Mayor Rob Ford has given city manager Joe Pennachetti the task of trying to find options for funding a Bloor-Danforth extension into Scarborough instead of the planned LRT.
The special report is to be submitted for the next council meeting on July 16.
"I truly believe subways can truly impact Toronto's landscape and economy," said Ford. "They offer the highest capacities, the fastest speeds and greatest connectivity."
But when pressed for particulars after his announcement Wednesday afternoon, Ford offered no answers as to how it would be funded.
"Mr. Pennachetti will find ways to finance the subway — that's what the report's going to do." He said the report will provide the council with the information and options to adopt a clear and informed position.
The request for the report comes just weeks after city council failed to support any — and rejected most — of the wide range of dedicated revenue tools recommended by Metrolinx to raise money for building transit across the GTA, including a sales tax, gasoline tax and commercial parking levies.
The cost of converting the obsolete SRT line to light rail is $1.8 billion, an amount the provincial transit agency Metrolinx has agreed to cover. Going to a subway would add $923 million on top of that, Metrolinx says.
"The time to act is now," Ford said. "The population of the GTA will double over the next 50 years and waiting will only pass on the burden to further generations."
The mayor acknowledged that Metrolinx, charged with improving transportation in the GTA, is asking for clarification on a joint master agreement signed last November, which sets out the terms of the deal with the city.
But that can't happen until council passes a motion to do so.
Metrolinx president Bruce McCuaig wants a firm decision from the city before the agency submits requests for proposals to contractors next month.
Ford said the city has two options: rapid and reliable subways, or above-ground transit that will clog the streets.
"What do we want? Subways or SRTs? We want subways, folks," he said.
Pennachetti said the report will also include his "best guesstimate" for financing the proposed subway extension.
"The financing piece will be at a very high level," he said. "It won't be a firm financing scheme."
The city manager added that he expects the province would provide funding as a credit in the event that council indeed goes with an extension to the Bloor-Danforth subway.
Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker commended Ford's announcement, though he had voted against other Ford subway plans.
"But this is the right subway, at the right place, at the right price," he said. "That's where you already have tens of thousands of people, every single day, crammed into the Scarborough RT."
De Baeremaeker claimed the city's estimate of $500 million extra to get a subway rather than an LRT along the SRT route is a small price to pay — comparing it to the similar amount it will take to bolster the crumbling Gardiner Expressway.
Councillor Michelle Berardinetti, who represents Scarborough Southwest, said the city and Metrolinx had failed her constituents.
"We all pay the same amount of taxes, and we should be getting the same service," she said. "It's about equality."
But not every councillor welcomed Ford's approach and vagueness about where the money would come from.
"Since the day he was elected, the mayor's said he can find a way to pay for more subways," said Councillor Gord Perks. "But so far he's been unable to do so."
Perks said Pennachetti has essentially been handed a "poisoned chalice" — that no matter the price tag, the city can't afford the subway expansion, and that those funds are desperately needed elsewhere.
"Look at the backlog of repairs we have in the city … potholes that still need to be filled in," he said. "This city is behind in the most basic of infrastructure needs."
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