Park Lawn GO station worthwhile, Metrolinx says
Agency has waffled on building station, holding three studies since 2016
Metrolinx has concluded a new GO Transit station at Park Lawn would provide significant benefits, four years after the agency determined building the stop wasn’t worthwhile.
In an updated business case released on June 11, the provincial transit agency found a Park Lawn stop on the Lakeshore West GO rail line would provide environmental and transportation gains, and attract between 4,800 and 5,900 daily riders by 2041.
Although the report concluded the ridership numbers, coupled with factors like significantly reduced public costs achieved by having a private developer build the station, would ensure the project had positive impacts, the new ridership projections in the business case are based on fare policies the Ontario PC government has either abandoned or done little to pursue.
The report is the third study Metrolinx has published since 2016 about the proposed Park Lawn stop, which has strong support from local and provincial politicians.
In an email, local Coun. Mark Grimes (Ward 3, EtobicokeLakeshore) called the new report a “huge step forward” for the Park Lawn station, which he said would help create a “transit hub” just north of the rapidly densifying Humber Bay Shores neighbourhood. “This brings us one step closer,” he said.
The first business case Metrolinx published in 2016 determined the new station would be too close to Mimico GO station, which is less than 1.5 kilometres to the west. The agency concluded having two stops so close together would add too much travel time to trips on the Lakeshore West line, and building Park Lawn would require decommissioning Mimico, which Metrolinx said would be a waste of resources.
But in 2018, the agency released an updated business case that determined Mimico and Park Lawn could coexist. It suggested a split service model that would have trains stop alternately at Mimico and Park Lawn, allowing both stops to continue operating with less frequent service.
The new business case abandons that service plan, but concludes adding Park Lawn wouldn’t unduly add to travel times on Lakeshore West “due to timetable efficiencies related to local and express train operations.”
Agency spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said it is natural in transit planning to “update studies as conditions change.” She said the latest analysis was amended to include revised service plans, as well as the transit-oriented development strategy that eliminates Metrolinx’s direct construction costs by having a private developer build the stop.
The new ridership projections for the station, which are lower than a previous 2018 analysis, but which Metrolinx still considers positive, are based on the assumption riders transferring between GO and the TTC would either pay a discounted second fare, or none at all. Without reduced fares between the two services, ridership at Park Lawn would likely be lower, undermining its benefits.
The previous Ontario Liberal government introduced a policy that gave riders switching between GO and the TTC a $1.50 discount, but in March the Ontario PC government allowed it to expire. The PCs have also shown little indication they plan to pursue fare integration policies that would allow riders to switch between GO and the TTC without paying a second time.
Christina Salituro, a spokesperson for Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, said in an email Friday there was “a strong case for moving forward” with projects like the new Park Lawn station, but made no commitment to reintroduce the GO-TTC discount or implement fare integration.
Under Metrolinx’s transit-oriented development strategy, the station would be constructed and paid for by a private developer, First Capital Realty, as part of a large mixed-use development the company is planning on the former Christie cookie factory site. The GO stop is estimated to cost up to $96 million to build.
First Capital intends to build a 655,000 square metre mixeduse development on the Christie site, including 15 towers ranging in height from 22 to 71 storeys, according to a plan submitted to the city. The company agreed to build the Park Lawn stop as a condition of being granted permission to build residential units on the former manufacturing site.
The Metrolinx report assumes the station will be under construction by 2021and be operational by 2024. Aikin s couldn’t immediately say whether the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis would delay the station’s completion, however. “We are working closely with the market to understand the impacts across the industry,” she said.
First Capital vice-president of development Jodi Shpigel said the company “remains committed” to building the station, but provided no timeline for when it will be done. “We intend to start the development, which includes the proposed GO Station, once we receive our approvals from Metrolinx and the city,” she said.