Subways

Subways are the best form of rapid transit. They do not interfere with street traffic and move a lot of people. They also do not require as much winter maintenance as surface transit. Streetcar LRT's remove road space, cut off neighbourhoods on either side, as has been experienced on St. Clair Avenue West, move slowly and require much winter maintenance. They are less expensive than subways but only carry about 40,000 passengers per day while subways carry up to 200,000 passengers per day and attract development and investment. Expansion of the subway system will also reduce auto traffic especially if adequate parking is provided at stations.

In the long term, subways are the most effective form of public transit as they move a greater number of people and compete with the private automobile. Toronto has not built a new subway extension since 1980, except for the short Sheppard line and the Spadina line extension into Vaughan, now under construction. Subways are expensive to build, but with the use of financing from new development, at least two kilometres of subway and one new station could be constructed every two years. 

Underground subways cost approximately $230 million per kilometre to constuct while surface LRT costs approximately $100 million per kilometre to construct. However, the double cost of subways provides capacity for five times as many people as LRT. Contingency costs for inflation shuld be no more than 10%. 

The following extensions to Toronto’s subway system are recommended:

New subway trains

416-274-6702

New trolleybuses to replace downtown streetcars

NOTE: As of July 13, 2016, all of the proposed subways in this plan are now under consideration by City of Toronto Council. On this date, Council approved the eastern extension of the Bloor-Danforth Subway to the Scarborough Town Centre and construction started in 2021. Studies are being undertaken on the proposed Downtown Relief Line along Queen Street, the route recommended by this plan, and the northern extension of the Yonge line. Councillors have asked staff to take a look at completion of the Sheppard Subway east to meet the extended Bloor-Danforth Subway in Scarborough and west to the Spadina Subway at Downsview. Staff have also been asked to take a look at a western extension of the Bloor-Danforth Subway to Sherway Gardens. These mean that the entire 'Get Toronto Moving' subway plan is now being seriously considered.  

A balanced and workable
new transportation plan
for the City of Toronto

  • Yonge-University-Spadina Subway Extensions (Line 1)
  • Sheppard Subway Extensions (Line 4)
  • Downtown Relief Subway (Queen route - Line 5)
  • Bloor-Danforth Subway Extensions (Line 2)
  • Eglinton-Crosstown LRT (Line 3)


Subways, light rail, buses and streetcars in the City of Toronto are under the jurisdiction of the Toronto Transit Commission. Commuter rail lines are under the jurisdiction of GO Transit, which is part of Metrolinx, a Provincial agency overseeing transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area.

Subway proposals:


  • Northern extension of the Yonge Subway from Finch to Richmond Hill Centre
  • Completion of the Sheppard Subway east from Don Mills to north of the Scarborough Town Centre to McCowan to meet an extended Bloor-Danforth Subway, supported by intensification of development around the Scarborough Town Centre
  • Extension of the Sheppard Subway west from Yonge to Downsview. The Sheppard Subway could eventually be extended west to Pearson International Airport and then southerly to Kipling Station on the surface in an existing hydro corridor. The Sheppard Subway would ultimately connect across the entire City
  • Construction of a 'U'-shaped Downtown Relief Subway through the central core under Queen Street, possibly utilizing the existing unused east-to-west station under Queen Station. The route would swing north under Pape Avenue on the east side and along the Kitchener GO rail corridor on the west side. These two sections stretching to the north would be initially built to Bloor Street in the west and to Danforth Avenue in the east, and later extended further to Eglinton Avenue
  • Eastern extension of the Bloor-Danforth Subway from Kennedy to link with an extended Sheppard Subway at McCowan Road and Sheppard Avenue East, northeast of the Scarborough Town Centre
  • Western extension of the Bloor-Danforth Subway from Kipling to Sherway Gardens, ultimately continuing west to Hurontario Street in Mississauga
  • Construction of the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT line from Pearson International Airport in the west to the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus in the east
  • Continued introduction of a 'Smart Card' automated fare collection system on all transit vehicles and stations
  • Installation of suicide barriers with doors on platforms in all subway stations to reduce the frequency of suicides and the interruption to service that occurs
  • Introduction of a jitney service, particularly in the suburbs, to collect people from their neighbourhoods and transport them to rail transit stations, thus making driving to a station unnecessary
  • Replacement of Central Area streetcars with new double-length trolley buses with the same carrying capacity as streetcars, using overhead electric wires but with no tracks 


Follow this link for:
A report comparing the effect on development of streetcar LRT's and subways

There has been a deliberate attempt by Toronto politicians to stop subway construction and put money into streetcars in order to reduce road space as part of their war on the car. It is shown in the Fenton report in this link:
Alan Fenton report on the misdirection of public funding in Toronto into surface transit to prevent subway construction