It was supposed to be one of the largest transit expansion projects anywhere. Seven new light rail lines along the streets of Toronto’s major transit corridors. Older buses replaced with modern, cost effective, environmentally friendly light-rail vehicles.
But in his first day in office, mayor Ford cancelled Transit City light rail lines and ordered TTC chief Gary Webster to develop a new transit plan that included subways and more buses.
“He says that light rail aggravates traffic,” said Kamilla Pietrzyk. “Well, Rob Ford aggravates me.” Pietrzyk is a member of the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly that started a campaign back in early October to win free and accessible transit for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).
The York University PhD candidate pointed out that streetcars are cheaper to operate and adding buses will only boost the city’s congestion problems. And don’t forget the penalties for backing out of signed streetcar contracts or the cost of walking away from a multimillion dollar investment in streetcars the city has made in the last few years.
“I think it’s pretty clear that accessible, affordable public transit is not exactly high on his list of priorities for this city,” said Pietrzyk at an anti-Ford rally in Nathan Phillips Square last Wednesday.
When the newly elected mayor of Ottawa cancelled plans for a light rail system in 2006, it cost the taxpayers $100 million dollars. That doesn’t bode well for Ford who ran on a ‘Respect for Taxpayers’ platform.
The No Fare is Fair campaign not only wants to save Transit City, it wants a better, safer, more accessible public transit system in downtown Toronto and the suburbs.
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“So that people with disabilities don’t have to wait for hours for the Wheel-Trans bus to finally come or be barred from a subway station or an entire transit line because there are no accessible public transit routes nearby or because the elevator has been in disrepair for the past three months,” she said.
In other large cities around the world, public transit systems are heavily subsidized yet here in Toronto our fares have increased to $3.00 for a single trip. It’s the poor, the students and the disabled, (who have no other alternative) that are forced to pay fares they cannot afford.
“That represents a form of regressive taxation and we will not stand for it.”
So the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly is building a movement to demand free and accessible public transit in Toronto. They claim it will reduce congestion and improve the air quality.
Since July 1, 1997, the city of Hasselt in Limburg, Belgium has provided free public transit. Within a year, ridership had increased 800 per cent.
“So if anyone says that free public transit is pie in the sky tell them that it wasn’t that long ago that we won the right for free healthcare, abortions, women’s rights and the right to unionize,” said Pietrzyk.
“And with all of these fights people said it was pie in the sky. And it took the political will and the mobilization of people like you and me to make it happen.”
Send Rob Ford and City Council an e-mail to indicate your support of Transit City
Finally, a civic government has come to its senses and realised that light rail transit is a costly, inefficient and often dangerous joke.
I can speak of what I've seen in Calgary. When Ralph Klein--as a favour to contractors who donated to his campaign--introduced the LRT, Calgary was a small (500,000) city, with a well-functioning bus system. Now, we have a million-plus population. The LRT system has cost billions (keeping contractors in porkbarrel money), lead to the expropriation of hundreds of homes and left overhangs of ugly stations. Sleazy Aldermen, like Druh Farrell (a land deal of hers is currently being investigated) used the LRT as an opportunity to foist Transit Oriented Developments on communities, to line the pockets of her donors. Some of these TODs are essentially Ponzi schemes (e.g., Knightsbridge's University City). Drug dealing and gang activity is rampant on the LRT lines, with the stations being fearsome places to go in the night. The inner city's filth (crackheads, tweakers, and worse) is smeared by the LRT into the suburbs. Brentwood is an example of a formerly-nice neighborhood, which is now overrun with aggressive, drug-addled and knife-armed panhandlers, and muggers. Park-'n'-Rides are targeted by car thieves, many of whom are just released from prison. Car and pedestrian accidents are frequent, since the trains take longer to stop than rubber-wheeled vehicles. And when an accident, or breakdown occurs, a massive bottleneck ensues.
Meanwhile, the massive LRT budget haemmorhage drains money from other transit operations. Bus service has deteriorated. And the Ammalgamated Transit Union's contract capped the shuttle bus fleet at 6%. This means that the transit service is obligated to run fuel-wasting, pollution-spewing full-size buses on routes and schedules which underutilise the vehicles' capacity. This means more costs, worse service and more pollution. Along with crooked councillors and money-grubbing contractors, the union is another cause of public transit's woes.
Every other transportation system on the planet--from rickshaws, to limousines, to cruise ships, to airlines, expendable sattelite launch vehicles, to human smuggling operations--is expected to actually make money. Yet it's considered okay for public transit to be massively subsidised. Cities like London, England and Curitiba, Brasil have shown that good urban transit systems can actually make money. For Toronto to scrap the idiotic LRT system is a positive first step.