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TTC takeover a no go

When sports and the weather don’t seem to work as conversation starters, count on public transit to get the discussion flowing.

A surge of recent arguments has suggested that a regional transportation authority like Metrolinx would be better equipped to run Toronto’s system, despite the TTC’s long history of efficiency.

There’s also talk of privatization, which generally has little success in trimming costs and may in fact become impossible when new “essential service” legislation is enacted, bringing with it binding arbitration.

Unfortunately, these arguments sometimes obscure the biggest challenge facing public transit in Toronto: its lack of financial resources. The TTC receives the smallest subsidy per rider of any multi-modal (bus/subway) system in the developed world. And turning over operations to a regional authority wouldn’t necessarily address that problem.

Also remember that the city contributed to GO Transit for years despite its being a provincial agency, so we can’t assume that local property taxpayers would be off the hook even if the TTC were handed to the province.

But there are other reasons why Torontonians may want to think twice about this option. Consider that the service area for Metrolinx is over 3,000 square kilometres compared to the TTC’s 640. Metrolinx currently oversees GO service, while around six other transit companies take care of their local services. One advantage of this sort of system is that it is able to respond to, and reflect, the unique needs of different communities.

The TTC knows how to provide transport to a large urban core, while people who live in Durham know how to provide service to their community-run Durham Transit.

If Metrolinx were to take over the TTC and these other properties, it could become an unwieldy organization unable to respond to specific local needs, and at the same time, its accountability could be reduced. Metrolinx is run by an unelected board whose members are accountable only to the provincial government that appointed them.

The TTC, on the other hand, is overseen by a commission of elected city councillors directly responsible to the people of the city. It’s a model that ensures that the riding public has avenues to bring up concerns and suggestions.

Uploading public transit would make it an election issue only during provincial elections, where it would compete for attention with issues like health care, education, highways, northern development and more.

One of the arguments advanced for having Metrolinx take over is that it could better coordinate routes. But the TTC already harmonizes service with Viva, Mississauga Transit, Brampton Transit and York Region Transit. Indeed, Metrolinx itself already investigated that issue and concluded that the fundamental problems pertain to the quality and amount of service rather than a need for better coordination.

Instead of an arcane discussion about board structure, the key to improved service is funding. Indeed, the TTC gets only 40 per cent (i.e. 2.5 times less) of the per-ride subsidy of cities like London, Paris, Atlanta, Calgary, Vancouver, Melbourne, Madrid and Tokyo. This underfunding will have an impact on the system regardless of who administers it.

Governments could look back at the guaranteed formula of the period from the 1970s through the 90s, when riders paid 68 per cent of costs and the province and city (Metro at the time) split the remainder 50-50. Today riders pay about 70 per cent, but the difference is that the province today provides no operating funding.

The repairs and expansion laid out in Metrolinx/TTC’s 25-year regional transportation plan will require $3 billion to $4 billion a year in additional funding. If they are to deliver on this, all levels of government need to seriously consider new funding options like road tolls, parking taxes, increased vehicle registration fees and gas taxes.

No one wants to pay more, but Toronto’s transit problems are not going away – and putting off facing them won’t make them cheaper to fix.

Transportation is not cheap, and there are no easy answers to tricky public transit challenges. Changing which board runs the system is a simplistic response.

Adam Giambrone is a former city councillor and chair of the TTC.

news@nowtoronto.com

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