A $100,000 consultant’s report meant to help determine whether transit projects worth billions of dollars are cost-effective has been kept secret by the city. In June, the city paid the firm, Arup, which consults on transportation projects worldwide, to provide business case analyses for several projects planned by the city, including Mayor John Tory’s original “SmartTrack” idea for additional stops along the GO Transit rail line travelling through Toronto, and the controversial one-stop Scarborough subway extension.The report produced by Arup, however, was never publicly released as part of a city staff report to executive committee in June, which was then debated at a July council meeting.The missing consultant information adds to a series of questions over future transit plans that include delayed reports and a secret briefing note on the Scarborough subway extension that has been called a “political football,” and still-incomplete analysis of the mayor’s key campaign promise for an additional heavy rail service that is moving ahead, while heavily modified.The city staff report contained several “initial” business cases on those and other projects that referenced work done by the consultants, though it was not clear what they had contributed. When the Star first asked in October about the work Arup had done and whether a report was submitted, a city spokesperson sent a list of where information from the consultants could be found in the city report. The Star obtained the consultant’s work and related emails through a freedom of information request that took more than three months to process. “The city takes a transparent and forthcoming approach” to access to information requests, wrote a city spokesperson, Wynna Brown, adding it “strives to release as much information as is consistent with the values of the organization and within the constraints of the legislation.&#x ...
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