Cantonese, Mandarin, French spokespeople available
(Toronto, ON) – Transit advocacy organization TTCriders will hold a rally today at 5:00pm outside Bathurst Subway Station to call on federal Members of Parliament to invest in TTC repairs and new subway trains on Line 2 by accelerating implementation of the Canada Public Transit Fund. The rally is part of a national “Transit Action Week” being organized in 5 other Canadian cities.
“Transit riders can’t count on the TTC right now because there are so many slow subway zones being repaired,” said Chloe Tangpongprush of TTCriders. “The federal government needs to do its part by speeding up the Canada Public Transit Fund and doubling the fund. $3 billion each year barely covers the TTC’s annual repair needs, let alone for all of Canada. The TTC needs funding now, not in 2026, so it can speed up repairs.”
“Thousands of students rely on the TTC to get to campus and we need more frequent, reliable transit,” said Avreet Jagdev, University of Toronto Students' Union Vice-President, Public and University Affairs. “It’s time for the federal government to step up for better TTC service by making the Canada Public Transit Fund flexible. Cities should be allowed to use the funding to improve service and make transit more dependable. The TTC also needs funding for new subway trains approved ASAP. The current trains will reach the end of their design life in 2026, and without new trains the TTC will need to spend an extra $1.6 billion dollars just to maintain the old ones. How will students get to class in 2026 if we don’t have new trains?”
“The Canada Public Transit Fund will create good green jobs in our communities,” said ATU Local 113 president Marvin Alfred. “Transit workers are the heart of public transit and keep our city moving. The federal government needs to do the right thing and make the Canada Public Transit Fund flexible, so the TTC can hire the workers we need to make the TTC more frequent and reliable . And that funding needs to start now, not in 2026. The people of Toronto shouldn’t have to wait for two years to see a better TTC.”
“Putting a lot of mid-rise apartments in the currently low-rise residential areas that surrounding rapid transit stations and bus stops is the only approach that will end our housing shortage and retrofit neighborhoods for net-zero, but anti-density provincial and municipal laws are preventing that,” said Phil Pothen, Council and Program Manager, Land Use & Ontario Environment for Environmental Defence Canada. “The federal government must use the Canada Public Transit Fund as leverage to force the province - or the mayors and councilors of individual municipalities - to make those changes now.”
RALLY LOCATION:
- Ed and Anne Mirvish Parkette, outside of Bathurst subway station, North of Bloor (843 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON M5R 3G2).
- 5:00pm - 6:30pm, Thursday, October 17, 2024.
SPEAKERS:
- Chloe Tangpongprush and Shun Hang To, TTCriders
- Marvin Alfred, ATU Local 113 President
- Sumit Guleria, CUPE Local 2 President
- Avreet Jagdev, University of Toronto Student Union Vice President - Public and University Affairs
- Scarborough Campus Students Union Vice President External
- Chiara Padovani, York-South Weston Tenants Union
- Phil Pothen, Environmental Defence Canada
BACKGROUND:
- The TTC has implemented dozens of restricted speed zones on the subway network where defects have been identified, which add an extra two minutes of travel time per zone.
- The federal government announced the Canada Public Transit Fund in July 2024, committing $30 billion for transit capital spending across the country over a 10 year period beginning in 2026 (approximately $3 billion per year).
- The TTC needs an average of $2.4 billion per year to keep the transit system in a state of good repair, according to Toronto's latest corporate asset management plan.
- If the TTC does not secure funding for new Line 2 subway trains by March 2025, the TTC will need to spend an additional $1.6 billion to extend the life of Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) trains, which will start reaching the end of their design life in 2026. The TTC has applied for funding for new subway trains from the Canada Public Transit Fund, but the funding has not yet been approved.
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TTCriders has asked Toronto MPs to commit to the following improvements by signing a Transit Pledge:
- Make the Canada Public Transit Fund available now, not in 2026.
- Make the funding flexible to allow cities to use it to make transit service more frequent.
- Approve funding for new subway trains on Line 2 now.
- To date, Toronto MPs Salma Zahid (Scarborough Centre), Nate Erskine-Smith (Beaches-East York), Shaun Chen (Scarborough North) have signed the Transit Pledge, as well as federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May.
- The Canada Public Transit Fund submission guide for Metro-Region Agreements stream includes housing conditions, but does not include strict requirements or hard targets for housing to be affordable: “Partners will need to clearly demonstrate: a) an existing policy, plan or strategy that meets the expectation; or b) a commitment or intent to meet the expectation” (emphasis added).