Stop this boondoggle

As far as city projects go, the proposed Scarborough subway extension is a hugely expensive item, one you would think politicians would study in detail before it could possibly be approved.

After all, the latest estimates of the cost for the one-stop extension range from $3.35 billion to $5.02 billion — and projections keep rising.

Now, documents unearthed by the Star’s Jennifer Pagliaro show that Toronto councillors, led by Mayor John Tory, supported the extension in July 2016 based on a design process that shouldn’t have been adequate to approve the erection of a stop sign.

Indeed, as Pagliaro reports, the information they had was “exaggerated by city staff, rushed by consultants and based on hand-drawn sketches.” That’s a process Councillor Josh Matlow aptly compares to approving something “drawn on the back of a napkin.”

It’s not too late for council to stop this train wreck of a project and revert to the proposed seven-stop LRT alternative that was years ahead in the planning process and light-years smarter.

It should do so because the LRT would better serve the needs of Scarborough residents and other taxpayers alike.

First, the LRT would reach low-income neighbourhoods as well as the campuses of Centennial College and University of Toronto Scarborough. The one-stop subway extension will not.

Second, the LRT was fully funded by the province, while taxpayers are on the hook for the next 30 years with a special tax to pay for the Scarborough extension.

Third, a Metrolinx business case analysis found it was “not a worthwhile use of money,” while other studies have shown it won’t attract enough new riders to justify the investment.

Consider also that the project, which will cost at least $2 billion more than the proposed LRT, will sap money from other transit priorities such as the proposed 18-stop light rail line along Eglinton Ave. E. and the much needed “relief line” designed to ease pressure on the massively overcrowded Yonge corridor.

Still, councillors and the mayor, in particular, seem determined to approve the line despite all the reports that cast doubt on the extension’s merits.

As recently as December, Toronto city council would not even agree to a sensible motion put forth by Matlow calling for a value-for-money study of the project by the city’s auditor general.

That suggests councillors fear that the results of any report would confirm what everyone knows by now: This project is a boondoggle designed to pander to Scarborough voters without politicians being held to account by the city at large.

It must stop. Council must do the right thing and reverse a foolhardy, outrageously expensive decision that was based on minimal information.

It’s not too late for council to stop this train wreck of a project