The following is a news report covering the TTC meeting held on Sept. 25th, 2013 that discussed the Scarborough transit options.

1. Councilors debated whether building a Scarborough subway is more important
than fixing the downtown congestion.
TTC board members discussed Scarborough transit options in regards to
connecting it to the downtown, at their meeting on Wednesday.
Board members listened to a presentation that recommended proceeding with an
extension to Sheppard and McCowan Road rather than the provincial plan to
construct a 6.4-kilometre two-stop subway extension running up to the
Scarborough Town Centre.
The TTC’s two-stop plan is estimated at $1.9 billion compared to the province’s
plan of $1.4 billion.
The only options offer a longer and more expensive extension to the BloorDanforth line that isn’t completely funded yet.
“We want to build the right service for Scarborough and this isn’t a subway,” TTC
Chair Karen Stintz said referring to the LRT.
Councilor John Parker said that he prefers turning the Scarborough rapid transit
into a light rail transit.
Andy Byford, Chief Executive Officer of the TTC, agreed with Parker saying that
both the subway and the LRT would work in terms of accommodating commuters
but a subway is better suited for the city’s current alignment.
Byford said that he would rather build a Downtown Relief Line over a subway to
Scarborough.

2. “The need for a Downtown Relief Line has not gone away and, in fact, becomes
even more pressing if you add a subway extension,” Byford said.
The Federal government has committed to giving $660 million and Queen’s Park
has pledged $1.48 billion to the approved rapid transit line to Scarborough.
Scarborough Centre Councilor Glenn De Baeremaeker said that it is time for
Scarborough to get their fair share, while other commissioners disagreed.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me logically that we would be extending a pipe
without dealing with what’s clogged in the middle,” Councilor Josh Matlow said.
Matlow argued that the Scarborough subway effort was more about courting
votes rather than evidence.
Stintz demanded that he retract his statement but Matlow refused and abruptly
walked out.
Matlow was followed by LRT supporter, Councilor Shelley Carroll.
Two votes later and a 6-4 decision concluded that the TTC would endorse a
three-stop subway extension to Scarborough.
The TTC’s proposal includes building an extension off the Bloor-Danforth line
from Kennedy Station to Sheppard Avenue East.
Despite the vote, there still remain options for Scarborough’s rapid transit.
“There is the low threshold of a subway and a high threshold of an LRT and so
the TTC has recommended either line as a technically possible option,” Chair
Stintz said.

3. City council plans to debate Scarborough’s transit options in their next scheduled
meeting in October.