“As schools reopen and students come back overcrowding will be as brutal as it was before - a bus full of students breathing in each others’ air as I experienced on the 39 Finch East. There need to be some measures taken because people like me are going back to school and we need to feel safe.” - William Pham, secondary school student.
“During COVID every 54 bus I took east of the RT was packed. Talk about a COVID-sardine can. If you claim to care about equity, I want to see action, and I want to see action now.” - Austin Jafri, York University student with two part-time jobs.
Check out more quotes from riders’ speeches on our Twitter feed.
What happened at the Board meeting?
TTC staff presented their proposed design for bus lanes on Eglinton East, noting the travel time savings of 2-5 minutes per trip that 47,000 transit riders would experience daily. By collaborating with Transportation Services at the City of Toronto they were able to expedite the previously approved bus lanes by six months!
Implementation plan:
- Eglinton East: November 2020
- Jane (Eglinton to Steeles): June 2021
- Dufferin, Steeles West, Finch East: 2022 or later
While TTCriders and many of the speakers were pleased to see Eglinton East bus lanes move forward this Fall, we need better bus service and more bus lanes, sooner. The plan moving forward falls short of the
motion at the June 17th TTC Board meeting to fast-track 5 bus lanes before September 2020. And Lawrence East, which is being considered for study, is not yet included in the implementation timeline.
After hearing so many passionate speeches in support of the bus lanes, some TTC Board members questioned staff about whether the current plan could be sped up. Here were some of the responses from City of Toronto staff:
- Due to CaféTO and ActiveTO there is a shortage of staff in Transportation Services who are available to study and oversee the implementation of bus lanes.
- Further study of the impacts of bus lanes on vehicular traffic are required, including modelling how side-streets may be affected and working with the Ministry of Transportation to study potential impacts on highway traffic flow (highway interchanges are known bottlenecks for TTC routes - they should be studying the reverse!).
But there were no clear “yes” or “no” answers about whether the plan could be sped up, if more budget and resources were provided. That’s why we need to keep the pressure on before the Executive votes on July 21st and Council votes on July 28th. Sign up to
speak out at the Executive Committee on July 21st or
send a message to your Councillor here.
The Board then passed the following motions:
- Councillor McKelvie proposed asking the TTC to advocate for federal and provincial funding to speed up the bus plan, and having young people from Scarborough Neighbourhood Improvement Areas construct the Eglinton East bus lanes (similar initiatives have been made for construction at the University of Toronto Scarborough).
- Councillor Bradford proposed asking the TTC to further expedite bus lanes on Dufferin, Steeles West, and Finch East to 2021 rather than 2022 or later, asking staff to report back by the end of the year.
- Councillor Carroll proposed asking the TTC to study bus lanes on Sheppard East, which despite high-density development isn’t due for rapid transit until at least 2040, which is not funded.
What’s next?
On July 21 the Executive Committee will vote on proceeding with bus lanes on Eglinton East in November and Jane in mid-2021. Once this passes it will then proceed to City Council for a final vote. But we need better service on buses across the city, sooner.
The double threats of traffic congestion and COVID-19 to transit riders are real. With traffic congestion potentially surpassing pre-pandemic levels once schools and most workplaces reopen it could become physically impossible for the TTC to provide enough bus service for safe physical distancing (25 people per bus, will be increased to 35 in Stage 3).
Other North American cities like San Francisco have recognized this and are already implementing emergency temporary bus lanes to ensure that everyone, including our essential workers and transit-dependent residents, can travel safely.
Take action:
We need your support for riders to get better bus service, sooner. Use our online tool to
send an email to your Councillor and the Executive Committee in one click: Let them know that you support bus lanes on all five corridors and ask they be implemented as soon as possible.
You can also sign up here to speak at the Executive Committee meeting on July 21.
Send your message here: ttcriders.ca/buslanes