After the uproar that the St. Clair right-of-way caused for many residents and businesses, the Sheppard LRT, part of Toronto’s Transit City Plan seems to be facing some similar obstacles.
According to an article on The National Post, that I came across by way of Spacing Toronto’s Blog, many businesses along Sheppard Ave. East are demanding that that TTC delay the project until funding has been firmed up, a fleet of vehicles is ready to roll and they’ve done more thorough research on how the LRT is going to pass GO Transit tracks and connect to the Sheppard subway line at Donmills station.
“Where’s the money coming from?” asks Mark Bozian, who employs 100 people at his companies, the Brimell Toyota dealership and body shop on Sheppard Avenue East. “They’ve already proven that they can f— it up. They did that down on St. Clair.”
As on St. Clair, the light rail right-of-way will forbid cars from traveling on the two centre lanes of Sheppard Avenue East.
The Sheppard East Village Business Improvement Area released a list of 10 questions for the TTC. Among the questions, they ask why plans are going ahead when there is no design for streetscape improvements on Sheppard, no decision on how the line will cross a GO train line, and no decision on how to connect to the Sheppard subway at Don Mills Road. And they add, “We question why construction would be completed … two years before required tram cars will be available.”
To read the rest of the article on The National Post website, please click on the link below.
Stop the Sheppard LRT, business group says
Adam Giambrone, Chair of the TTC is rejecting the pleas from the businesses to delay the project, citing that many residents in the area are more concerned with the TTC getting the infrastructure in place and ready to use. Brad Ross, a spokesman for the TTC has also stated that a committment for the fleet of vehicles will hopefully be decided upon this year.
So is the TTC really rushing head first into its grand plan to blanket the city in LRT lines, or is the city going to benefit from having the infrastructure in place to better serve the growing population with public transit options?
