Day: November 18, 2007

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TTC 2008 Operating Budget & Service Overview

On November 14, the TTC gave approval in principle to the proposed 2008 Operating Budget.  A short report is available online but it is missing one critical page, the table the table giving the details of the budget by major revenue and expense area.

You can read the details in the report including a line-by-line discussion of the changes.  Overall, the TTC’s operating expenses will rise about $74.6-million or 6.8% over 2007, and this does not include provision for wage settlements in the coming contract negotiations. 

Each 1% increase in wages translates to about $8-million in annual costs, of which $6-million would affect the current budget year because the new contract will take effect on April 1, 2008.

Ridership and service will both increase in 2008, and the cost of new and improved services accounts for over one quarter of the year-to-year change ($20.9-million). Continue reading →

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The Original Connection to Union Station (Updated)

In the comments thread on my main Union Station post, some have remarked about a mysterious, abandoned tunnel that links Union subway station to the railway station.  Scott Haskill from the TTC sorted this one out for us, and the moment I saw the plans and one of the photos, I had an “aha” moment and remembered the connection.

Scott sent along a copy of the TTC’s plans for the station from 1953 modified at about the time the Royal Bank connection was underway (1977).   The original tunnel appears on the City’s drawings for the existing retail level.  If you compare the 1953 plan and the existing plan, you will see exactly where the abandoned tunnel is relative to the rest of the structure.  Scott menioned that “there’s even a fire alarm plan in public view, mounted on the wall separating the GO concourse from the TTR part, near the McDonalds, that clearly shows the tunnel.”

Scott also pointed me to the City Archives.  I went hunting and here are photos of the connection under construction in 1953: 1 2 3 4.

Here is an archive photo showing the connection tunnel under construction and a modern view of the same location supplied by Scott.

Robert Lubinski sent me a photo taken by Lewis Swanson showing the Union subway connection in Nov 1955. 

There is a page on the infiltration.org site describing this tunnel including a photo of its current state.