The agenda for the March 5th and 6th Toronto City Council meeting features a very interesting item for TTCriders. Council will debate changes to the governance structure of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
For the second time in less than a month, 5 TTC Commissioners are trying to silence TTC staff from doing their jobs: giving expert opinions on transit expansion that contradicts the Mayor’s calls for subways. This time, they are threatening to fire Gary Webster, TTC Chief General Manager.
The shovels are heading back in the ground: Light-Rail Transit (LRT) is coming to Toronto!
After yesterday’s full day of debate in a Council Chamber packed with TTC riders, Council voted in favour of TTC Chair Karen Stintz’s LRT plan with a vote of 25-18.
TTCriders urges all Councillors to support the LRT transit expansion plan to be moved by TTC Chair Karen Stintz at special Council meeting on Wednesday.
Click here to Tell your Councillor to Support Rapid Transit Now!
During the City budget vote at the January 17th City Council meeting, Councillor Josh Colle moved a motion to use $15 million of the City’s 2011 surplus to avoid cuts to a number of valued city services. This included directing $5 million to the TTC to prevent service reductions.
Unfair fare hikes. Delays. Overcrowding. Toronto has a transit crisis.
The provincial government used to help pay for the costs of operating the TTC but has stopped doing so, even though demand for public transit has reached record highs.
Toronto transit riders could be in for a rough 2012.
In addition to January's fare hike, the City is poised to slash service on busy bus and streetcar routes and is planning to cancel an order for 108 badly needed new buses.
More than 80 TTC riders turned up at the December 14th TTC
meeting to speak out against service cuts and being forced to pay more money for
less transit service. The voices of TTCriders from all across Toronto were heard
On
TTCriders is concerned with the news reported in the Toronto Star that Metrolinx is considering a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for the designing, construction and operation of the proposed Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT line. We are concerned about how this decision could impact transit users in Toronto. For example,
Public outcry has exploded as Torontonians found out there will be cuts to 56 bus routes and 6 streetcar lines in the wards they travel through because of a 10% budget cut forced by City Hall. As a result, TTCriders issued a letter today asking Councillor Stintz, Chair of the TTC, to help stop the cuts and fare hike.
Today TTCriders revealed information from a secret TTC report that shows the City’s proposed 10% cut to the TTC’s operating subsidy will mean longer waits for more crowded buses and streetcars on routes in every ward in the City. Click this link to our media release and the list of service cuts: