City and provincial budgets starve transit in Toronto

When it comes to Toronto’s transit system, our politicians are having the wrong arguments.

Last week, the Toronto Transit Commission met to discuss the operating budget for 2013. They focused primarily on two contentious issues: A potential five cent hike on token fares and a proposal to contract out bus cleaning to a private operator.

Not mentioned enough during those discussions was that Toronto transit riders continue to get a raw deal from governments.

A look at the numbers tells the story. Next year, TTC ridership is expected to grow by 25 million. That’s an all-time record for this city. At the same time, those riders will probably be paying an extra five cents to board their bus, streetcar or train, on top of the 10 cent fare increase they absorbed in 2012. Mayor Rob Ford and Toronto City Council, meanwhile, are expected to once again freeze their contribution to the TTC’s budget.

Riders will pay more, but City Hall won’t.

Let’s not let Queen’s Park off the hook, either. The province will be freezing their dedicated annual contribution to the TTC’s budget, too — it’s been at zero since Premier Mike Harris withdrew from a shared funding agreement in 1996.

This isn’t good budgeting. As the city’s traffic problems have increased and the gap between the rich and poor has widened, transit service has become a day-to-day necessity for more Torontonians. For many, good bus and rail service is the difference-maker — without it, they wouldn’t be able to work or go to school.

And yet politicians seem content to pass budgets that starve transit, forcing the TTC to make concessions that really aren’t in the best interest of riders. This despite the fact that the TTC is already the least-subsidized major city transit system in North America.

I’m not arguing that the customer service problems that have plagued the TTC over the last few years are all the product of a lack of funding. Even with current funding constraints, the TTC should do better. But I will say this: The biggest obstacle to Toronto having a real, big city transit system — one that residents can rely on and be proud of — is that lack of committed government funding.

Some more numbers: Toronto transit riders are currently subsidized at an average rate of 87 cents per transit trip. In New York City, that number is $1.25. In Vancouver, it’s more than three times as much at $2.62. If our governments supported transit like they do out west, the TTC’s annual subsidy would be up to a billion dollars higher than it currently is.

A billion dollars. A number for Toronto transit riders to keep in mind as they wait for their bus.