TTCriders has launched the “So Efficient It Hurts” campaign to help Mayor John Tory make North America’s most efficient transit system even more efficient.
TTCriders will be releasing memes, short videos, and crowdsourced ideas on Twitter, Facebook, and the website soefficientithurts.com until the 2017 TTC budget reaches the TTC Board meeting on Wednesday, September 28, 2016.
“John Tory is saying cut. We say how much,” said transit rider, Nirmalan Vijeyakumar. “We want to help John Tory find those pesky efficiencies,” he said. “Bring it on John, we can take the pain.”
Vijeyakumar says riders have already come up with some great efficiency ideas. They include: rebranding the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway as a sauna and doing away with pesky A/C costs and repairs, requiring riders to offer their laps as seats, and launching the “Hug a Fellow Rider” campaign where all riders must hug each other to save on standing room.
The TTC has a big challenge for its 2017 budget: it needs to find $184 million in efficiencies just to maintain 2016 service levels. This past July, Mayor Tory and City Council raised the bar even higher by ordering the TTC to find another 2.6% in savings.
TTCriders is calling on transit riders to submit their own efficiency ideas via the website www.soefficientithurts.com.