Commissioner Matlow: Today you've officially announced that February 8 is the opening date for the Eglinton LRT yet, work has been underway for a considerable period of time to organize the announcement event on Friday and then the opening date on February 8. And then recently, it was reported that you expressed reservations about whether or not it should open in February due to concerns it was reported about emergency brakes. Could you explain what? What helped you feel resolved that that issue had been addressed, and when will that information be shared with the public to reassure them that it was fully addressed and that there are no concerns about the emergency brakes moving forward?
Lali: So in terms of reservations, I've always said I would commit to an opening once we’re collectively happy as an organization, and myself, [to have] a safe and reliable railway. And I can say based upon the information that now has been gone through, and I must say it's gone through it has been gone through in minute detail, in respect to not just the TTC, not just CTS, not just Metrolinx, but now the system designers and architects, where we were all working it through. The final piece of that jigsaw when Alston came on board and went through the backup supplies, and played through all the questions we had in terms of instant A, B and C and classified that this happened because of… [cut off]
Matlow: It’s just that for a lot of people it seemed chaotic where the Premier and others, including myself, had said that we believe that February 8 is the opening, and then you announced that you weren't sure that it was going to be February. Do you not believe it would be helpful to the public to just provide the information that you received that reassured you that February actually is the right date to open?
Lali: Again, I suspect that that is providing technical information that, again, we don't have access… the designs would sit with Metrolinx in respect to release because they're the custodians of the system, and they own the intellectual property for that.
Secondly, this information, in terms of working it through with the designers, was literally up to about three days ago when we really started to get the insights from the designers. So if you're referring to my comment on Monday after the Board of Trade…
Matlow: yeah.
Lali: …I did not have that information at hand
Matlow: So you wouldn't be able to release the information that you reviewed that reassured you to the public, it would have to be Metrolinx?
Lali: It's their proprietary information, and it's between Metrolinx and Alstom.
Matlow: [exasperated sounds]
Lali: I don't make the rules commissioner.
Matlow: No, no, no I’m not suggesting…
Lali: As a lawyer, I'm sure you understand this better than many around this room.
Matlow: It just is jarring that you know when, when that kind of thing happens, that then it isn't just shared with the public exactly what's going on and why it's going on and what's being reassured. But I will pause on that line.
As far as the transit signal prioritization, Commissioner Saxe asked whether or not the Rapid Transit would go faster than the buses that it's meant to replace. When you said yes, it will. Is that equally the underground section along with the surface section, or will we see slower times on the surface section? In other words, what is the impact during this phased period on end to end speed and service?
Lali: so the runtime from end to end on LRT is around 55 to 59 minutes end to end. And on the busses from end to end it’s 105.
Matlow: What's the difference between the surface and the underground?
Lali: It's gonna be about 40% plus better.
[Unknown other TTC staff member]: Just for a stat on that. Just give a sense. So on surface, say, from Kennedy to Yonge Street, where a lot of that is above surface, your trip now will be 17 minutes faster. So instead of the 52 minutes that might’ve taken on the bus, it'll now take you 35 on light rail.
