Ontario's Eglinton Crosstown missteps could make regaining public trust 'extremely challenging'
CBC
Transit experts and opposition critics say the Ontario government has to learn from its communications mistakes on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT to ensure the rollout of the remaining pieces of its multi-billion dollar transit expansion have public buy-in.
After years of delays and cost overruns, the Crosstown is set to begin a phased opening on Sunday, something announced to the public just days before the trains will officially roll.
While Premier Doug Ford’s government says the start of service on the 19-kilometre line is cause for celebration, the Tories are being criticized for a lack of transparency about problems with the project dating back years.
Premier Doug Ford has repeatedly expressed his own displeasure with the Crosstown delays, sounding off once again Wednesday.
“That was a nightmare, I’ll tell you,” Ford said during a speech before the Mississauga Board of Trade, where he raised the topic of the light rail line (LRT).
Work on the Eglinton LRT began in 2011 with an estimated price tag of $9.1 billion to build and maintain the 25-stop line. It was to have been completed in 2020.
In 2022, documents obtained by CBC Toronto showed the project costs had jumped to at least $12.8 billion.
The project is part of a broader transit expansion plan that has seen the Ontario government spend tens of billions — and will see it spend tens of billions more — to build light rail and subway expansions across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Transit planner and consultant David Cooper said the Crosstown was a highly complex project built in a densely populated part of Canada’s largest city.
It caused serious disruption for residents and businesses for years and lack of information about the construction problem compound public frustration, he said.
“People want information. They want to understand the ‘why,’” Cooper said.
“Why are things happening? Why are things not happening? … When we start answering the ‘why’ I find people are generally pretty accepting of the answer, but we just didn’t give it to them.”
Former Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins handled some communications on the thorny Crosstown file before her departure from the agency three years ago.
In the lead up to the line's opening, she said there hasn't been enough information provided to help answer basic questions and concerns from the public.
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