Most commuters
in Durham Region have probably never been on a local bus. People who
live in the cities east of Toronto tend to use cars to get around
and for those who take do transit, the vehicle of choice is usually
a GO bus or train. Yet the municipal politicians who oversee the
four local transit agencies in Durham have a chance to take a step
that may help commuters across the GTA.
Mayors and
councillors in places like Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa and
Clarington are being asked to create one transit service out of
four, a major step that should make it easier to get around a very
car-oriented part of the world. From an outsider’s perspective, it
seems a relatively small part of a logical progression -- just like
the recent merger of transit systems in Pickering and Ajax.
Amalgamating
these four suburban services won’t suddenly create a fine-grained
network like the TTC, but more people will be able to move around
their cities and towns. Suburban transit is usually geared to rush
hour travellers, but there are many people who can’t drive -- and
they also want to get around.
Less than four
years ago, York Region Transit (YRT) was created out of a handful of
smaller systems north of Toronto. Fares went up and regional
taxpayers have been asked to pay more, but now virtually every
community in southern York region has some kind of alternative to
the car. YRT’s routes are being streamlined and ridership has been
growing around 10 per cent a year.
Thinking on a
larger scale also helped York devise an ambitious rapid bus network
that will substantially improve its links with the TTC. Prodded by
serious concerns about traffic gridlock, the region has fast-tracked
the plan, and convinced senior governments to help pay for it. A
public-private partnership is already putting four routes in place,
and the first phase of a cross-region network will open a year from
now.
West of
Toronto, the regional municipalities of Halton and Peel have not
yet managed to amalgamate their various transit services. In order
to get their act together, region and local politicians have to
believe that transit riders will benefit. The merger plans in Durham
followed a study that looked at the transportation challenges across
the entire region, not just on a town-by-town basis. It’s possible
that local politicians may want to keep control of their individual
bus systems, but that may not help fight traffic congestion.
Peel Region
does not seem in a rush to amalgamate anything. Although there are
bus links with Brampton Transit, Mississauga’s city council is
intent on leaving the regional government altogether. Buses also
cross the city’s invisible border with Oakville, further into
suburban car country. Oakville mayor Ann Mulvale says that her
city’s transit system already connects with others to the east, west
and north -- but the real focus is getting commuters to GO train
stations. While she does not see an imminent merger of transit in
Halton Region, there are efforts to better link Oakville, Burlington
and Hamilton.
Technicalities
and political turf wars can slow down what appear to be sensible
reorganizations -- but there are also real drawbacks to
amalgamation. Before the TTC expanded deep into North York,
Etobicoke and Scarborough in the 1970s, the system paid for itself.
In order to send buses to transit-unfriendly territory, government
subsidies were needed to cover the higher operating costs. Even in
2004, as the provincial government gets closer to unveiling a
Greater Toronto Transportation Authority, there needs to be a
serious discussion about the cost of suburban transit.
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