Whether its fare increases or delays due to cold weather, TTC and GO
riders will need to accept some continued uncertainty in the next
few months.
The province and the
TTC appear to be engaged in a prolonged “dance” over funding, and it is
still not clear who will cover the TTC’s $48 million operating deficit for
this year -- the province, city taxpayers or transit customers. If City of
Toronto politicians can’t convince the Liberal government of Premier
Dalton McGuinty to ease their money woes, then the entire amount will have
to come from riders. As of this point, that translates into an increase of
almost 30 cents per fare, according to TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc. Because
a price hike for tickets or tokens now cannot take effect before the
beginning of March, that leaves only 10 months in which to raise the
needed $48 million.
At today’s meeting of
the transit commission, the city councillors who oversee the system --
along with Mayor David Miller -- will have to decide whether they can
afford to wait any longer for Queen’s Park to come up with the funds, or
hit riders right away. A fare hike, even a small one, may not be decided
at today’s meeting at City Hall, Mihevc says. “You may see... a
decision, or you may see a ‘wait and see.’ We need to talk about this
further with the province.”
Even without a quick
cash infusion for the TTC, Mihevc says Queen’s Park has other ways to
release pressure on Toronto. First, he says, the province can finally
allow the city to raise taxes on businesses to cover Toronto’s $344
million dollar deficit, something that the previous Progressive
Conservative government refused to do. Right now, any city tax increase
would hit only homeowners. Mayor David Miller campaigned on a pledge to
limit tax hikes to the rate of inflation, or around 3%. That won’t come
close to meeting the municipality’s needs, Mr. Mihevc says.
Firm commitments are
in short supply, but he maintains that ongoing talks are positive. “What
is absent is the acrimony” that marked relations between the previous
provincial government and Toronto council, he says. “All indications are
that they want to dance, they want to work on this with us -- they’re not
going to leave us hanging.”
Provincial
Transportation
Minister Harinder
Takhar agrees that his government is working with city officials. “We
have been in constant discussions with them,” he said yesterday, adding he
hopes that the TTC will not raise fares at today’s meeting. Still, he did
not promise any immediate funds. He points out that a province-wide
consultation process on the Ontario’s own massive budget deficit is
scheduled take place through much of February. A provincial budget would
then come down sometime in March.
In the meantime that
leaves the TTC, and its riders, waiting.
GO Train riders have
come to expect fare hikes every April, but travel delays are another
story. Earlier this month, a series of computer system outages affected
the rail system’s track signals, making it difficult for trains to keep on
schedule. More recently, track switches have been freezing up, thanks to
chilly temperatures. Some riders may have thought that the frozen switch
problem was solved last year after a spate of cold weather delays, and
just last Friday, GO’s governing board approved the installation of more
heating devices for the switches.
GO Chairman Gordon
Chong sent out a memo to riders last week to explain the signal problems,
but he tells In Transit that the effect of Canadian weather on rail
switches is hard to avoid. Snow and ice have also been causing problems
for train doors. He asks for the understanding of riders, especially
considering that train passengers waiting in Union Station or on stopped
trains may not get instant information about the cause of delays.
Send e-mail to
transit@eddrass.com. Include address and
phone number.