What to know
- Transit advocates say TTC reliability is not getting enough attention from Toronto’s leading mayoral candidates.
- CodeRedTO’s Cameron MacLeod says unreliable service can push riders toward cars and worsen congestion.
- TTCriders’ Andrew Pulsifer says the TTC has made gains in reliability but there is still “a lot of work to be done.”
- Advocates are calling for more transit priority and commitments to improving bus and streetcar service.
With Toronto’s mayoral candidates making promises on fares, safety and transit infrastructure ahead of the Oct. 26 municipal election, transit advocates say one issue continues to stand out as a gap: reliability.
Olivia Chow, Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander have each made TTC-related promises, but transit advocates say riders need to hear more about how candidates would make buses, subways and streetcars more dependable.
‘The big gap’ is reliability
“I would say no,” said Cameron MacLeod, executive director of CodeRedTO to Now Toronto, when asked whether the three leading candidates are addressing the biggest issues facing TTC riders.
MacLeod said candidates are addressing safety, crime and affordability, but argued those issues do not cover the entire picture.
“The big gap that I see is reliability,” he said. “Reliability is not being addressed by any candidates, you know, to any great depth.”
MacLeod said a lack of trust that the TTC will be there when riders need it can have broader consequences.
“That’s pushing people into cars,” he said. “It’s increasing congestion, and it’s even hurting the TTC budget because those fares are not getting spent.”
Andrew Pulsifer, executive director of TTCriders, also said reliability remains a major concern.
“We’re still waiting from all three [candidates] to see a general state of I’ll make your bus come on time,’” Pulsifer tells Now` Toronto.
He acknowledged that the TTC has made progress, but said there is still work to do.
“We’ve made great gains in reliability over the past three years, but there’s still a lot of work to be done in that regard,” he said.
What would better reliability look like?
MacLeod said improving reliability means looking at how buses and streetcars interact with other vehicles on Toronto’s roads.
“When we look at the surface network, for example, buses and streetcars have to fight with private car traffic and Ubers and Lyfts and things like that to get where they need to go,” he said.
He pointed to RapidTO lanes as one example of how giving transit more priority can improve reliability.
“Those allow streetcars or buses to move a little bit more reliably in those areas,” MacLeod said.
He said TTC data generally shows reliability increases in areas where transit receives that priority.
“We’ve only got a few areas where surface transit has any sort of priority over private cars,” he said.
MacLeod also described the effect delays can have on riders trying to plan their day, particularly when streetcars and buses are caught behind individual vehicles.
“xfvGenerally speaking, a streetcar could have 250 people in it waiting for one person trying to turn left because they’re blocking that streetcar lane,” he said. “Same thing happens to buses as well.”
Pulsifer pointed to measures already being pursued by the city, including transit signal priority and a review of the streetcar network.
“There’s a lot of aspects of reliability that the city itself is already working on,” Pulsifer said.
He said the city has committed to a full review of the streetcar network and wants the next mayor to follow through.
“But we really do hope that the next mayor will commit to implementing whatever those suggestions are,” Pulsifer said.
Advocates want more than individual promises
Both advocates said the election conversation should extend beyond individual projects or campaign announcements.
MacLeod said CodeRedTO wants candidates to be clearer about what they believe the purpose of public transit should be and how the city should fund it.
“Transit is a public service,” MacLeod said. “It’s the blood system of our city. It’s how we all get around and how everything else works.”
Pulsifer said there is still time for candidates to put forward additional transit commitments before election day.
“There’s a little over a month, so we’re hoping that we’re going to see more commitments when it comes to transit from all not only the major mayoral candidates but for folks running in council races too.”
TTCriders has also surveyed major candidates about reliability improvements, with results expected to be released next week.
