At their Special Meeting on Wednesday City Council will decide on the future of rapid transit on Sheppard Avenue East. Council will be voting on how to add to our public transit network: Build Light Rail Transit on Sheppard Avenue East in the next 4 years OR Delay improving transit for decades while we wait for a dubious subway scheme.
On Monday March 19th there will be another so called "Town Hall Meeting" on the Future of Toronto Transit. This one is hosted by a "Citizens group"called SAFE (Subways Are For Everyone) at 7:00 p.m. at the Scarborough Civic Centre (150 Borough Drive).
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.
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.
On October 25th, over 50 people braved the rain and attended our TTCriders meeting at the North York Civic Centre. Here’s a summary of what went down.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Jamie Kirkpatrick from TEA gave a brief history of the TTCriders. The group was founded in Dec. 2009 in response to the proposed (and approved) TTC fare hike. Since then, the Riders have organized to stop the proposed bus cuts, advocated for the Transit City plan, and educated voters about mass transit during the 2010 city elections. Check out Jamie's presentation.Check out the excellent message we got from Councillor Joe Mihevc in response to our letter:
Hi,Thank you for your letter stating your desire for a strong and healthy TTC.
I oppose cutting TTC services and I will advocate increasing services during this time of increasing ridership.