A city councillor is calling for a public inquiry into the problematic Scarborough subway planning process.The $3.35-billion Scarborough subway extension has been characterized by a lack of information and misinformation. Now, Councillor Josh Matlow says this type of “dysfunctional” transit planning needs to be put under a microscope.“Our city now specializes in building transit that serve the least people for the most money. The Spadina Extension and the Sheppard subway have monopolized scarce resources, leaving most residents of Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke with long bus rides before being able to access rapid transit. These bloated projects are plagued by low ridership, requiring significant subsidies,” the five-page request from Matlow says. “We are on the verge of making the same mistake.”Council, under Mayor John Tory, has voted to move ahead with a one-stop Scarborough subway extension from the existing Kennedy Station on the Bloor-Danforth line to a new stop at the Scarborough Town Centre. That plan was revised to a three-stop option approved by council in 2013 under former mayor Rob Ford. In making that decision, council scrapped a seven-stop LRT that would have replaced the Scarborough RT, be separated from traffic, and have been fully-funded by the province. All Toronto homeowners are paying for the subway through a special tax that will continue to be collected for at least 30 years. Matlow’s request for a judicial review, which will be tabled at a council meeting next week, follows a Star story about how staff exaggerated the design of the subway, consultants rushed work and costs were based on hand-drawn sketches ahead of a key vote in July 2016.The motion asks that council apply to the Superior Court under the City of Toronto Act — “similar to the Toronto computer leasing inquiry” called for in 2002 — to investigate what council was told about the subway extension and LRT a ...
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