“It was a challenge (back in the
80s and 90s) because we had gone
through a generation of underinvestment in transit,” he said. There’s
a phrase Minister Del Duca likes to
use in speeches to describe the current
situation he’s in as minister: “Simultaneously, we’re trying to catch up and
keep up.” “Catch up” because of the
historical lack of investment and “keep
up” because of the exploding populations around the Greater Toronto Area.
According to Statistics Canada, between
1996 and 2006 Vaughan was one of the
fastest-growing cities in the country and
in the last 25 years the population has
nearly tripled from just over 111,000 to
almost 330,000.
Vaughan as we know it today became a
city in 1991, and much of the development
that has happened since has been residential: single-family homes on large lots turned
away from major roadways. Commercial
developers mostly opted for sprawling singlestorey structures like retail plazas and warehouses often accompanied by equally vast
parking lots. Vaughan’s Master Transportation Plan explains that as a result of this, the
city’s infrastructure had evolved to be almost
completely “auto-oriented” and this made efficient and cost-effective public transit very
difficult to provide. Moreover, walking, biking,
and other forms of active transport were equally
difficult due to the distances between different
points of interest, which, coupled with the lack
of public transit, has led to conge stion that many
Vaughan residents will be all too familiar with.
“I think it’s important to say that I understand
why people are a little bit skeptical about whether
or not real transit solutions can be delivered,” said
Minister Del Duca. “However, I think we are literally in the midst of a transit renaissance. We are
building more right now than we ever have before.”
In June, the TTC announced that the 17.4 kilometres of track had finally been laid and that service to
six new stations – at Downsview Park, Finch, Black
Creek Pioneer Village, York University, Highway 407,
and the VMC – will begin at the end of next year. It’s
the first subway line to extend beyond Toronto’s borders and York Region Chairman and CEO Wayne
Emmerson called it “an historic project that will benefit commuters for generations to come.”
To move people in and out of the VMC from the
east and west, York Region Transit is currently developing a new vivaNext rapidway, a specially designed corridor for public buses that will run along
Highway 7, stretching from Highway 50 in the west
to Kennedy Street in Markham. But it’s also more
than a special lane for buses. Many of what are now
ordinary stops will become “vivastations,” heated
and LED-lit glass enclosures. The major transit hub
at the VMC will connect riders to an underground
pathway, the subway, and an interregional bus terminal. Running alongside the rapidway will be wide
concrete sidewalks, bike lanes and gardens, all of
which serve to promote active transit.
"The subway
extension is
a significant
investment in
the future of our
City and a key
component of
the VMC."
- Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua
In the next three to five years the minister believes
that transit in the region will undergo a transformation. The most significant may be the $3.5-billion
subway extension that will connect Union Station
to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC), the
City’s new downtown at Jane Street and Highway 7.
All of this – which will open in two phases at the
end of next year and again in 2019 – offers several
very appealing transit options for residents living in
Vaughan and York Region, with the subway serving
as the new largest artery into Toronto. But Minister
Del Duca said that those living farther north are
in for some changes as well, namely to service on
GO Transit.
“The subway extension is a significant investment
in the future of our City and a key component of
the VMC,” says Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua.
“Every day the VMC continues to take shape with
buildings like KPMG and Expo City rising from
the ground. Cranes are on-site giving life to our
leading-edge plans for a vibrant, dynamic, urban
core that will move us all. With the opening of the
subway in about one year, the VMC will create
a new connection for people within the GTA.”
Right now, rider traffic on the Barrie line has caught
the attention of local city councillors and transit planners. Parking lots are full to the point where riders on
later trains are routinely parking in adjacent retail plazas some distance away. Other riders are driving up
the line, north of the northernmost Vaughan stop
(in Maple) to King City. Trains southbound run during peak hours – between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and
northbound between about 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. – and
only during peak hours (though there are GO buses
2016 \ Celebrate Vaughan
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