note that this dates from the original Transit City (all phases) plan. You can also visit the Crosstown’s official web site for updates and public meeting information.

Sheppard East

The attempted cancellation of Transit City was especially galling for residents of Sheppard East, as construction was already underway when Mayor Ford’s decree was handed out. Instead of a Sheppard East LRT (route map), which would have opened in 2014, the Mayor tasked former TTC commissioner Gordon Chong with finding a way to get the private sector to pay for a full subway, at an estimated cost of more than $4 billion. Chong told the Globe that the private sector would be able to pay at most 30% of the cost, with the remainder left to be made up by various levels of government. Mayor Ford also asked the province for any surplus from the Crosstown to be spent on the Sheppard subway, and stated that the Federal government also has money to contribute. None of this money will be available before the Crosstown is complete, though.

Under the compromise proposal approved by City Council February 8th 2012, the Sheppard East LRT line is still in limbo, while an expert panel explores options on extending the existing Sheppard subway and financing proposals. No matter what, Sheppard East remains a high priority rapid transit expansion neighbourhood, but the technology and above/below-ground questions remain to be answered.

You can see a route map of what would have become the Sheppard East LRT in 2014 here.

Etobicoke-Finch West

Finch West was recently asked to make do with fewer buses due to TTC budget cuts, despite being one of the busiest lines in the city. Yet, when Rob Ford tried to cancel Finch West’s LRT line, he claimed his “plan also includes improvements to the bus service operated on Finch.” No such plans were made public on the TTC’s planning and future projects website, and the Planning and Growth Committee refused to talk about Finch West until the TTC’s plans are more fleshed-out. It is fair to suggest that Finch West would not have seen any rapid transit any time soon, despite previously having a fully-funded LRT plan, without Council’s intervention in February 2012.

You can see a route map of what would have become the Etobicoke-Finch West LRT here.