TTC workers union unveils plan to fix troubled transit system
A landmark report from the TTC workers' union calls for more buses, more service and more comfort for riders.

thestar.com
Nov. 10, 2014
By Tess Kalinowski

Toronto could line its streets in reports on how to fix its troubled transit system, admits the president of the union that represents 10,000 TTC employees.

But Bob Kinnear says the labour group decided to release its own epic list of 68 costed recommendations to get the city moving to impress upon a new mayor and city council the gravity of the crisis facing the TTC.

The Amalgamated Transit Union report, called, Toronto’s Transit Future, is being released Monday. It coincides with a looming federal election next year and offers a dire warning that the TTC could collapse under the weight of neglect and the city’s booming population.

“(The lack of) transit is killing us economically, environmentally. As Torontonians we need to take a position that we are going to be unified to ensure we don’t continue down this road of stagnation,” said Kinnear.

He admits that riders will be weary of hearing the report’s key recommendations - that senior governments must pay more toward building and operating the TTC.

The people who know the system best - the TTC’s own employees - need a voice too during a perilous time in which ridership is at risk of out-stripping the system’s service capacity, he said.

The TTC is expected to carry another 60 million riders in the next four years. It will cost about $66 million more annually just to accommodate them at today’s inadequate service standards.

The $428 million subsidy that Toronto provided the TTC this year toward its $1.6 billion operating budget needs to grow to $612 million by 2018, says the report. A 5-cent fare increase will raise only about $23 million a year, according to the report.

“We have a federal election next year. If there’s one thing that came out of the mayor’s campaign, it is that we all agreed that we need the upper levels of government. The fact that we haven’t had any success doesn’t mean we should walk away from it,” he said. “We’ve got to stop begging and start demanding."

Among the report’s recommendations: that the TTC immediately buy about 250, 40-foot buses, in addition to the purchases planned for the next three years. They would make room for more riders and allow for better maintenance to prevent breakdowns.

The union is also calling for an expedited analysis of mayor-elect John Tory’s SmartTrack plan to relieve TTC crowding by running electrified trains on the GO tracks around Toronto.

But building the project is almost secondary to analyzing the operating agreement between the city and the province on joint projects such as SmartTrack and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, said Kinnear.

“What is the cost-sharing going to be on revenue? The slightest miscalculation could cost Toronto taxpayers tens of millions of dollars annually if that equation is not factored out right,” he said.

“I’m shocked that city councillors have not raised this issue,” said Kinnear.

Despite the tough talk, the report offers a supportive and measured response to many actions already under active consideration. It calls for more turn restrictions so transit vehicles aren’t held up by single-occupant cars. It recommends more transit priority at signalized intersections.

Of Toronto’s 2,200 signalized intersections, only 360 have transit priority technology that favours buses and streetcars. Of the 360, many don’t work.

The current technology is about 20 years old, Myles Currie of the Traffic Management Centre told the Star. Toronto plans to look at new systems and develop a strategy with the TTC. But he did not say how long that would take.

The report endorses many measures TTC managers recommended in August including, all-door boarding on streetcars; a 10-minute or better service network of buses and two-hour timed passes.

There’s even a hint of innovation. Among the more creative recommendations:

• Boost the TTC’s Airport Rocket bus that runs out of Kipling Station. The bus will continue to provide affordable transport even after Metrolinx opens its new Union Pearson Express train next year. Rocket riders should get Wi-Fi on board the buses and a TTC fare vending machine at the airport. The Rocket should also get its own signage and brand.
• Restructure the fare system with the widespread launch of the Presto fare card on the TTC to introduce weekend, 24-hour and quarterly passes.
• Revisit a 2009 commitment to make sure that any bus or streetcar stop that serves more than 100 riders a day gets a shelter to protect riders from the elements.
  

Councillor Maria Augimeri, who chairs the TTC board, said the union’s report “was done with the good of TTC customers in mind.”

“It’s a careful and considerable study of the present state of disrepair and solid recommendations, very accurate recommendations for the future,” said Augimeri.

Criticizing former premier Mike Harris’s Conservative government for downloading operating of public transit on the city, Augimeri said the TTC has gone “from being the envy of the world to the clown.”