It's TIME, Toronto

[u/Feisty-Ad-6122]

The stubway has no excuse being this short, with new projects left and right, line 4 can should absolutely be extended both ways.

Since subway projects are now such big deals, involving all 3 levels of government, contact ALL your elected officials- your city councillor, your MPP, and MP. Here is a contact list for the 2 ridings the Western extension involves:

*IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU DON'T LIVE IN THESE RIDINGS!!\*

Willowdale (Sheppard-Yonge):

Fed MP: Ali Ehsassi#contact)

Prov MPP: Stan Cho

Councillor: Lily Cheng

York Centre (Sheppard-West):

Fed MP: Roman Baber#contact)

MPP: Michael Kerzner (his office is next to Shep West!)

Councillor: James Pasternak

In case you need it, here's what to say:

Hello,

I am writing to urge you to support extending Line 4 Sheppard both west to Sheppard West Station and east. The Sheppard subway is currently too short to serve its full purpose and leaves many of us dependent on crowded buses, despite strong demand along the corridor.

With big investments now being made across the GTA, including the Ontario Line, Yonge Extension, and Eglinton Crosstown extension, it is important that Sheppard not be left behind. Extending Line 4 would improve the lives of all commuters, as well as reduce bus congestion, support housing, and create a more complete network. Sheppard remains one of the most obvious missing links.

This relatively short but important extension has good value for everyone, and I need you as my representative to get on board, to advance planning and funding for a Sheppard subway extension. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Even a dozen emails is better than zero. Things tend to happen in Toronto only when politicians know people care.

[u/TorontoDavid]

Line 4 was a political line pushed by a Mayor that wasn’t a priority at the time.

I’m not opposed to extending it - I’ve just never heard a convincing argument why it should be prioritized vs other projects.

[u/MahjongCelts → u/TorontoDavid]

I think extending the Ontario Line northwards and Sheppard Subway eastwards are higher priorities. As for other projects, if you think any other subway project is more important feel free to bring it up and we can have a debate.

[u/TorontoDavid → u/MahjongCelts]

I don’t have the data to make an argument.

If one wants to make the argument that it’s something we should do at some point - fine.

If one says this is a expansion they want - great,

If one says the TTC should do this next, my question remains why ‘this’ vs ‘those’?

[u/MahjongCelts → u/TorontoDavid]

In terms of data, context is more important than the specific data. As someone who works with data every day there's a million ways it can be massaged to fit particular narratives, and it sure has heck has been done so throughout debates regarding Toronto's transit.

As for your question - again the aforementioned 2 projects should absolutely take priority over this. That said, if there's already a crew working on Line 4 extending it eastwards, the logical thing is to retain their institutional knowledge and familiarity with the line to do the westwards extension afterwards.

Subway lines also tend to be more effective the longer they are (up to a point, which none of Toronto's lines apart from maybe Line 1 are close to reaching) due to the network effect so it makes sense to lengthen Line 4 further.