building transit faster act

Ontario wants to scrap proper planning and environmental studies to build transit faster

The provincial government has yet another new transit plan in the works, and not all residents are happy about it.

Amid theOntario Line subway drama, Doug Ford and his team have announced plans to speed up the process of a number of major existing public transit projects in the Toronto area by bending a few rules.

TheBuilding Transit Faster Actwill see the timelines of the Ontario Line, Scarborough subway extension, the Yonge subway north extension and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT west extension expedited so they can be finished "on-time and on-budget."

The plan is currentlypretty vague,显然需要绕过部分land expropriation, environmental assessment and other processes usually required for such construction — which has some concerned about the environmental and other potential impacts.

The Act refers to some of these current processes for planning, designing and constructing transit projects as "unnecessary delays" to infrastructure progress.

Other citizens are infuriated that the government is continuing to prioritize Toronto initiatives while other parts of the province, which are in desperate need of transit and more, are perpetually snubbed.

And many have been quick to point out the fact that Ford promised a 14 km-long, 17-stop LRT line in Hamilton, then cancelled the whole project — which was already underway — in a move that Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenbergercalled a disappointing "betrayal" to his city.

This makes some Ontarians wary to trust any promises that Ford makes, including those in this new Building Transit Faster Act; especially when details about how his plans will be implementedare often omitted or convoluted at bestand when theyaren't the best-executed.

Hopefully with all of these ideas and proposals, at leastsomekind of new transit project in the city will actually end up coming to fruition in the near future.

Lead photo by

Crosstown


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