TTC board votes to replace Line 3 Scarborough RT, subway line closure to be implemented in 2023

On February 10, the TTC board voted to replace the subway transit Line 3 Scarborough Rapid Transit (SRT) with new express buses. The change, which is anticipated to be completed in 2023, was brought on because of increasing infrastructure failures in the existing subway line.

In 2019, it was estimated that the SRT hosted approximately 35,000 passengers per day. In 2015, a study by StudentMoveTO showed that 64 per cent of UTSC students used public transportation to get to campus. 

Additional details about replacement services are expected to be released later this year. TTC staff will consider implementing express buses on a yet-to-be-determined route between Kennedy and Scarborough Centre stations. Staff will also be re-examining existing bus routes to service Lawrence East, Ellesmere, and Midland stations.

Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) President Sarah Mohamed also advocated for certain changes at a recent TTC board meeting, including a dedicated bus lane and more electric busses.

Replacement options

The TTC’s decision came after last week’s release of a report that recommended shutting down the 6.4-kilometre SRT, which opened in 1985 and was designed to operate for only 25 years. TTC officials were also directed to assess two options for providing bus service beginning in 2023.

The first replacement option would cost $357 million, and it would have new buses coming to service when the SRT expires in 2023. The change would not impact the existing bus network.

The second option would cost $374 million and use buses from the existing spare bus ratio until new buses would be purchased between 2027 and 2029. This option would reduce the number of buses available in case of subway line failures or other events impacting TTC service.

TTC Senior Communications Specialist Stuart Green wrote to The Varsity that all the company’s recommendations were based on “the diminishing reliability of the [rapid transit] vehicles which are already 10 years past their best before date.”

Green added that “spending more than half a billion dollars” — the $522.4 million cost required to keep the SRT operating — was “not prudent.”

“It is better to invest in new buses that will live beyond the subway’s anticipated opening in 2030,” Green wrote. “We also have to consider accessibility needs in 2025… Using bus service guarantees a more reliable and a fully accessible service for customers.”

Green also addressed that the TTC has recognized how UTSC students are affected by the SRT shutdown, noting that replacement services could increase time commuting to campus. “That’s why the consultations this summer will be so important – it’s an opportunity for all users of the Line now to give their input on what service should look like in 2023.”

Despite the line shutdown, Green explained that the TTC is actively considering alternative transportation routes for UTSC commuters. “We already have a quasi-express bus-only-lanes service from Kennedy Station to UTSC that will provide options in terms of getting from the subway to the campus,” he wrote. “We also continue to talk to the city about ways we can improve surface transit in the east end during this replacement service and beyond.”

The TTC was previously working to keep the subway line operating until 2026 to correspond with the opening of the Scarborough Subway extension. The extension’s opening has since been pushed back to 2030.

How the change might affect UTSC students

Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) President Sarah Mohamed spoke on behalf of the SCSU at the board meeting, encouraging TTC board members to install a dedicated bus lane, purchase additional electric buses, and ask the Ontario government to fund transfers between Go Transit and the TTC. Mohamed said that all options would give UTSC students more transit alternatives.

In an email to The Varsity, Mohamed wrote that the SRT “is one of the ways students, faculty members, families, [and] essential workers get where they need to go within Scarborough.”

Mohamed also wrote that, while the SCSU recognized that the SRT is outdated and will be removed, “It is already difficult travelling in Scarborough in comparison to other neighbourhoods because of the long bus wait times.”

“It is clear as day that the TTC has prioritized every other neighbourhood and community except for Scarborough and that is not okay,” Mohamed wrote. “The fact that the students of UTSC have to ask and beg for better transit in Scarborough is not okay.”