Now that TTC
ridership is finally growing at a respectable pace there is a huge
question to ponder: How can we keep this up without breaking the
bank? And the bank is us -- whether through fares or new taxes or
private sector investment, society must find money to keep transit
running properly.
A fast-growing
TTC brings several immediate challenges, ranging from the obvious to
the unexpected. As riders on GO Transit have discovered in recent
years, high passenger growth without enough added capacity results
in very noticeable crowding. Announcements about new lines and
vehicle are reassuring, but they take a while to become reality. And
then it takes cash to run them.
Although extra
riders bring extra revenues, transit is a product that sells at a
loss. Greater numbers of people boarding buses and trains means
greater subsidies are needed to run the service every day.
Despite a trend
to more economical Metropasses, TTC fares continue to cover a higher
proportion of daily costs than almost all other North American
transit agencies (GO is even higher). But moving toward charging the
full cost to riders would send many back to their cars.
Lowering the
operating cost through efficiencies is a must – and the TTC does a
bad job of showing the public how it is doing this -- yet any
savings won’t come close to bridging the subsidy gap.
It may be
possible to reduce transit expenditures through privatization, but
that’s a risky road. Worldwide experience indicates that often
government does not save much money overall by contracting out
transit service. Add in considerable labour upheaval, and the
minority willing to risk private transit dwindles.
The other
surprise about recent ridership growth is that it still isn’t enough
to grab substantial market share from cars. As people move to the
sprawling GTA, auto use rises as fast or faster than transit use.
This is the number we need to watch: The percentage of citizens
taking buses, streetcars and trains compared to driving is stuck
around 18 per cent.
There was a
time when the provincial government contributed to the TTC both by
investing in new lines and by helping fund daily operations. It
looks like Queen’s Park may be ready to start building again, but
the latter must be addressed too.
And 416 is not
alone. GO Transit’s operating subsidy from the province has been
lagging behind growth for well more than a decade. If we want GTA
transit to thrive, we have to come up with practical, acceptable
ways to pay for it. The alternative is not hard to imagine.
The regional
economy suffers when taxation becomes too onerous, but what if
services like transit fall behind? Long commute times plus congested
roads and trains dampen the enthusiasm of business to locate or
expand here.