It was way back in 2013, when Toronto city council first voted in favour of ditching a planned LRT in Scarborough, in favour of a three-stop subway.
In the time since, there have been no shovels in the ground... but there has been plenty of "discussion" at city hall, with some saying the project is too expensive and shouldn't be built.
New numbers out from Metrolinx back up that claim, but they come to a different conclusion.
Business case analysis reports have been released for both the Scarborough Subway, as well as the Eglington West LRT, which would extend that service to the west, all the way to Pearson Airport.
What the numbers show for the subway is the project would cost around $6 billion, with an economic benefit of just over $2.8 billion. That means we would see a benefit, according to Metrolinx, of around 60 cents for every dollar spent.
The news surrounding he Eglinton West LRT is even worse, with a total cost of nearly $5 billion, and an economic benefit of under $2 billion. That equals a total benefit of 34 cents for every dollar spent. And that's if the LRT is run mostly underground.
For most projects, Metrolinx likes to see a 1-1 comparison.
Despite the numbers Metrolinx wants to push ahead with the projects.
CEO Phil Verster tells NEWSTALK 1010 in a statement, Our approach in preparing business cases is to err on the side of caution, so this business case represents a purposefully modest baseline we will aim to improve over time.
Any assessment presented in a business case represents our best understanding of a project at a given point in time, and it can change throughout a project's lifecycle based on external factors and a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities.
We use the data from our business cases to ensure we make decisions that maximize benefits and control costs throughout the full course of a project. We update the business case at key stages to ensure these benefits are realized.
As I said, our approach in preparing business cases is to err on the side of caution, so this business case represents a purposefully modest baseline that I am confident will improve over time."