We asked candidates 18 questions on autonomy & funding, affordability, service & reliability, accessibility, and safety. See their responses on the tabs below.
Will candidates fight to keep the TTC under Toronto's control and work to secure more transit funding?
Local decisions should remain at the local level.
In recent years, the provincial government has increasingly intervened in decisions that are usually made at the municipal level. This includes legislation requiring the removal of bike lanes on major Toronto streets, and eliminating municipalities' ability to use speed cameras. Now, Bill 98 gives the province greater power to intervene in how local transit systems operate, including decisions around fares and service.
TTCriders firmly believes that the TTC must remain a publicly owned and municipally governed transit system that is accountable to the riders who use it. We oppose the privatization of TTC services and do not believe that Metrolinx or the Ontario government should have a say in how our local transit system operates.
Over the next four years, Toronto City Council must be prepared to stand up to make sure local decision-making remains local. Here's what we asked candidates:
1. Ontario's Bill 98 gives the Province the authority to make regulations affecting how the TTC is governed. Do you commit to fighting to keep transit decision-making at the local level so that the City of Toronto and the TTC Board retain final authority over fare policy, service planning, and transit operations?
| Amber Morley (Incumbent) |
Yes |
| Mihaela Andrei |
Yes |
| Anthony Internicola |
No response |
| Ted Opitz |
No response |
2. Will you advocate for sustainable TTC operating funding from the provincial and federal governments to prevent service cuts and reliance on fare increases to run the system?
| Amber Morley (Incumbent) |
Yes |
| Mihaela Andrei |
Yes |
| Anthony Internicola |
No response |
| Ted Opitz |
No response |
3. Will you advocate for increased federal and provincial capital funding for the TTC to expand the rapid transit network, address the growing state of good repair backlog, install platform edge doors, and eliminate slow zones on the subway system?
| Amber Morley (Incumbent) |
Yes |
| Mihaela Andrei |
Yes |
| Anthony Internicola |
No response |
| Ted Opitz |
No response |
Some candidates offered extra comments about their position on TTC autonomy and funding:
Local decisions belong at the local level, and that principle does not change depending on which decision is being made or who happens to agree with the outcome. Toronto residents elect a council and a TTC Board to make these calls, and the people who ride these routes every day are better placed to judge them than a ministry that does not.
On funding, the TTC carries a disproportionate share of its operating costs at the farebox compared to peer systems in Canada and abroad. That is not a Toronto failure, it is a funding structure that has not been revisited in decades. I will advocate for stable, predictable operating and capital contributions from both senior levels of government, because the alternative is what we have now: service pressure, deferred maintenance, and riders asked to absorb the difference.
