So, Scarborough may be getting a subway. Everyone got pretty excited when city council announced that the votes came in 28 - 16 in favour of extending the Bloor-Danforth line north of Kennedy Station, abandoning the plan for the Light Rail Transit (LRT). We understand how this is exciting for the people of Scarborough, but let’s not get our hopes up yet.

What does the City need for the subway plans to move forward?

At a press conference on Wednesday July 17, Mayor Rob Ford stated that, “If the province or the feds can’t come up with their fair share of the money, it’s not going to go.”

How much money?

Queen’s Park promised $1.8 billion for the SRT replacement, so they need to deliver that in full. And, Ottawa needs to provide half of the additional $1.1 billion cost. Council needs confirmation of this funding by September 30, 2013...or else the plans for the subway just won’t move forward.

In addition to needing this funding, Toronto will also see some adjustments to taxes, and it’s up to Toronto’s budget committee to decide where the City will find the money. Council has already approved an increase to the transit levy on property taxes, from 1.1% to 2.4%, a change which will take place over the next three years.

Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks was quoted by The Star, saying, “The only substantive thing that changed today is we told the province of Ontario to stop working on the LRT project to replace the SRT. There is no plan in hand to replace it with anything, there is no money to replace it with anything. If we have put Light Rail in in Scarborough as we originally planned, we’d be opening in 18 months. Mayor Ford is actually the person who has been delaying the access and transportation that Scarborough needs with empty rhetoric that is unfunded.”

So, although Council has approved the extension of the Bloor-Danforth line, it looks like there are many hurdles to conquer before we can celebrate.

But what if the Scarborough subway actually happens!

Okay, we’ve been slightly negative about the possibility of Scarborough getting it’s subway - not really negative, just realistic. So, let’s focus on who will benefit from the extension of the Bloor-Danforth line!

Since the proposed extension would be replacing the Scarborough RT, we assume the new line would span from Kennedy Station to the McCowan Station area. Basically everyone in Scarborough would benefit from the subway extension, and even people north of the 401 would have easier access into Toronto’s downtown core.

There are also a number of condos and townhome communities in the area that are either in preconstruction or under construction that would benefit from the subway extension. Some examples include Danforth Village Estates by Options for Homes, 2150 Condos by VHL Developments, ME Living Condos by The Lash Group, Birkdale by Monarch, Braeburn Lane by Sundance Homes, and Tridel’s Metrogate towers, Ventus and Avani.

If council receives a commitment from Queen’s Park and Ottawa stating that they will back up the project with the necessary funds, then this could be the beginning of a new era for Scarborough.

What do you think will happen? If there was easy access to a subway in Scarborough, would you move it up on your list of places you would live?