One City Councillor is raising the spectre of an Eglinton LRT that has its stations so far apart the TTC will still have to run buses on the street to move the people who live there. Gord Perks sees that possibility because the master agreement between the TTC and Metrolinx, the Ontario planning arm, gives the final say in the location and number of stations to Metrolinx. Perks calls the agreement “a disaster for Torontonians”. He predicted a move at Council to order the City Manager not to sign the agreement between the City and Metrolinx if it gives the provincial transit agency the final say over how the transit lines are built in the City. Parks told the Toronto Sun that the agreement gives Metrolinx sole authority to remove stations, remove stops, change the distance between stations and stops and decide what goes above and below ground, It will mean we have a line (on Eglinton) with very few stops, that is more oriented towards regional transit and that we will still have to run a bus every 30 seconds on Eglinton to pick people up that actually live in these neighbourhoods, Perks is said to have told the Sun. “We will wind up in a circumstance where we will have to operate a regional rail line and a local collector line — one on top of the other — and pay for both.” Perks he is quoted by the Sun. Metrolinx has responded that it is the owner, the builder and the funder of the projects. Toronto Sun
