Subways or bust: Mayor Rob Ford seems confused about current transit plan

Confusion and obfuscation returned to Toronto City Hall on Wednesday as councillors continue to debate the merits of scrapping a plan to build a light-rail transit line in the city's east end and instead approve a stretch of subway expansion.

It is just the latest battle in a historically epic, and exhausting, war over how to expand transit in the city. Right when the eastern suburb of Scarborough was set to receive 10 kilometres of grade-separated LRT tracks, it seems council may instead approve the construction of a 7.6 kilometre subway line.

The problem is, however, the plan does not have funding commitments from the federal or provincial governments. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford had suggested that $333 million of federal funds allocated for a separate transit line could be taken and used to build the Scarborough subway instead.

This, aside from putting that separate project at considerable risk, also doesn't seem to be an option.

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The Toronto Star reports that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty confirmed late Tuesday that money slotted toward building transit along Sheppard Avenue could instead be used on the Scarborough project.

But the backlash from that revelation, which would put the fate of that transit line into question, led Ford to state the money would not be reallocated, saying the federal government would need to send new money to the Scarborough project.

Money aside, the real debate comes down to one politically-charged word: Subways.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has turned the debate into a question about giving Scarborough the shiniest toy or a secondary option.

But it seems he's not even clear in what that secondary option is. In a testy exchange with Coun. Josh Matlow during Tuesday's council session, Ford was asked about the specifics of the current plan - which would see the LRT developed apart from traffic, without clogging intersections or affecting traffic lights.

Ford, however, vehemently accused the LRT plan of doing exactly that, claiming that streetcars go down the centre of the road and make traffic congestion worse.

This is his common line on streetcars, which are not LRTs. Here is video of the exchange.

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Here is how the two projects actually line up:

The current Scarborough LRT plan would cost $1.8 billion and encompass seven stations over 10 kilometres. The line would run within walking distance of 47,000 people.

The proposed Scarborough subway would cost $2.3 billion and encompass three stations over 7.6 kilometres. The line would run within walking distance of 24,000, although it would run fractionally quicker.

Who knows which plan would actually end up being better than the other. Although considering one has been properly costed, has money ready to flow, goes farther and reaches more taxpayers, the choice seems clear.

Regardless, it doesn't help that the main proponent for "subways, subways, subways" doesn't know what the alternative actually is.