FOUR BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT SMARTTRACK

What will it cost to ride? That’s not yet known. During his election campaign, Tory suggested SmartTrack riders would pay the same as TTC passengers. But SmartTrack will run mostly on GO tracks, and GO fares are based on distance travelled. Metrolinx expects to recommend in the spring a regionwide fare system that includes the TTC. It is proposing that distance-based fares be considered for all modes of public transit except buses. It is also suggesting that a regional fare system take into account the length of a trip and the type of transit used.

How will the trains reach the key airport corporate centre employment hub? The city will continue to study five of seven scenarios that its consultant initially considered for how SmartTrack trains could branch off the Kitchener GO line to deliver commuters to jobs near the airport. One possibility is to run transit west from Mount Dennis along Eglinton Ave., but that will require tunnelling. Another scenario would run a track farther north along the Union Pearson Express train route. All the options are expected to be complex and expensive.

How many people will ride SmartTrack? This critical question has yet to be answered. Originally, council expected ridership projections to be available in the fall, but that has been pushed to the first part of 2016. That’s because the city is developing new ridership modelling in conjunction with the University of Toronto. City officials say that work, which includes projections for employment and residential growth and factors SmartTrack into the broader transit network, is expected to be more accurate than previous forecasts.

Has the city actually approved the SmartTrack plan? Or when will it? While the city is studying SmartTrack and has funding commitments from the province and federal parties, council hasn’t yet said the transit plan will move ahead.

“We have to have the details pulled together of exactly how it’s going to be done, exactly what the cost is, based on better estimates than we were able to make during the election campaign,” Tory said.

Although ridership and the location and cost of stations has also to be determined, he said, “I believe it is a no-brainer.”