TTC service cuts will lead to transit ‘death spiral’, advocates say
Posted March 27, 2023 7:27 am.
Last Updated March 27, 2023 10:32 am.
Transit advocates are speaking out against new TTC service reductions that came into effect on a number of routes over the weekend.
Volunteers were handing out flyers Monday morning to weekday Toronto commuters who are experiencing the reduced service for the first time.
The advocacy group TTCriders say the cuts are a further erosion of service and will have the greatest impact on marginalized communities in the city. The flyers being handed out aim to inform transit users how much longer their wait times will be and encourage them to contact politicians to demand more federal and provincial transit funding.
“They can call Premier Doug Ford, they can call Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and they call their city councillor,” says Monica Mason, a spokesperson for TTCriders. “Let them know, ‘hey, my route is being cut, and this is unfair.'”
Gideon Forman with the David Suzuki Foundation believes the latest cuts will only help degrade the transit system further.
“We’re concerned about a death spiral,” Forman says. “Service gets worse, people stay away from the TTC. There’s even less revenue and surface gets even worse.”
“We have to stop that death spiral in its tracks.”
Volunteers with @ttcriders opposed to TTC route cuts hand out fliers to riders at Spadina station asking them to demand more provincial and federal transit funding. pic.twitter.com/GAWIlx01O4
— Kevin Misener (@Kevin_Misener) March 27, 2023
A recent study from Toronto Metropolitan University found the cuts would disproportionately impact those who depend on public transit for their everyday needs. The report suggests more than 80 per cent of the affected routes run through neighbourhoods with high poverty rates, high immigration and higher unemployment rates.
The TTC cuts will impact 37 bus, streetcar, and subway routes and officials admit that some of the changes will result in longer wait times for customers. The agency claims the reductions aim to improve reliability and say “capacity will be matched to ridership demand.”
The move is expected to reduce operating costs by $50 million in 2023.
Overall ridership remains at around 67 per cent of what it was pre-pandemic. The TTC forecasts ridership increasing to 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year.
The service reductions come into effect a little over a week before the TTC is set to increase fares for youth and adults by 10 cents.
