Fred Winegust works to restore York University buses

Clause in TCC-YRT deal, signed in 2009, could bring hope to students

YorkRegion.com
January 3, 2019
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Some clauses in the TTC-YRT deal are becoming more obscure to Fred Winegust, who is one of the co-founders of ‘Keep York Moving,’ a group whose one of its main objectives is to restore YRT buses to York University students and staff.

“We have to find that clause," Winegust, who also ran as a candidate to be a local and regional councillor in Vaughan, said in reference to the TTC-YRT agreement in 2009. "That only can be done through the [Freedom of Information Act] FOI."

The clause Winegust is talking about is a pivotal one as it can restore some of YRT routes including the direct one to York University.

Duplicated routes by YRT buses were eliminated after the historic linking of TTC subway to York Region via the Line 1 Toronto-York Spadina Subway Extension on Dec. 17, 2017. In September, the YRT buses stopped its direct services right to York University campus, angering York Region students who now need to pay the notorious two-fare wall costs and walk more to reach their campus.

In a nutshell, the students now have to pay for their separate YRT or Viva bus to arrive at the subway station and then pay again at the TTC station in Vaughan.

On top of that, on Jan. 5, GO Transit will stop its bus services to York University Keele Campus, and terminate at the 407 Station.

In reaction, about 17,449 votes were garnered by an online petition, YU Ride as of Jan. 2 to see the restoration of all direct services to campus. The petition also urged the provincial government alongside MPPs and councillors to work towards a fully integrated system for all transit providers to finally come up with one fare system.

Online, the petitioners said YRT users have to spend over $1000 per year in additional transit fees if they want to take the TTC subway to York University Station.

So far, PRESTO reigns in over the TTC as its contactless smart card fare payment system but it is “incompatible” with the YRT. “It doesn’t know how to detect that one has been on the YRT,” Winegust said, explaining that’s why it requires people to pay again once they are on the YRT or vice versa.

“But it’s compatible with GO Transit,” he said. However, this last resort perk is gone for York University students.

The $8 million figure?

On Dec. 13, Winegust made a deputation at the first meeting of York Region’s new council, demanding the YRT buses restoration, lowering the two-fare wall between 905 transit agencies and TTC, and honouring the commitment to increase public transit allocation of gas tax.

But he found some stumbling blocks to his lobbying efforts when one figure he tried to trace in origin was unfounded. When Winegust tried to convince Markham regional councillor and deputy mayor Jack Heath to restore the YRT bus services, the latter said there is this whopping figure of $8 million as some sort of “fine” or costs to bring back the original plan.

However, Heath didn’t delve into the $8 million cost, which made Winegust think about it deeply.

“The bus stops are still physically there, the buses also currently exist,” he said. “So the only thing I can think of is the penalty or the fine for the getting out of a particular clause,” he said in reference to the TTC-YRT agreement in 2009.

Winegust said he searched for this figure but nothing has surfaced. The absence or lack of trace of this number in a “public domain,” is pushing him to file a FOI to get it.

“We have as of yet not being able to find the actual documents that make these statements because it’s currently not available in public domain, they require Freedom of Information act,” he said.

However, when approached by York Region Media, Heath said he received that figure from York Region’s Commissioner of Transportation Paul Jankowski.

To elaborate, Heath also said: “The interesting thing is that’s not a real loss for the TTC if York Region Transit goes into the YU campus.”

He mulled probably that’s the case since “not many students will or possibly can pay the two fares to transfer to a TTC bus for such a short trip.”

He added: “They'll just walk up to Steeles or down from!”

To further understand the figure, Heath himself “asked staff to get the comparison fare revenues from last year to this year to see what the actual losses for the TTC are.”

“If they are minimal in reality, I would offer to pay the amount or a negotiated amount and get our YRT busses back on campus. This Steeles fare zone is so unfair!”

Lobbying continues

There is also some lobbying efforts going on that seek to end the “unfair” double fare system.

On Dec. 4, Wayne Emmerson, Chief Executive Officer for The Regional Municipality of York, sent a letter to Ontario Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek, notifying him of a resolution passed by York Regional Council on Sep. 20 regarding the boundary between York region and GTHA.

In the letter, Emmerson told Yurek that more than 63,000 transit trips are taken across the GTHA daily. Of those trips, approximately 25,000 passengers cross the boundary between York Region and the City of Toronto where travellers are required to pay two fares.

“With the opening of the TTC line 1 subway extension into York region, traveling across the Toronto and York Region border became more expensive for 4,600 York University students and staff traveling on transit to and from York University,” he added.

He asked to "finalize a GTHA-wide fare integration solution by the end of 2019 to allow for full implementation as part of the PRESTO device refresh scheduled for 2020.”

On Nov. 13, Winegust with the two other co-founders of Keep York Moving, Robert Kennedy and Peter Miasek, also sent a letter to Yurek, telling him how commuter travel times have increased up to 20 minutes a day and travel costs have increased to $6.00 a day since the launch of the TTC.