Unbelivable. Our fares are going up, a subway line is being shut down, and we're losing 21 bus routes. I'm so pissed off at those stupid frigging idiots on city council that I could just spit.
The Toronto Transit Commission is planning to close the Sheppard subway, drop 21 bus routes and raise fares because of city funding shortages, chairman Adam Giambrone said Thursday.
An emergency meeting of the commission board is scheduled for Friday to formalize the cuts, he told reporters.
Infuriating. I hope Torontonians give their councillors shit for this. And we should be giving our MPPs an earful, too. This is intolerable. The system is already overcrowded and can't meet the demand.
4 comments:
Well, be aware that this is a worst case scenario. Anything can happen between now and January 2008, and we have to make it happen. So, contact your councillor, your MPP (and his or her opponent in the upcoming election) and let them know how you feel. These cuts haven't been implemented yet. They can be reversed, if the province steps in to upload some services, or if the city decides to implement the new taxes they deferred.
Have you read Steve Munro's take on this?
No I haven't. But you've made me feel a bit better, and so has reading that. I got the impression from the article that it was a done deal, although I WAS hoping it was some grandstanding in order to get Torontonians motivated to go after the provincial politicians (and the idiot councillors who voted against the tax increases) on this.
Relax, angry transit person. Mayor Miller needs the money to continue services for our most vulnerable citizens. People like you, who have a job, can afford to get a car or taxi. The homeless, youth at risk, and the downtrodden need to maintain their access to services, infact they need more. Without social spending, there will be an upsurge in youth crime. You do not want that do you? Youth criminals feel unloved, and your white privilege whining about spending a few extra seconds on an air conditioned bus being whisked in comfort to and from your job by day and your places of pleasure are just so much racist crap. Given all the advantages handed to you, which are unearned and undeserved, you should complain less and pay more. Your taxpayer attitude shows you are a crypto-fascist. Long live the revolution! More taxes more often!
The TTC isn't ever going to get back up to 1970s' level of service on municipal taxes and farebox alone. The taxes were right to be deferred for 2 reasons: (1) Toronto is paying for social spending, a provincial and federal responsibility, which is a huge chunk of change and which the province is relieving the 905 area of paying. Ask your MPP why ONLY Toronto is continuing to pay for social services when other municipalities are being released from this unfair burden. Money going to social services means money can't be spent on city responsibilities, like transit and roads. (2) The province used to pay for the capital costs and a big chunk of the operating costs for the TTC. They stopped in Mike Harris days. That was a HUGE financial loss for the TTC (I did a comparison on my blog of how other transit systems are paid for, and we are by far the worst off). The land transfer tax isn't going to pay for capital costs -- it's only sufficient to keep the city out of debt since it's now sucked its reserves dry. To get the TTC back up and expanding again, the city has to go eyeball to eyeball with the province and insist on fiscal fairness. The province and feds have the surpluses and have already taken the money out of our wallets to pay for big costs like these. But the city has compromised its position by refusing to make sound fiscal decisions (e.g., it has increased the city's payroll by at least 3,000) and steadily driving this city to bankruptcy. It's opened itself up to the province claiming it's all Toronto's fault we're in this mess, when it isn't. Only partially. The whole TTC thing is visible and public, which is why Miller is insisting on that. He wants his way, to raise taxes that will lead to further deterioration of our city. He doesn't have what it takes to fight the province. But make no mistake, unless the province restores appropriate funding, land tax or no land tax, all this TTC expansion is pie in the sky. I've heard it before many times. I ain't holding my breath.
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