Take a deep breath, because the wrangling over the TTC is going to
continue for quite some time. Ever since the early 1990s, Canada's
largest transit system has been having a harder and harder time
making ends meet. As successive provincial governments tried to deal
with the huge financial needs of the health and education systems,
transit went from a lowered priority to an afterthought.
Yet during the 1990s, an aging subway system began to need major
repair work, and more and more of the TTC's massive fleet of buses,
streetcars and subway trains neared retirement age. Increasing costs
ran head on into decreasing political importance, and Toronto's
transit system suffered. A fatal crash due to worn out
infrastructure was only one low point in a decade of service cuts
and repeated fair hikes.
Enter the provincial Liberals under Dalton McGuinty. A year into
their mandate they have shown that transit will get a lot more
attention, if not money. The huge needs of health and education are
still the priority, but the provincial Liberals deserve credit for
turning the corner on transit funding. Finally, the TTC and other
systems across Ontario can be assured of steady funding from the gas
tax.
The catch? Even though the federal government of prime minister Paul
Martin is due to phase in its own portion of the gas tax, the
combined amount is dwarfed by the backlog of delayed expenditures.
There is a long list of transit projects and repairs that should
have been done years ago. Although the TTC's tunnels and tracks are
gradually being returned to a state of decent repair, they aren't
getting any younger. Many of the vehicles in the streets as well as
underground are due for replacement, and the price tag is hefty.
These repairs and replacements will reach $600 million a year by
2007. The combined federal-provincial gas tax money will take
several years to build up, and won't crack $200 million a year.
Returning to a predictable yearly supply of funds is one thing, but
reaching the levels of the 1980s seems beyond the scope of our
legislators.
Have you noticed that I haven't mentioned new service? Even if we
were able to secure the cash for maintaining the system as it is,
there is no leftover money to pay for extra vehicles, new subway or
streetcar lines or the technology to improve the service we have.
Even more challenging is the fact that the new gas tax money is
tangled up in disagreements about funding for GO Transit and daily
operating costs for the TTC.
Over the last few days, Toronto city council and Queens' Park have
been bickering over the details of the new funding, even though the
amounts are small compared to the looming cash crunch at the TTC.
The immediate problem for riders is that the misunderstandings
between the city and the province could translate into fare hikes or
service cuts in early 2005. Provided this conflict is sorted out,
all parties will still need to sit down and assess if all the
promised money comes close to covering the needs of the TTC.
There is a similar disconnect over at GO Transit - the list of
repairs, replacements and expansions far outstrips all forms of
funding. The difficulty is not going away, but Toronto is not alone.
New York City and London, England are just two major cities around
having major difficulties in supporting their transit systems. With
urban growth fueling greater traffic congestion worldwide, a lot of
people -- and not just politicians -- had better get thinking about
solutions.
Send e-mail to
transit@eddrass.com. Include address and phone number.