There is more at stake on Oct 27 than just the Mayor's office

Ward Councillor elections are crucial for transit! Ward 18 (Davenport) Transportation Debate - Wed 8 October, 6:30-8:30pm
> Ward 1 (Etobicoke North) Debate Wrap-up Who should I vote for? Ward Councillor candidate reviews

City Council has important decision-making powers over transit, particularly its budget, which we all know has a direct relationship to the service that allows us to get around and the fares we pay. All Councillors in Toronto City Council, including the mayor, only have one vote, so it is very important that there is a pro-transit council if we want to be able to get around this city. Making an informed choice for your mayor's vote is important; but the vote for your ward councillor will be even more important. Fortunately, there are some upcoming and recent events, and some ongoing tools available to help you make a good decision.

Ward 18 Sustainable Transportation Debate

Wednesday 8 October, 6:30pm, Bloor Bladstone Public Library, 1101 Bloor Street West Click here to see a map of Ward 18, Davenport Eight candidates have confirmed their participation at this event to discuss: -TTC service, fares, and funding -Safe bike infrastructure -Safe sidewalks and intersections -Congestion The planning has been led by the Ward 18 CycleTO group, and TTCriders is a proud sponsor.

Ward 1 Debate wrap-up

Rexdale Community Hub (Panorama Court, near Kipling & Finch West) Friday 3 October, 6:30-9:00pm Click here to see a map of Ward 1, Etobicoke North

As a proud supporting member of Northwest Transit Action, TTCriders joined CodeRedTO in attending the recent Ward 1 Councillor debate at the Rexdale Community Hub this past Friday (October 3). The importance of transit to this area was obvious to us early; the trip to the meeting on the 45 Kipling North was crowded and slow, with a group of riders huddling in the rain at almost every stop. Many of these were passed up since the bus was already full.

Fortunately, we were happy to see that Ward 1 candidates and residents were excited to talk transit. Encouragingly, the majority of the candidates vying for the Ward 1 council seat support the immediate construction of an LRT line on Finch West in order to bring high quality rapid transit to Rexdale as quickly as possible. The most notable exception to this was the incumbent, Mr. Vincent Crisanti, who is instead promoting “enhanced bus service” over LRT for Finch West. We spoke with Mr. Crisanti about this after the event where he reported that it was the TTC who had told him that with transit signal priority (TSP) and queue jump lanes buses would move faster than would an LRT. This claim confused us; according to our understanding of transit planning, LRT provides the ultimate enhancement to surface transit.

We have written the TTC for clarification on this matter and will report it as soon as possible. In the meantime, we are happy to see Mr. Crisanti embrace the possibility of investing in transit and making changes to road design in order to improve mobility for transit riders. Although there are currently plans to make even better changes to Finch West to improve transit, we expect to continue talking to Mr. Crisanti and others about how to institute things like “enhanced bus service” more broadly throughout our city.

Who should I vote for? Ward Councillor candidate reviews

Public appearances and debates are one good way to get to know candidates, but another important one is to clearly know their campaign plans, and in the case of people running for re-election, their voting records on transit issues in the past. The Toronto Centre for Active Transportation has created an online tool to compile and compare the campaign plans of candidates. Click here to search out the candidates in your ward to help you decide how to vote. TTCriders has developed its own tool to clearly demonstrate how Toronto City Councillors have performed on important transit votes in the past. We will continue to monitor this into the future, but click here if you want to see how transit friendly or transit scroogey your councillor has been.

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