Scarborough's aging RT could be replaced by priority bus lanes. Here's what you need to know

A key city committee has approved a plan to finalize the bus routes that will serve Scarborough transit users who currently take the RT light rail line, which connects to the Bloor-Danforth subway.

Toronto city staff are recommending a series of priority bus lanes on a number of roadways and the addition of some intersection changes.

However, TTCriders — a group that frequently speaks for transit users in the city — said the city isn't doing enough to convert the current RT route into a bus-only line.

Advocates want a dedicated busway on the path the SRT now follows, separated from regular street traffic. That would cut 10 minutes off the commute each way says the group's spokesperson Shelagh Pizey-Allen.

Failing to do that will leave Scarborough residents facing longer commute times until the Scarborough Subway Extension opens, she said.

"If there's not a plan to prioritize them, they will get stuck in traffic," she said of the buses.

The city's executive committee voted to approve the lanes, but are also asking the province to pay $2.9 million to finish design work on the busway that would run on the path of the SRT. 

The report goes to city council next week.

Why it matters

This is a key transit corridor for 35,000 people who ride the SRT every day. But the aging line is at the end of its life expectancy despite years of fixes to keep it operational. It will close this fall.

The Scarborough Subway Extension will eventually replace the line, but that won't open until at least 2030. 

In the meantime, the city will spend $7.35 million in capital costs to set up the lanes which will run up to 70 buses an hour along the route. Priority bus lanes will run on Kennedy Road, Ellesmere Road, Midland Avenue and Eglinton Avenue East designed as a "one-way loop" between Kennedy Station and Scarborough Town Centre Station.

Zain Khurram, the Transit Lead for the Toronto Youth Cabinet, takes the SRT on his commute. He said Scarborough transit riders are worried their TTC trips are going to get longer.

"Scarborough residents already have one of the longest commutes in the city," he said. "And you know, this is not going to help, it's going to get longer and longer."

This plan might also wind up becoming a mayoral byelection issue.

Winning Scarborough could be a difference-maker for a number of candidates, and several, including Mitzie Hunter, have their support base in the east end of the city. 

Background

In February 2021, the TTC Board told staff to prepare an interim bus plan to service the area until the Scarborough subway is completed. They returned to the board in April 2022 with the proposal to install the priority bus lanes. 

The TTC Board approved pursuing conversion of some of the existing SRT right-of-way between Ellesmere and Kennedy stations to create a "dedicated bus way." But those plans are subject to funding availability. 

Coun. Jamaal Myers, who represents Scarborough North, Ward 23, said the plan is another disappointment for transit riders in the east end.

"This is, unfortunately, a consistent story when it comes to transit in Scarborough is that we're always being shortchanged," he said.

Myers said he wants to see city council find a way to make the investment in the dedicated bus lane. 

"When they want to do police patrols on subway, we find the money," he said. "When we want to host the World Cup, we find the money. So why can't we find the money for people who live in this city and who need a way to get to work?"

What's next

The city's executive committee will vote on the plan at its meeting on Tuesday.

There are three Scarborough councillors on that committee: Paul Ainslie, Gary Crawford and Jennifer McKelvie. Any councillor is allowed to come and speak at the committee meeting, but doesn't get a vote.

Crawford defended the plan and asked for patience as the city works to roll out and refine it in the coming months. He thinks that in some instances it could actually make the commute shorter than a current trip on the SRT.

"It is a good plan, we will get more of a sense of what it will be like as we get to that date," he said of the Fall SRT shutdown.

The Scarborough RT will go out of service in fall of 2023.