Where do Scarborough Southwest councillor candidates stand on transit?

Will candidates commit to making life affordable for transit riders?

Torontonians are experiencing an affordability crisis due to international situations out of their control, and the City must do everything it can to make life more affordable. Riders tell us again and again that the costs of taking transit pile up, leaving them with expensive decisions on whether taking transit is financially sustainable. 

Will candidates lower wait times, improve reliability, and speed up transit?

Improving surface transit is absolutely essential to growing ridership on the TTC. Surface modes account for more than half of all TTC passenger boarding, and given the tight integration between surface and rapid transit, the success of the entire system hinges on buses and streetcars. Furthermore, the bus network serves employment lands, neighbourhood improvement areas and other places rapid transit currently does not reach. 

In spite of this, surface transit gets the short end of the stick when it comes to road priority. Buses and streetcars are routinely stuck in traffic at all times of the day; making existing riders late and not incentivizing current drivers to switch to transit. The expansion of RapidTO bus and streetcar lines is urgently needed across the city. The few sections of RapidTO that exist right now have dramatically improved surface transit performance. For example, reliability on the 116 Morningside bus improved 19% after red lanes were introduced on Eglinton East, Kingston Road and Morningside.

The streetcar system is the backbone of the downtown transportation network relied upon by hundreds of thousands of riders a day. However, transit priority measures have been slow to implement on the network, making our streetcar network among the slowest in the world.

In order to grow ridership and maximize speed, there needs to be a network-wide streetcar reform. This would include measures such as street parking removal, left turn bans, active signal priority, dedicated lanes, modernized switches, truly level and accessible boarding, improved shelters and seating, and expanding transit malls similar to the King Street zone. These measures are proven in many cities around the world, as well systems close to home like Kitchener-Waterloo’s ION, to be effective in making streetcars faster and more reliable.

(Note: Parthi Kandavel responded to our survey on October 1st after the results were initially released. In the spirit of fairness, his responses have been added below)

Will candidates commit to a transit system accessible to all?

A truly accessible transit system means more than being able to board a bus, streetcar or subway. Riders need to be able to navigate the system, understand where they are going, safely get to and from their stop, and rely on door-to-door service when conventional transit cannot meet their needs.

For too many riders, these barriers can make taking transit more difficult, stressful, or sometimes impossible. Confusing or inconsistent signage can make the TTC harder to navigate, particularly for riders with disabilities, seniors, tourists and people who are unfamiliar with the system. For Wheel-Trans users, reliable door-to-door service can be essential to getting to work, medical appointments, school and other parts of daily life.

Over the next four years, Toronto needs to make the TTC easier to use for everyone. That means fully implementing the TTC's wayfinding strategy, protecting and expanding door-to-door Wheel-Trans service for those who need it, and ensuring accessibility is prioritized during snowstorms and other disruptions. Here's what we asked candidates:

Will candidates commit to a safe TTC for all?

While violence and offence rates on the TTC have declined, and fewer complaints are being made, public perception of safety has not caught up with these trends. We often hear from riders that they continue to view the TTC as an unsafe environment, and it's often mentioned as a real barrier to taking transit more often.

That said, TTCriders believe that improving safety must include non-enforcement as the default response. We hear again and again that the increased presence of police, fare inspectors, and special constables do not make many people feel safer, while raising concerns about the effectiveness of enforcement and who is disproportionately targeted or overrepresented in these interactions, particularly Black, Indigenous, unhoused, and other vulnerable riders.

In contrast, riders have identified community ambassadors, Toronto Community Crisis Service (TCCS), and greater visibility of TTC staff as actions that make them feel safer. For many riders, however, safety is also about having the infrastructure and conditions to protect themselves in the first place: better lighting in dark and isolated areas, more frequent service, safer places to wait and take shelter, and a TTC environment designed around care, accessibility, and dignity. The TTC needs to be safe for everyone, as everyone has a right to use it, and everyone deserves to be approached with compassion, prevention, and resources. Here's what we asked candidates:

(Note: Parthi Kandavel responded to our survey on October 1st after the results were initially released. In the spirit of fairness, his responses have been added below)

"Due to my professional work as a transportation engineer, my years of advocacy pushing for better transit across Toronto, and my lived experience as a transit rider in Scarborough, I am uniquely positioned to be the strongest champion on City Council for safer, faster, better public transit in Scarborough Southwest and across the entire city."

-Kevin Rupasinghe