Re: Bill 131, Transportation for the Future Act, 2023
Dear Hon. Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure and Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation,
TTCriders is a membership-based organization of transit users in Toronto. Our organization supports subsidizing a “flat fare” within Toronto, so that transit riders can transfer freely between GO, TTC, and Union Pearson Express.
We are encouraged by your government's promise to invest in a discount for riders transferring between GO and TTC. A free transfer between GO and TTC will provide more options for Scarborough residents who have been impacted by the closure of Line 3 Scarborough RT. Our organization also supports integrating local transit fares fairly with provincial subsidy, so that riders can transfer freely across municipal borders within a time-based window without being penalized for travelling longer distances in Toronto [1].
We support the concept of service integration insofar as it could provide more frequent service, but have questions and concerns about how the proposed legislation may have unintended negative consequences for transit users:
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Will the provincial government guarantee and fund minimum service standards? Toronto transit users do not want to see TTC routes replaced with less frequent service levels provided by 905 agencies. Regardless of which agency provides service along crossboundary corridors, Toronto’s service standards must be maintained so that riders can count on their bus arriving frequently with enough room for them on board.
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How will transit riders have a say over service? Elected officials and transit agencies in York, Peel, and Durham region are not accountable to Toronto residents. Adequate funding for guaranteed service standards could help address this issue, but transit agencies must also be accountable to the residents they serve. We are also concerned that the legislation could delegate authority to TTC staff or its Board, and see major decisions about service agreements go forward without debate and input from the public at Toronto City Council.
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How will fares work? Would a transit user need to pay twice if they were travelling within Toronto using a crossboundary service? Transit rides within Toronto should be paid for by a single, flat TTC fare regardless of transit agency. In its 5-Year Fare Policy review, the TTC Board affirmed its support for a flat fare in Toronto with free 2-hour transfers [2]. This fare structure ensures that people are not penalized for travelling further, and a time-based transfer primarily benefits women, who tend to take shorter, consecutive trips (known as “trip-chaining”).
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Will the provincial government fund transit operations to make up for lost revenue? Because the TTC operating budget relies heavily on fares, we are concerned about the possibility of the TTC losing fare revenue to other agencies. We urge you to commit to fund transit operations to ensure that riders do not foot the bill for service integration, that service is not cut back because of lost fare revenue, and to support local transit systems in the long term.
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Is this a form of downloading provincial infrastructure onto municipalities? Schedule 2 of Bill 131 raises concerns about whether GO stations will get built in communities underserved by transit, but where developers are not planning to build. In 2019, Doug Ford pitched the idea of funding the Scarborough Subway Extension by asking developers to pay for stations, but the provincial government ended up footing the bill [3]. Furthermore, if there is enough development to cover initial construction costs, but not cost increases or station maintenance, this downloads a provincial responsibility onto municipalities.
Sincerely,
TTCriders
[1] https://www.socialplanningtoronto.org/distance_based_transit_fare
[2] https://ttc-cdn.azureedge.net/-/media/Project/TTC/DevProto/Documents/Home/Public-Meetings/Board/2022/February-10/Reports/10_Advancing_the_5-Year_Fare_-Policy.pdf?rev=19ac8a3a262b4c78b9aef9b287d8d260&hash=40204344222CB136D84DCC1CD392BE2E
[3] Ontario eyes private investment in Scarborough subway extension project - The Globe and Mail