Dozens of transit users spoke against fare increases, service cuts, and an expansion of policing at the Toronto Transit Commission Board meeting today. The TTC Board approved a recommended operating budget for 2023 that proposes running 9% less service in 2023 than pre-pandemic levels and a fare increase for youth and adults. Motions by Councillor Chris Moise to cancel the fare increase, restore service to pre-pandemic levels, and receive a staff report about the route-by-route impacts of proposed 2023 service cuts all failed.
“Service cuts will mean more crowded, longer commutes for shift workers like me,” said grocery store worker Brad Pearson, who addressed the TTC Board meeting in person. “I take the blue night bus to get to work at a grocery before 5:30am or during the afternoons, which are the off-peak times of day when TTC is proposing cuts.”
“Service cuts and fare increases will drive riders away when we need to be winning them back. The TTC is going after the wrong people with a fare increase that will hurt the lowest-income in our city, but won’t help fix the TTC’s shortfall,” said August Pantitlan Puranauth. “Service cuts will hurt mostly women, shift workers, low-income, and racialized people in Toronto. A fare increase will generate $16 million, but the TTC has a budget shortfall of $366 million in 2023 alone. Nobody is buying the idea that this fare increase is needed, it is simply cruel. The small expansion of the Fair Pass program won’t provide relief to everyone under the poverty line.”
“Riders need more service to increase safety, not cuts and cops,” said Scarborough resident Krissan Veerasingam. “There's safety in numbers and fast service. Taking transit I can't count the number of times I've felt scared because I've been waiting 30 minutes at a secluded bus stop late at night. Getting me home on the bus faster with more service is how the TTC will increase my safety.”
“Cutting transit service outside rush hours will be a disaster for neighbourhoods like Jane and Finch, where shift workers travel in the early mornings, afternoons, and evenings,” said Ezra De Leon of Jane Finch Action Against Poverty. “These cuts will hurt people working multiple jobs, who don't have cars, who are racialized, newcomers, and youth. The people who rely most on transit are the people who keep our city running, who work in warehouses, factories, health care, personal support work, and shipping. Policing is the wrong approach to create safety on public transit and everywhere: Invest in good public services and supports, not approaches that create more harm for Black, Indigenous, and racialized people."
City Councillors will vote on the full 2023 City Budget, including proposals from the TTC, on February 14, 2023. To learn more about the city budget and how to speak up for transit RSVP here.
Quick facts from the proposed 2023 TTC Operating Budget:
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Subway service will run at 6-minutes-or-better service levels and as low as 10-minutes-or-better service levels.
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Streetcar service will be reduced to 87% of pre-pandemic levels, bus service will be reduced to 94% of pre-pandemic levels, and rapid transit service will be reduced to 75% of pre-pandemic levels.
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Crowding standards will increase, allowing more crowding on all TTC vehicles. For example, the off-peak “crowding standard” is planned to increase from 35 to 45 people in a bus. This will result in less frequent and more crowded buses outside of rush hour, which is when many transit users travel with strollers and groceries.
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The $2 million Fair Pass expansion in the TTC budget represents a fraction of full implementation. More background info on Fair Pass below.
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A proposed increase to single fares for adults and youth will generate $16 million.
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The TTC has an outstanding COVID-related budget shortfall of $366 million in 2023.
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A total of $4.4 million is being spent on policing, outreach, and cleanliness measures: hiring more Special Constables will cost $2.4 million, hiring additional Streets to Homes workers will cost $1 million, and additional streetcar cleaning will cost $1 million.
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Link to TTC proposed 2023 operating budget: https://ttc-cdn.azureedge.net/-/media/Project/TTC/DevProto/Documents/Home/Public-Meetings/Board/2023/January-9/1_2023_TTC_Conventional_and_Wheel_Trans_Operating_Budgets.pdf?rev=4adba554f8904c9ebd8f73dcbb2edc9f&hash=2302BD43D9A0703CDD7242198881C545
Quick facts about the Fair Pass program:
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To date, the Fair Pass program has been funded by the City of Toronto through the Social Development, Finance, and Administration department, not by rider fares through the TTC budget.
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The final, 3rd phase of the Fair Pass is meant to expand the discount to all low-income residents with a family income below the Low-Income Measure plus 15% (ie. an annual after-tax income of less than $30,555/single person household, according to 2020 LIM figures).
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The TTC’s 2023 Operating Budget proposes a small expansion of the Fair Pass low income discount. $2 million would fund an expansion to low income residents with a family income below 75% of the Low-Income Measure (ie. an annual after-tax income of less than $19,927/single person household, according to 2020 LIM figures).
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This expansion does not cover everyone living under the poverty line.
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The Fair Pass discounts single fares to $2.10 and monthly passes to $123.25.
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Low income residents depend on transit the most. 65% of Fair Pass users continued to ride the TTC in 2020, compared to 35% of overall riders, according to the Poverty Reduction Strategy mid-term strategy report.
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Updated cost estimates of expanding the Fair Pass to all low-income residents including low-wage workers have not been released since 2021, but earlier estimates were between $20 million to $30 million per year.
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The Fair Pass was first approved in 2016. City Council voted in February 2022 to "proceed with the implementation of the next phase of the Fair Pass program as quickly as possible" but did not include funding in the 2022 City Budget.