The TTC says that without financial help from the province,
fares may need to rise as much as 25 cents per ride in January, and
service could be cut twice in 2004. Mayor-elect David Miller and TTC chair
Howard Moscoe say they will try to delay any major decisions at today’s
board meeting, in the hopes that Premier Dalton McGuinty will be able to
provide funding for the cash-starved system. Late yesterday, transit
advocates revealed that unbeknownst to the politicians who sit on the TTC
board, senior management were planning
specific service cuts on subway, streetcar and bus routes, to take effect January
1.
Taken by surprise by the report Tuesday afternoon, TTC chair
Howard Moscoe says that “As far as I am concerned, it was not authorized
by the commission. There will be no service cuts.” He expects TTC
management to “brush off” the reductions as “service adjustments” at
today’s meeting, says that although he had not seen the documents in
detail, they amount to “cuts.”
TTC chief general manager Rick Ducharme says he has to
adjust service levels to match the amount of riders using the system, and
thanks to the SARS virus, ridership and revenues dropped below what the
TTC had planned for this year. “When we started the review in August and
September, looking at a $57 million (TTC deficit), I directed the
operations (staff) to make certain that the service we have on the streets
is commensurate with our estimate” of 410 million riders in 2004.
“Normally we’re given the leeway, according to our service standards, to
make the changes we require out there.”
Long-time transit advocate Steve Munro says the reductions
may seem relatively minor in their effect on already crowded vehicles --
about 3% across the bus system for example -- but they would have a
serious political impact. “Considering we just had an election campaign
where everyone was running on the idea of improving transit service, it
seems rather strange that the commission -- as of 2 p.m. on the day before
they consider the budget -- hadn’t been told that this was about to
happen. If the commission didn’t find out about it by tomorrow, the next
meeting is not until mid-December, by which time... it would be impossible
to undo.”
Munro says the normal process that sees routes adjusted
every six weeks is not the way to introduce across-the-board changes.
“Cuts of this magnitude are a major political issue and is quite clear
that TTC staff attempted to hide them from the commission until it was too
late.”
Rick Ducharme replies, “Well, it’s not too late. They can
reverse it (at today’s meeting).” He says he needs to know very soon how
to deal with the looming budget shortfall. “I’ve been trying to get my
budget to them for three months, and the sensitivity with the election and
all that, we’ve been basically put on hold until this month, so I’m
running out of time.”
Toronto mayor-elect David Miller, who sits on the TTC board,
told In Transit “I’m hoping that we won’t have to implement those kind of
service cuts. Mr. McGuinty has promised to restore funding and that’s
really where we need to go.” Asked how he plans to deal with the imminent
budget crunch at the TTC, Miller says, “My intent is to try to buy some
time so that we can work out our agreement with the province.”
TTC chair Moscoe says he understands the province’s own
budget deficit is an obstacle. “We’re being reasonable people - we’re not
asking for 2 cents a litre (from the gas tax) immediately -- just a small
down-payment.”
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