By Amaan Jabbar
Have you heard about the Durham-Scarborough Bus Rapid Transit (DSBRT)? In this article, I will provide two viewpoints of this proposed project. The first will be from Metrolinx and the second will be a perspective from Highland Creek, one of the communities that will be impacted most.
The DSBRT is a project that would bring 36 km of rapid transit through Scarborough, Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa. The goal is to provide frequent and reliable rapid transit to connect communities, jobs, schools and significant locations along Highway 2 from Toronto to Durham Region. Metrolinx aims to provide Scarborough residents with more flexible and convenient access to different transit routes to make getting around easier.
To enhance this transit, Metrolinx wants to have dedicated bus lanes for shorter travel times and more frequent service with buses that would run every five minutes in peak travel times. They also hope to provide priority to buses at intersections to make transit more reliable. The expected daily ridership is estimated to be 38,400 by 2041.
The overall objective is to connect major destinations like the Scarborough and Pickering Town Centres, University of Toronto Scarborough, Centennial College and Ontario Tech University. Buses will be separated from general traffic and there are supposed to be better connections to TTC, Durham transit and GO services.
After reading the above, readers might wonder what sorts of impacts the project could have on the communities it will pass through. Highland Creek Community Association says to Metrolinx: “Find a better way. One that does not destroy our community.” The Highland Creek community has started a campaign to stop the Metrolinx Bus Rapid Transit on Ellesmere Road.
The community members want to save Highland Creek from years of construction and destruction. Residents are strongly opposed to this project and have started a petition to halt any plans to implement these changes in their community.
The residents feel that the dedicated bus lanes in the middle of Ellesmere will have a negative impact on their community. There will be no left turns allowed for a lot of homes located on Ellesmere and other locations forever. The left turn and U-turn locations will be significantly decreased and accessing homes will be inconvenient as residents will have to pass their house and circle back to get home.
The residents strongly disagree with the removal of 300 mature trees along Ellesmere. They are also against expropriation of properties to widen the road for the dedicated bus lane. The TTC is still going to be running in the curb lane and the residents in Highland Creek feel like they get no benefits out of this project.
One member of the Highland Creek Community voiced her concerns about this project by mentioning that these constant buses will create more noise and air pollution, more disruption and traffic congestion, and the land expropriation is unwelcome. These major changes and removal of infrastructure and long construction times are undesirable and Highland Creek is not for it at all.
The petition to stop this project says: “The minimal time savings for riders on this section of Ellesmere with this proposal vs. buses in mixed traffic does not warrant the significant negative impact to the residents that live here and that will have to deal with this forever.”
What do you think of this project? Do the cons outweigh the benefits? If you are against it, you can sign the petition at myhighlandcreek.org/brt-developments.html#/
If you have any questions, send an email to DSBRT@metrolinx.com