“Gridlock and poor public transit makes it harder to connect people with good jobs. It makes Toronto less livable.” How true. But who said it? David Miller, the former mayor, perhaps?The answer is Rob Ford, when he introduced his transportation plan on YouTube during his election campaign. He also said, separately and famously, that no services would be cut, “guaranteed,” if he became mayor.
Now, a year after his election, Toronto is facing substantial cuts to its most vital service: transit. Under the gun from the mayor to cut 10 per cent from its budget, the Toronto Transit Commission is planning to reduce service on 62 surface routes.
The cuts affect service right across the city, including busy bus lines such as the 29 Dufferin and 36 Finch West. Even the famous 501 streetcar, the longest in the city, will see longer waiting times in off-peak hours.
The TTC has asked for understanding. Chair Karen Stintz notes the commission has backed off a plan to cut some less-busy routes altogether. She also notes, with justice, that the expansion of TTC service in recent years rested on the unrealistic assumption that the provincial government would come through with more money to run the system. It never has.
The TTC says commuters will have to wait just a little longer, often only a minute or two, and in some cases just seconds. On some busy routes, buses and streetcars will actually come more often to meet rising demand.
But for commuters already fed up with waiting in the cold for late, overcrowded TTC vehicles that often seem to arrive in bunches, the cuts will add up to daily inconvenience. Transit activist Steve Munro notes that when the 54 Lawrence East bus starts coming every three and a half minutes instead of every three, it means 17 buses an hour instead of 20. That, of course, means more crowding on each bus.
“Packed buses and streetcars take longer to load and unload at stops while riders push their way on and off, and this adds to delays in transit service. We will see even more short turns, and travel times will go up,” writes Mr. Munro. “These are, by any reasonable definition, major service cuts.”
So much for the mayor’s guarantee. Under his leadership, the city has already killed the Transit City light-rail project and fumbled its bid to build a new Sheppard subway. Now Toronto faces service cuts on its existing transportation lifelines, so important to the city’s function that the mayor had the TTC declared an essential service.
When pressed about his no-cuts guarantee, Mr. Ford often says he only wants to introduce “efficiencies.” But unless he considers it more efficient to cram more people on fewer buses, these are not efficiencies. When your bus arrives later and you can’t get a seat, that’s a cut, plain and simple.
The TTCriders lobby group, which first revealed the TTC’s plan, says that within 24 hours transit riders had sent 600 e-mails to city councillors complaining about the cuts. No wonder.
Despite economic hard times, the TTC saw ridership go up 3 per cent this year. More people are living downtown and using transit to get around. The TTC expects to have more than 500 million riders next year for the first time. It is a remarkable success story. These cuts, if they go through in the New Year, put it at risk.
TTC chief general manager Gary Webster admits that if the TTC brings in a fare increase to make Mr. Ford’s 10 per cent budget cut, “our customers are going to be asked to pay more for getting less.” And this from a mayor who says better customer service is his priority.
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Source: Globe&Mail
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