PETITION TO STUDY AND CONSIDER THE DOWNTOWN RELIEF SUBWAY LINE NOW!

In conjunction with its regional and provincial partners, the TTC has launched plans to extend its subway network northward. In addition, Torontos Transit City initiative plans to add new rapid transit routes which will interconnect with the Citys subway routes. The ridership growth projected for these extensions, as well as general ridership growth on existing TTC routes, will create serious congestion problems (particularly in the Yonge corridor south of Bloor) and require a significant additional investment in station retrofits and expanded capacity to avert passenger gridlock. Moreover, there are serious questions about the costs of such capacity expansion, and whether the expansion proposed will actually resolve the expected passenger traffic issues.

Independent research based on data from both Metrolinx and the TTC suggests that a Downtown Relief Line (DRL) linking the Bloor-Danforth subway line with downtown Toronto could serve to divert considerable passenger traffic from existing subway lines, relieve congestion where current east-west and north-south lines meet, and improve service on a regional basis by freeing up space for additional passengers. In addition, by providing a faster, more direct link to the downtown core and linking new, high density neighbourhoods to rapid transit the DRL would enhance TTCs service, attract new riders and reduce automobile traffic in the inner city.

Therefore, we, the undersigned residents of the cities of Toronto, Hamilton and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel and York, petition all in positions of leadership for public transportation in Toronto and the surrounding region to:

- Move the DRL up in priority from the 25-year to the 15-year network plan within the Metrolinx Regional Transportation Plan;

- Re-categorize and separate capacity expansions from network expansions within the top 15 priority projects being developed by Metrolinx;

- Immediately launch a study of the feasibility of constructing a DRL as an alternative to expanding capacity on existing lines, and to explore its impact on service levels and ridership across the transit network, and;

- Defer decisions on currently proposed capacity expansions until the DRL feasibility study is completed.