Bungled and botched policies are hallmarks of the Ford administration, but no file has been more badly mishandled at Toronto City Hall than public transit. The impact of that failure hits riders starting Sunday, when a 10-cent fare increase kicks in. But that marks only the beginning of their woes in the coming year, and beyond, thanks to Mayor Rob Ford.On taking office last December, Ford forthrightly declared his goal of making life easier for motorists, announcing: “The war on the car is over.” Left unsaid — but made clear by subsequent events — was that a war on public transit had begun.
The 10-cent fare hike is part of the onslaught. Yes, there have been plenty of fare increases in the past, including under Ford’s predecessor, David Miller. But Miller raised fares while expanding public transit and giving riders more for their money. The Ford administration is doing the opposite — burdening commuters with new costs while reducing Toronto Transit Commission service levels. Meanwhile car owners pocket an extra $60 a year thanks to Ford’s elimination of the city’s motor vehicle tax.
The mayor’s favouritism toward drivers goes even beyond that. It was instrumental in his killing of Transit City, a fully funded expansion of TTC service that would have pushed light rail lines into almost every part of Toronto. Ford’s main objection was that cars would have had to share street space with these lines, which he called a “disaster.”
Ford’s alternative was to take Transit City’s funding and use it to bury one of the planned light rail routes, the Eglinton crosstown line, effectively turning it into a subway. To its shame, Queen’s Park went along since granting Ford’s wish wouldn’t cost the province any more money. Even some of the mayor’s supporters now recognize that burying the entire 20-kilometre length of the Eglinton line would be a mistake.
The original Transit City plan called for putting about 11 kilometres underground, in the most built-up sections of Toronto’s downtown. It was correctly felt that beyond this zone there would be ample space on Eglinton to accommodate both surface light rail and car traffic. But that wasn’t good enough for Ford. His burial plan almost doubles the cost of the Eglinton light rail line, to more than $8 billion, while providing fewer stops for commuters. Riders are shortchanged. But never mind: it’s more convenient for drivers.
Ford’s flawed vision for public transit involves replacing another planned light rail line, the Sheppard East route, with a subway. The problem there is that Toronto doesn’t have an extra $4 billion to build a Sheppard subway. No worries, says Ford; the private sector will cover most of that.
Except it won’t.
Gordon Chong, the man appointed to make this subway happen, wasn’t able to deliver a preliminary report by Christmas as promised. Instead, that’s been put off until February, with Chong saying that working up a full business case will take more time and up to $10 million in new funding for research and analysis. Even with that investment, Chong says it’s already clear that private funding will pay for only 10 to 30 per cent of the Sheppard subway’s cost, leaving Toronto with a multi-billion-dollar bill.
The bottom line: Ford rashly took a comprehensive and provincially funded transit plan and tore it up in favour of building a subway the city doesn’t need (the entirely underground Eglinton line) and a subway it can’t afford (the Sheppard line). Because the switch involved cancelling several already-signed contracts, it’s going to cost an estimated $65 million in penalties. That’s another $65 million that could have been invested in public transit but is instead being thrown away. Outraged? Relax, motorists still get their tax cut.
It’s now clear that Ford’s approach consists of little more than telling people what they want to hear, regardless of the facts. His simplistic and repeated denial of reality is an understandable strategy, given that it got him elected. But reality has a nasty way of making itself felt over the long run. The real pity is that a great deal of damage has already been done. And those in line for future pain are this city’s hard-pressed transit riders.
Original Article
Source: Star
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