(Toronto, ON) -- Public transit riders, workers, and experts are sounding the alarm that the 2024 federal budget does not include funding for new TTC subway trains or transit service. Transit users and experts are available to comment about transit issues in the federal budget.
“Transit users in Toronto need a reliable TTC to get them to school and work on time, and that requires federal investment today in new subway trains," said TTCriders director Shelagh Pizey-Allen. “Ordering new subway trains is not like ordering something on Amazon. The new trains will take years to deliver. That’s why the federal government must chip in as soon as possible to match provincial and city funding for new trains, and speed up the Permanent Public Transit Fund.”
Ontario committed funding for new subway trains in November 2023, but the provincial funding is contingent on the federal government chipping in. The City of Toronto has also committed its share of funding for the new subway trains. A TTC staff report warns that without federal funding committed by early 2024, the cost of ordering new trains will balloon by at least $90 million and subway service will become less reliable in coming years. The federal government has announced it will create a Permanent Public Transit Fund, but funding will not begin until 2026.
“The need for urgent dedicated operational funding is critical to providing safe, reliable, accessible, and affordable transit. We are calling on the government to advance the operational dollars immediately as municipalities struggle to maintain the much needed service that Canadians depend on,” says ATU Canada President John Di Nino.
“Yesterday’s budget continued on the path of social progress, but much more is needed on public transit,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “Toronto, Thunder Bay and TTC riders need the subway car funding now to replace the aging fleet, improve transit quality and create hundreds of good jobs in Thunder Bay. Robust transit services built in Canada are essential in sustaining a healthy economy, growing industrial capacity, and helping communities thrive.”
"The Line 2 subway car replacement is a critical investment to keep the TTC subway system operating,” said David Cooper of Leading Mobility Consulting, a planner who works on rapid transit projects across the country. “Further delaying the purchase of these subway cars, among the oldest in the country, will result in higher costs and potentially reliability concerns.”
“This subway car order is also required to provide trains for subway expansion into Scarborough and the Line 1 extension to Richmond Hill. The Federal Government's funding support is required so that the TTC can provide a reliable service on Line 2 and have the trains necessary to open these subway extensions," said Cooper.
Last month, Canada’s three biggest transit agencies urged the Federal Government to launch the promised Permanent Public Transit Fund (PPTF) two years ahead of schedule in the 2024 federal budget. Nearly 100 organizations wrote a federal pre-budget submission urging the federal government to increase funding for transit operations and allow municipalities to use the PPTF to operate more frequent service.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
- Federal Budget 2024: https://budget.canada.ca/2024/report-rapport/toc-tdm-en.html
- TTC staff report: New Subway Train Procurement and Implications for Line 2 Modernization and Future Growth (November 2023): https://cdn.ttc.ca/-/media/Project/TTC/DevProto/Documents/Home/Public-Meetings/Board/2023/November-22/5_New_Subway_Train_Procurement_and_Implications_for_Line_2_Modernization_and_Future_Growth.pdf
- Terms of the New Deal Between Ontario and Toronto (November 2023): https://www.ontario.ca/page/terms-new-deal-between-ontario-and-toronto
- Permanent Public Transit Fund: https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/transit-transport/consultation-eng.html
- News Release: Canada’s three biggest transit agencies urge Federal Government to advance next wave of transit funding (March 2024): https://www.ttc.ca/news/2024/March/Three-biggest-transit-agencies-urge-Federal-Government-to-advance-next-wave-of-transit-funding
- 2024 pre-budget submission about federal transit operating funding from nearly 100 Canadian organizations (February 2024): https://www.keeptransitmoving.ca/2024budgetsubmission
