Autonomy & Funding

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:

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

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?

Nick Mantas (Incumbent)	Yes
Madhuri Azad	No response
Bill Chan	No response
Jackson Ho	Yes
Serge Khatchadourian	Yes
Rakhee Kotecha	No response
Aaron Lal	No response
Dan Lovell	Yes
Donny Morgan	Yes
Sindia Vijayarajan	Yes

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?

Nick Mantas (Incumbent)	Yes
Madhuri Azad	No response
Bill Chan	No response
Jackson Ho	Yes
Serge Khatchadourian	Yes
Rakhee Kotecha	No response
Aaron Lal	No response
Dan Lovell	Yes
Donny Morgan	Yes
Sindia Vijayarajan	Yes

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?

Nick Mantas (Incumbent)	Yes
Madhuri Azad	No response
Bill Chan	No response
Jackson Ho	Yes
Serge Khatchadourian	Yes
Rakhee Kotecha	No response
Aaron Lal	No response
Dan Lovell	Yes
Donny Morgan	Yes
Sindia Vijayarajan	Yes

Some candidates offered extra comments about their position on TTC autonomy and funding:

Jackson Ho

Toronto is the largest city in Canada, and I would advocate for Toronto to have greater autonomy from the provincial government. Giving the TTC more local control is a good place to start.

The reality is that Toronto faces challenges that are very different from those in smaller communities across Ontario. Residents in places hundreds or thousands of kilometres away, such as Thunder Bay or Sudbury, experience very different transportation needs. They do not deal with Toronto’s level of population density, congestion, or the enormous number of people who depend on public transit every day.

That is why I believe decisions about the TTC and other issues that are uniquely important to Toronto should not be decided by people from out of town. Toronto residents understand how essential reliable public transit is to keeping a city of this size moving, and Toronto should have a stronger say in how its own transit system is governed.

Serge Khatchadourian

I believe Toronto Deserve a reliable, affordable, and safe transit. I will defend local TTC decision-making and advocate for strong provincial and federal funding to improve service, modernize infrastructure, reduce delays, and keep fares affordable.

Sindia Vijayarajan

"It is impossible to promise free fares for everyone when the TTC is severely underfunded after $5 billion was cut from the Canada Public Transit Fund. An empty promise is what makes a bad politician. I pledge to restructure the current funding in our annual budget in order for the funding to increase by working with our MPP to get to the bottom.. This will allow future proposals that help Scarborough-Agincourt residents receive the routes we desperately need such as more routes to the only GO Station in our ward. I would also advocate for an extension on Line 4 so we may have more than one subway station in our ward—we currently have zero! Our current councillor has said to the Toronto Star in 2021 that he has spoken about bringing Line 4 to our ward, but it has yet to happen 5 years later. He has also not signed the Candidates Transit Pledge. Only three other candidates in this ward, besides myself, has signed it."