“Transit City” LRT Schemes

The four "Transit City LRT" projects together account for almost $8 billion of Metrolinx's initial $11 billion in capital funding. Metrolinx has already signed a contract with Bombardier for the supply of low-floor light rail vehicles. Tunnelling has begun from Laird Drive on the Eglinton Crosstown line.

During preparation of this report, the debate continued about whether the Scarborough RT should be converted to LRT, as envisaged in Transit City, or should be built as a subway. As of November 2013, the Province seems to have agreed that the City of Toronto can build this route in the form of a subway, but there are many unanswered questions about the route, the cost, and the benefits. This analysis will focus on the LRT proposals. Our estimates of costs and benefits are summarized in Table A9 in the Appendix.