This welcome announcement is a major step towards desperately needed transit expansion. But the funding won’t deliver all of the service improvements we need or cover the full costs of the City’s top five expansion projects.
Here’s our initial take on the announcement:
1) City Council needs to get its priorities straight.
This golden opportunity to build new transit must be used to build projects that help the most riders. Toronto City Council’s top five projects are estimated to cost $17.4 billion at minimum. Among the five is the wildly expensive one-stop Scarborough subway, for which a value-for-money analysis has never been conducted. City Council should cancel the subway and instead build a publicly operated and maintained LRT network in Scarborough, including the Eglinton East LRT.
2) We need better service now.
The funding announced this week is for new projects only, but we need improvements to existing TTC service. TTCriders is calling on the provincial government to fund TTC operating costs in order to fix unreliable service, unaffordable fares, and crowding on buses and streetcars. Send a message to Kathleen Wynne and your MPP to call for fair TTC operating funding in the provincial budget. Without more funding to operate new transit projects, the TTC will become increasingly stretched in the future.
3) The TTC still needs billions to maintain the current system.
The TTC needs $2.7 billion to reach their $9.2 billion target for the 10-year capital plan, required to maintain the current system and complete accessibility upgrades. This shortfall means that important needs are being delayed, like fire ventilation upgrades and new purchases of subway cars, buses, and streetcars. The funding announced this week is for new projects, not maintenance needs.
*Of the $4.89 billion in federal money announced yesterday, some has already been committed and earmarked. The federal government had previously committed $660 million for the Scarborough subway and $1.24 billion for SmartTrack.