A report says something everybody already knew: there’s no rationale for building the Sheppard subway

Toronto Star columnist Royson James got his hands on an unreleased report that pretty much dismantles any rationale for building a subway linking Scarborough and North York. The paper is calling it the “TTC subway report Mayor Rob Ford doesn’t want you to read,” and it’s probably an appropriate title. While Ford clings to his Sheppard subway fantasy, the report notes that with job growth in the inner suburbs dramatically lower than expected, office development sluggish and the existing ridership on Sheppard below capacity (despite the influx of new condos along the strip), there simply isn’t a case for building a subway between the two centres. We already knew the city couldn’t fund the Sheppard extension; now it appears there isn’t even a good reason to build it in the first place. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »

(Images: Rob Ford, Christopher Drost; Yonge-Sheppard subway, gloom)