During the City budget vote at the January 17th City Council meeting, Councillor Josh Colle moved a motion to use $15 million of the City’s 2011 surplus to avoid cuts to a number of valued city services. This included directing $5 million to the TTC to prevent service reductions.
Councillors voted in favour of the motion 23-21. See how your Councillor voted here.
This $5 million is enough to stop the majority of the TTC service cuts proposed in the TTC’s budget!
This crucial motion would not have happened without the efforts of thousands of TTCriders who contacted their Councillors and told them that cutting TTC service isn’t fair. It’s because of you that public transit and the health of our city was prioritized at Council!
For a detailed analysis of what this $5 million will mean for 2012 TTC service you can read Steve Munro’s blog post on this subject here.
Unfortunately, the battle may not be over. Instead of funding the TTC, and following the will of the majority on Council, TTC Chair Karen Stintz wants to put the $5 million toward Wheel-Trans for dialysis patients.
Although this is a very important cause, the funds gained from Colle’s motion were intended to stop proposed cuts to TTC routes.
The fate of the funds is now in the hands of TTC Commissioners, who meet on January 31st. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments regarding this issue. In the meantime, consider contacting the Toronto Transit Commission to ensure that the $5 million goes to stop TTC service cuts.
Toronto transit riders could be in for a rough 2012.
In addition to January’s fare hike, the City is poised to slash service on busy bus and streetcar routes and is planning to cancel an order for 108 badly needed new buses.
On January 17th, Council will hold their final vote on the 2012 City Budget which includes these cuts to TTC funding. We have between now and the 17th to make our voices heard and have our Councillors say no to TTC service cuts.
TTCriders is working with Together Toronto to send a clear message against TTC cuts and fare hikes. Please sign this petition and tell your Councillor to stop the TTC cuts in their tracks!
Thanks to the thousands of TTCriders who have phoned or written their City Councillors, the TTC has stopped half of the planned cuts to our rush hour bus routes! However, the remaining rush hour bus routes and all of the non-rush hour bus and streetcar routes are still slated to be cut if nothing changes at the January 17th City Council meeting. If we don’t stop these remaining cuts, TTC service will permanently take a major step backward.
It’s time for one last push! We need our Councillors to hear this message today!
Please phone, email or write your Councillor today and tell them to stop TTC service cuts.
More than 80 TTC riders turned up at the December 14th TTC meeting to speak out against service cuts and being forced to pay more money for less transit service. The voices of TTCriders from all across Toronto were heard at the meeting, with thousands more having sent in emails and letters to transit commissioners. TTC chair Karen Stintz and other Commissioners clearly heard this message and they acted to reduce the number of bus cuts in 2012!
Without TTCriders hard work none of these routes would have been saved. Now we have to continue to press Councillors to save the rest of the threatened TTC services!
It is now in the hands of Toronto City Council to find the remaining funds needed to avoid TTC bus and streetcar service cuts. Please email your Councillor and tell them to vote to stop TTC service cuts.
Unfortunately, the TTC did approve a plan to increase the price of tokens and passes effective January 1st, 2012. Tokens will now cost $2.60 each, Metropasses will cost $126 and all other fare media will go up. As well, the Commission agreed in principle to inflationary increases to TTC fares in 2013, 2014 and 2015. This, along with ensuring the City’s contribution to the TTC’s operating subsidy is not further cut, is being done to help stabilize funding for the TTC.
The Good:
The Bad:
- A $0.10 fare hikes starts on January 1st 2012
- Current Bus and Streetcar service in “non-peak” travel times is not guaranteed past February / March 2012
- TTCriders can expect annual inflationary fare hikes in 2013, 2014 and 2015
The Ugly:
Media Coverage of Yesterday’s TTC Decisions…
Read more »
On Wednesday December 14th the TTC will vote to approve its 2012 budget. If this budget is not improved, we will be forced to pay more money for worse transit service next year. This just doesn’t make sense and it isn’t right!
TTCriders, we need your help! The members of the Toronto Transit Commission need to hear from you. They need to be reminded that it’s their job to do what’s best for the TTC and its users. Service Cuts and Fare Hikes will do nothing to help the record number of Torontonians who use the TTC every day. Forcing transit riders to pay more to be squished on to overcrowded, less frequent buses will only keep people away from using the better way. We know it doesn’t have to be this way.
We need you to sign up and speak up for more and better public transit in Toronto. Please register to make a public deputation at the TTC’s final meeting of 2011. Just call 416-393-3698 or email gso@ttc.ca and ask to speak about the TTC’s 2012 budget. It will take a lot of us to get TTC Commissioners to do their job. We want them to:
- Say no to the 10% reduction in the TTC’s operating budget.
- Vote against the proposed fare hike.
- Work with us to get the Province to return to fair funding of the TTC’s operating costs.
We won’t get a better TTC by creating more crowding and cutting bus service. We will get a better TTC by investing in more and better service and getting the Province to pay its fair share.
Please stand up for our TTC and speak up on December 14th. Sign up to to speak up at the TTC meeting on December 14th @ 1:00pm.
If you can’t make the meeting, write your Councillor and tell them to speak up for more at better TTC. Visit www.TogetherToronto.ca to share your concerns directly with you City Councillor.
