Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is promising to install barriers on all TTC subway platforms in Toronto if she becomes premier, an idea that has long been studied by TTC staff but could potentially cost billions if implemented across the network.
“We know that over a million people ride the TTC each and every day, and for myself and for others, there’s situations where you just don’t feel safe,” Crombie said, standing outside Line 2’s Kennedy Station Friday. “You have people using the TTC as a shelter, for somewhere to come in out the cold. There are times on our subway cars where, quite frankly, you just feel unsafe.”
She pointed out there have been stabbings and assaults at various stations and said more must be done.
The
TTC’s latest capital budget lists platform edge doors as one of the unfunded items on a wishlist for modernizing the TTC over the next 15 years. The transit agency pegs the cost of installing the barriers across the system at $4.1 billion.
Asked about the expense of the project Friday, Crombie said “if that is the price of safety, then so be it.”
She added that the project might not be done all at once.
“I want people to ride the subway. We’ll make it as safe and secure as possible. Obviously, we would start with the most trafficked stations like Yonge and Bloor, like St. George, like Kennedy. So we would start with the high-traffic stations, and perhaps roll it out later.”
Platform edge doors are already a part of the TTC’s plans for the massive overhaul of
Bloor-Yonge Station.
Crombie said she has not spoken with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow about the proposal so far, but plans to have a sit-down with her at some point to discuss various ideas.
Crombie also announced Friday that she would hire 300 special constables across various provincial transit agencies – such as the TTC, Ottawa’s OC Transpo and Metrolinx – in order to make public transit safer.
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