[ INGENUITY + DEVELOPMENT ]
that run from most stations during those times). Metrolinx, the
province’s transit authority as well as the owner and operator
of GO Transit, has added additional trains to accommodate
the rise in ridership but that hasn’t been enough. Now there are
plans to electrify the rail, a plan that is likely to cut travel time
by up to 20 per cent, and create all-day service with trains
running at 15-minute intervals. The project is currently in the
environmental assessment phases.
“Everybody here in Vaughan knows that if I want to take a GO
train I can only do it during rush hour but in a few years, when
you can do that anytime, all day long, seven days a week – not
just weekdays – I think it’ll be a game changer,” Minister Del
the proposed extension of the roadway and the expansion of
that area make that lifeline all the more important.
This raises the question of co-ordination. With so many moving
parts and so many players, how exactly do the people in charge
ensure that everything clicks into place in the right time?
“It’s a crucial question,” Minister Del Duca said. The answer is
so simple it is hardly worth saying (it’s all proper planning) but executing it is far more complicated than the answer suggests. And
yet, it’s been happening. During the recent transit expansion, all
levels of government have come together in unprecedented ways
to coordinate these developments. And Minister Del Duca is
certain that it won’t stop—it can’t stop.
HIGHWAY 7 AND
KEELE STREET
YONGE NORTH SUBWAY
EXTENSION ANNOUNCEMENT
“A HISTORIC
PROJECT THAT WILL
BENEFIT COMMUTERS
FOR GENERATIONS
TO COME.”
“Even though we’re building for today we’re
planning for tomorrow,” he said. “We’ve talked
a lot over the last decade about aligning transit
plans with population densities and I think going forward what people can expect to see is a
- Wayne Emmerson
more formalized alignment between the two.”
In June of this year, the minister also announced
All levels of government – whether it’s the province planning a
$55 million in funding for planning the Yonge North Subway
road, the city approving a new residential development, or the
Extension. It would extend the Yonge Subway Line from the
region coordinating buses to run between the two – they are
existing Finch Station to Highway 7 in Richmond Hill, giving
all planned with a greater awareness of one another and of
residents and commuters more transit options when complete.
the regions beyond their jurisdic tions. As Minister Del Duca
Minister Del Duca emphasized that the ultimate goal of all this
says repeatedly in his speeches, “gridlock doesn’t respect muis to take the current pressure off the roadways but he acknowlnicipal boundaries.”
edged that this pressure isn’t simply going to go away.
At the end of the interview I asked the minister if he thought cars
There is relief on the horizon with the planned expansion of
would factor as heavily in Vaughan’s future as they had in its past
Highway 427, which is currently the third busiest on the contior if the “transit renaissance,” as he called it, would ever change
nent (behind the 401 and one other in California). Right now
the current reality that the majority of Vaughan’s residents don’t
the highway ends just north of Highway 7, at Zenway Bouleleave home without a car?
vard, but earlier this year the province released a request for
He said that the concept of car ownership is undergoing a genproposals to three shortlisted bidders to extend the highway
erational shift. “I think how I view a car as a 43 year old and how
north to Major Mackenzie Drive. Construction is expected to
my five year old will view a car in 10 or 15 years will look differbegin in 2017 and the road will be open to traffic in 2020. The
ent,” he said. He argued that it was a wasteful asset that sat idle
extension will have many positive implications for the Vaughan
over 90 per cent of the time, and that the costs associated with
Enterprise Zone. Currently the area encompasses more than
owning and driving a car – the capital, the insurance, the gas, the
1,120 hectares and is home to more than 350 businesses. Those
parking – will, at some point, no longer be worth the convenience
businesses employ about 10,000 people but by the time the area
of being able to drive places.
reaches full build out, that number is planned to quadruple
His position was clear: it’s probably easier than we think to get cars
to 46,000. Of course, the 427 extension is already crucial to
off the road. It’s simply a question of providing the alternatives.
the economic viability of that area – if people and goods can’t
move in and out efficiently then businesses can’t survive – but
Duca said. As for the parking situation, Minister Del Duca said a new station had just been
approved at Kirby Road with hundreds of new
parking spots to help deal with the overflow at
other stations.
36
Celebrate Vaughan / 2016