Updated January 6, 2011 at 7:00 pm:
CITY-TV reports that according to TTC Chair Karen Stintz, the City’s budget allocation for operating subsidy to the TTC will remain at the same level in 2011 as in 2010. This would be an increase over actual spending in 2010 because the TTC ran a “surplus”, at least on paper.
From the Chief General Manager’s Report up to the end of October 2010 we know that the projected subsidy requirement was running about $60-million below the originally budgetted level. Of the expected $430m subsidy, only about $370m would actually be needed. Some of this “surplus” arises from better than expected riding and fare revenue, and partly from some operating cost savings that may not be repeatable (an unexpected dip in fuel cost, for example).
If the TTC had been required to take a 5% cut relative to budget levels, this would have meant a $21.5m cutback in subsidy, but since they actually only used $370m, they would still be ahead of the game. Getting the whole $430m is a bonus. However, the total TTC budget is about $1.37-billion, and a 5% increase would not be unexpected given the combined effect of wage, service and materials increases. That would eat up roughly $64-million.
Stintz confirmed that there will be some service cuts in 2011. One important budget pressure is the “Customer Service” file which will trigger new spending in many areas. This is a challenge for the TTC and a delicate balancing act — if service gets worse, it will be hard to deliver that service with a smile.
The bigger challenge for the TTC and for Council is the multi-year view of budgets. There won’t be a big “surplus” (actually underspending relative to budget) in coming years, and real dollars will have to be found either on the revenue or expense side of the ledger. Council is supposed to be moving to multi-year budgeting, but there is not yet anything definitive on this nor on the effect for medium range transit policies.
As I write this, a special TTC meeting to deal with budget matters is rumoured for next week, but it has not yet been publicly announced. The City Budget Launch meeting on Monday, January 10 may provide more details.
The original article from December 23, 2010, follows below.
A notice has appeared at Wilson Division with information apparently taken from the TTC’s Intranet indicating that a proposal for service cutbacks will be at a special TTC meeting on January 12, 2011.
Although I do not have all of the details, it appears that changes made in late 2008 to extend service on all routes until 1:00 am will be rolled back. The changes would take effect with the March 27, 2011 schedules.
If anyone has further info, please leave it as a comment in this thread.
From a budgeting point of view, the full hours of service are low-hanging fruit. Many of the routes operated late at night or on some weekend periods have low ridership, and they are an easy target for cost-cutting. “Fat” some would call it, although there was a bona fide reason for implementing full service.
The problem is that the next time someone wants a budget cut, they will say “see, we told you there was fat, and you cut it so easily in 2011”. Meanwhile what happens for routes where ridership is growing?
Let’s see how this story evolves even though the pols are on vacation.
Steve Munro 
The problem with cutting these sort of services is that while they may not appear to be economical on their own, if you remove them, it will cause people to divert from the TTC totally, and cause otherwise economic parts of the system to be uneconomic.
This was the effect of Beeching Report in the UK. The report recommended shutting down unprofitable branch lines, and keeping the main lines open. Unfortunately the effect was to make the main lines uneconomic as well.
Back to this case. If someone works an evening shift, and goes to work before 4pm, but comes back after midnight, then they can take the TTC. If you cut that route back to 11pm then that person might get a car, in which case they’re going to drive to work as well as drive home.
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I’m with Alex. We either have a system that takes us everywhere we need to go, whenever we need to travel, or we don’t. If we don’t, then TTC stands for “Take The Car.”
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I think I’ve heard the wording “no substantial cuts” in Ford’s platform/policy. When I hear a phrase like that, alarm bells go off in my head. One person’s “substantial cut” (can’t get to/from work because the suburban bus route has lost an early or late run) is another person’s “respect for taxpayers” (taxpayers who can afford a car and aren’t losers dependent on the bus).
Also, as Shelley Carroll pointed out one day on Metro Morning, if you promise no service cuts, you can still always try to redefine what a service cut is. If a library is open one less hour per day, is that a service cut, or just a bit of administrative efficiency? If the last bus is now at 12:30 instead of 1 AM, is that a service cut, or just wiser deployment of limited resources?
STOP THE GRAVY BUS!!! NOW!!!!
Sorry, that just slipped out.
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I agree too. Most of my working life’s been spent doing shift work so I’m familiar with the headache of getting to and from work outside the normal 9-5 workday in locations that may or may not have had TTC service when I needed it, and I mentioned that when I commented on one of Steve’s postings about that report on service/creative class workers and their respective transit needs.
Rob Ford’s attention looks like it’s been confined to the TTC so far but what happens when the other shoe drops? Is the water main replacement project going to be shut down? Toronto Hydro up for sale? If this is how he handles the TTC, the question of other city services comes up. To give an example from the turn of the last century when public transportation and the electric utility were in private ownership, the result was bad service, high prices, and Casa Loma. Is this what we want?
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Hi Steve
Regarding Ed’s point about “no substantial cuts”, I recall that Ford said that his economies could be achieved without any cuts to service. This is quite a shift in what has been promised. I am sure that the Ford camp will blame as much as they can on Miller, but after the surplus and Ford’s grandstanding about gravy such a line will wear awfully thin awfully quickly. I have the feeling that we will see a repeat of the Mike Harris years. People were warned of the dangers of Harris but voted for the saviour anyway only to find that the warnings were correct when they could see the effects on the services that they used and on their wallets.
Steve, have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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If they were really serious about saving money, they’d shut down the Sheppard subway. It’s draining resources like no other line or route in the system.
Steve: Nobody has explained yet where the extra subsidy will come from to operate the Spadina extension when it opens in 2015, or so.
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Isn’t that interesting. York Region Transit and VIVA are both increasing service in the 905 while in the 416 the TTC is cutting service. Kevin Love is right. TTC stands for Take the Car. It’s time for Rob Ford and his cronies to stop the war on the poor. Not everyone can afford to drive, especially those who live in the inner suburbs. If Rob Ford hates transit so much maybe he can buy everyone in the inner suburbs who he is continually screwing out of decent transit a car.
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I’d be careful about suggesting that Ford should buy everyone a car to solve transit issues in the inner suburbs. After all, he might think it was a good idea and apply the same strategy that he’s using with his “War on graffiti”.
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I think I was in the fourth grade when I first heard someone say “TTC = Take The Car”. 30 years later, can we have a new joke please?
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There are many community routes that go up to 1am, the last 2 or three buses carry no more than 4-5 people. How is that efficient?
Let’s look at some routes:
169 Huntingwood – last three buses: 12:00 12:30 01:00.
I have friends in the Huntingwood/Brimley area and I used to work in the area.
This is the bus version of the Sheppard stubway.
199 Finch Rocket – Last bus from Finch Station and Scarborough Centre Station is 10pm each way … This is good planning, Scarborough Town Centre closes at 6pm tonight.
190 – Last bus from Don Mills Station is 01:00, from STC is 01:07 God what a waste, the mall closes at 6pm tonight. Don Mills Station to Kennedy Road and Sheppard via 190: 15 minutes, via 85: 18 minutes. People can take any of the northbound buses and get out on Sheppard.
YESTERDAY I saw 3 190 buses going eastbound, bus #2 was 2/3 empty and the last bus had 2 people. Bus #1 was 85% full.
Steve: You are giving examples of riding and schedules during an the unusual pre-Christmas period. Hours of service were extended and frequencies were improved on the 190 because it was overcrowded. Also, the bus provides an express service between some points on Sheppard and to the terminal at STC. The mall is a major attraction, but not the only one.
I remember reading that the Huntingwood route was originally a branch from the Sheppard bus. Can all these community routes (I am not calling 190/199 community routes) be merged into a main route nearby and be branch off that main route?
So many of these community routes run practically EMPTY during most of the day.
A waste is the 10 Van Horne. The Huntingwood bus was full service then went to rush hour now it is full service and 10 Van Horne is rush hour only (when the Huntingwood bus goes via Sheppard which itself is a waste, if you need to get to Sheppard/Victoria Park or along Sheppard and VP, you can take 167/24/224/190/85), Huntingwood should absorb the Van Horne bus and forget the 169 branch and it only goes via 169A branch.
I am sure if I look at other routes I can find the same thing.
P.S. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays, remember free TTC rides 12:01-04:00, no reason to drink and drive.
Steve: What one considers to be “community” may be essential for someone else. I could make similar arguments about some routes on major arterials, not buses farting around in heavily car-oriented neighbourhoods. There is even a variation in demand by day of the week and depending on the weather or special events. If you want to argue that the Huntingwood bus is a waste of money, be my guest, but do it based on actual riding numbers on typical days. If it’s a case of restructuring the routes serving these areas, then that’s a separate matter.
And Merry Christmas to you too! No reason to drink and drive unless you live on a route where there is no longer service.
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Be careful. One may get a “free” car, but then end up paying high insurance for it, gasoline, maintenance, storage, traffic fines, etc. for the “privilege”.
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It is my understanding that TTC policy changes, such as extending service hours to 1 am and mandating all buses to operate on at least 30 min headways, are intended to build a bedrock of service for the longterm. Whether or not the changes increase or decrease profitability is irrelevant. The idea is that in the future such changes will attract ridership. Leaving presently underused routes susceptible to cuts every fiscal year defeats the purpose of long-range service planning. If routes are going to be underused for a few years as a result of improvements, so be it! You can’t build a transit city without taking a few leaps.
Steve: That’s the idea behind the current service standards and policies. If transit is only barely good enough, if the attitude is that the only good bus is a full bus, we will be condemned to poor service and riding on the roof. That’s no way to attract people to transit, but if the decision makers don’t use the system or have any sympathy for a regular user’s experience (their constituents after all), all they see is the empty spaces.
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I would also like to throw out another idea: this is the opening round by the Mayor’s office in the upcoming transit negotiations. Start the speculation of service cuts, then go into contract negotiations, get the media foaming at the mouth that if the union does not give up major concessions the costs will cause service cuts.
For Ford’s “team”, this is straight out of the Mike Harris Common Sense Revolution playbook. Harris used this tactic with the teachers, the nurses, etc. just before the government started the bargaining process. Remember that the Ford family “business” is politics (of the right-wing variety) and that Mike Harris is a family friend. Not to speak ill of the deceased, but Douglas Ford Sr. was a member of Mike Harris’ government and therefore part of the Common Sense Revolution.
“Stop the Gravy Train” and the “Common Sense Revolution” are so similar that I am starting to wonder who the “back room boys” really are!
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I seem to recall that several of the current TTC Commissioners (Milczyn, Palacio, and Minnan-Wong come to mind) have expressed their opposition to the expansion of service hours since day one. I cannot remember who it was, however, that (I am paraphrasing here) said that it appalled them to see buses with the driver and one or two (or even none!) passengers travelling along the bus routes. They viewed this a waste of money.
However, from my standpoint, this has been beneficial in many unseen ways. For example, when my wife’s shifts end at 11pm, she has to travel to Kennedy station from downtown. Previously the last 21 Brimley n/b from Kennedy departed at 12:30 am and terminated at Scarborough Centre. Currently, this last bus departs Kennedy at 1:00am and terminates at Steeles. It’s a little thing, but it makes late evening travel more convenient and much safer for my wife. This is the aspect that the”bean counters” don’t see. This was what the service improvements were all about.
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Just to clarify, I didn’t mean free but “you can buy a car or else we’ll buy one for you and give you the bill.”
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Why is a special meeting being called in 2.5 weeks when they just approved the 2011 meeting schedule on Dec 15!? Even more importantly… how long are they going to wait to post it publicly and make it official?
It feels to me like someone is playing games.
Steve: The report listing the 2011 schedule does mention the possibility of a special meeting in January, but, yes, someone is playing games trying to get as much pushed through without people seeing what is happening.
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Can we start another campaign: Any road with fewer than, say, 5 cars per hour is clearly uneconomic and should be dug up and grassed over.
Let’s start our study in the rural ridings.
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Ah, sorry about that! I was looking at the meeting schedule posted to the TTC’s site.
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We’re talking about a minimum standard of service here. The TTC’s job is to ensure that all Toronto has access to transit service. In the 1980s, this standard used to be that you were considered served if you were within a 300 metre walk (a five minute walk) from a bus stop. But how useful is such a standard if that one bus only operates during rush hours? The 2008 service improvements were going to produce empty buses, but it was the most effective way to ensure that the 300 metre standard had meaning. Now Toronto is accessible to the TTC, whenever the subway is open. You only have to wait, at most, thirty minutes for your bus to arrive.
Given that, in the 1980s, the preferred maximum bus headway was generally considered to be 20 minutes, we’re still not back to the standards we used to have in the 1980s.
Yes, it costs money to operate a service like the TTC at all hours of the day, but if you want to ensure that your city has access to transit whenever they need it, this is money you have to spend.
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If transit service is ‘essential’ Mr Ford why are you essentially canceling my ride home?
When I say “Mr Ford” I’m referring to the Mayor or his brother, whichever one is actually pulling the strings.
Steve: You assume that either of the Fords is the real puppetmaster.
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Again, I will ask the following question of Rob Ford and his “team”: “Where is the transparency and the accountability AND “RESPECT FOR THE TAXPAYER”?” Whatever happened to “we can balance the budget with NO service cuts?
Ruling by decree and “secret” “backroom” meetings were one of Ford’s key campaign planks to be eliminated and for the process at city hall to be opened up to the taxpayer. Instead, public debate means that only Ford supporters can sit in the public gallary and cheer on every move that the Ford team does, but deride and jeer whenever the “progressives” try to make a point. It is amazing just how quickly he has reversed himself. Where is the full involvement of council? Where is the public input and debate that he promised. This is so much like what happened with the Common Sense Revolution. Announcements from the mayor’s office are the final word – no input – no debate. It would seem that democracy at Toronto City Hall has taken a MASSIVE step backwards since the election.
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Actually, there are jurisdictions in the United States that are replacing their asphalt pavement with gravel, as a cost savings. Since asphalt is tied with the price of a barrel of oil, as the oil goes up so does the price of asphalt. (Oil was $83 when Ford won the election, it went over $91 before Christmas.)
I see more potholes in the future.
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I’m confused: TTC is an essential service, but TTC service isn’t? Does the Mayor have the power to personally determine what specific routes are essential and which aren’t? If Ford gets his way, and the union loses the right to strike how much service will they have to operate during a job action? We could end up like Montreal, where the essential service agreement sets service levels far below normal, which leads to prolonged job actions and far more severe problems for riders than the occasional full work stoppage has had in Toronto.
Steve: Welcome to the Alice in Wonderland world of transit planning in Toronto.
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York Region had better increase service beyond the pitiful levels currently provided. I don’t think that is a valid comparison, because even though suburban transit requires a higher per-rider subsidy, there are far less riders to subsidize.
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Building ridership is also a gradual process, much like the densification of a new subway corridor. My life is made many times easier by the provision of weekend service on the 14 Glencairn bus, and headways better than 40-45 minutes off peak, and the more I ride it, the more I see buses carrying 10+ people on any given day.
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Just FYI regarding some transit services in the 905 – they’ve actually made some cuts over the last couple of the years when the TTC has made some of these increases. So the statement that they’re increasing service while were not is not entirely true.
Regarding the issue at hand there’s really not much to say until we know the details, particularly the specifics of what is being considered for cuts and what is not.
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Before I checked your website just now, I was told by a driver they got a notice at Malvern regarding service cutbacks. Funny because even on Christmas day on the 132 Malvern bus there was at least ten people on the bus before it turned onto McCowan. This respect for taxpayer ideology is blinding sound common sense in basic mobility rights, and will overload surrounding routes.
If Ford cannibalizes the system we as taxpayers will have to shell more on fuel and less money will be spent on things that the local economy produces, hence a higher unemployment rate. If I drive to all my destinations, I have it figured that I will be out about $3500, and that includes cutbacks on places I like to go to. We need a complete overhaul in this city, including the TTC but this is not how you do it. If you need to make the TTC more financially viable, buy articulated buses instead of the hybrids and switch the buses to articulated on heavy routes and don’t cut back. Ridership is growing at least this will buy some time for a new mayor.
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Ridership Growth Strategy … Remember that? Years old, its goals have still not be accomplished and you no longer hear of it. Buses do run later and they are more frequent in some cases until a later reduction in frequency however, they still end before subway trains stop. That still needs to be addressed in the interest of good service.
Some while ago I watched a tv program on which a US city transit manager stated they provide 15 minute minimum service at any time of day or day of week. In other words, if transit is operating it is not less than 15 mins. His idea was this meant the rider did not have to know the schedule, just go out on the street and on average you would wait no more than 7 and one half minutes. Great strategy.
Steve: The TTC was thinking of going to a 20 minute minimum, but the cost would have been too great. What we still need is the ten minute network of core routes, although the list in the “Transit City Bus Plan” needs some revision because, bluntly, it’s not very well thought out in places. Especially the part where streetcar routes don’t count because they are not buses. I am not making this up.
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Sure, we can have a new joke, as soon as:
1. There are no subways, streetcars and busses that routinely run sardine-tin full so that nobody else can get on.
2. Service is reliable, without running packs of streetcars and/or busses followed by long waits out in the winter cold.
3. The TTC continues to pull little tricks. For example, after the straightening out of the Dufferin Jog leaving the old bus shelter on the jog route intact so that people are waiting there for a bus that is never going to come. Or having station maps out-of-date by decades that refer to routes that no longer exist.
4. The TTC’s dedication to multi-modal transit is so intense that you can take your bike with you… except during peak hours when people actually want to do so.
5. The TTC’s dedication to multi-modal transit is so intense that they fail to provide secure bike parking anywhere. In the meantime, millions of dollars get lavished on thousands of car parking spots.
6. Toilets that range from disgusting to “biological laboratory experiment.”
7. Such a rough, lurching ride that the standees (see #1 above) get hurled about the vehicles and women report being “accidently” sexually touched in the process.
8. Elevators that are routinely out of service for lengthy periods of time. With a sign next to them that says: “DISABLED ACCESSABLE ALTERNATIVE ROUTE – Take dog sled to Igloolik…”
As long as these conditions remain routine everyday reality, then TTC stands for “Take The Car.”
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On the other hand, there have been some dramatic increases. For the first time in 23 years, I have seen a noticeable increase in the frequency of the 91/91A YRT Bayview South service. Only now are the cutbacks of the early 90’s (Social Contract and CSR) being reversed … However, the past record of the new TTC board members suggests that late night and weekend cuts are coming. This might make sense if bar and store hours were sharply curtailed, to reduce the number of people working and playing at late hours, but we can hardly expect such a progressive move from the new political order in Toronto. The last time I recall that this happened was after the shooting of Barbara Turnbull in 1983, when various municipalities ordered gas stations and variety stores closed after 11pm, but that is now forgotten on the march to commerce 24/7.
If you allow people to work for shitty wages at such late hours, then you must provide them with inexpensive means to get home safely, given that such workers frequently work very far from their homes, usually poorly served by transit at the best of times. Otherwise, close everything before transit stops. Most businesses would surely prefer to close up if the competition is also forced to do so. And much the same can be said for bar closings … surely we don’t need people spilling out of bars when they can’t get home without driving.
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I was assuming it’s Rob Ford’s appointed policy advisor (aka his transit policy “guru”), Mark Towhey.
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Running half-empty buses on the street to provide a minimum level of service = horrendous waste of taxpayer money
Building an extension to an underutilized subway line so half-empty subway trains can funnel people more quickly to an overcapacity subway line = best transit policy ever.
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Miroslav Glavic: “Can all these community routes be merged into a main route nearby and be branch off that main route?”
Branches reduce frequency – there’s no getting round it. A 15 minute core headway results in a 30-minute (or worse) frequency on the branches. Also, branches make for a more complicated network which is harder for the potential new transit rider to understand. It’s better to have the core and a branch being one route, and ther other branch(es) being routes in their own right.
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Has the TTC looked at using shorter buses for the routes in question? A shorter bus would use less fuel and would be more maneuverable, especially on residential street loops. They switch the ALRV’s for CLRV’s when the high capacity is not needed on the streetcar routes, they could do the same with the bus routes.
Steve: In practice there are very few of the routes in question where peak period demands could be handled by the shorter buses. There would be a slight saving on capital costs, but you would still have one operator and all of the same subsystems in the bus that would require maintenance. The TTC has community buses that run with Wheel Trans vehicles acting as collection routes to local focal points (see 400 series routes). The type of route Miroslav has referred to by the same name is a regular bus route that travels mainly through a residential neighbourhood like Huntingwood or St. Andrews with a full sized bus.
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As I said in a previous post … if I’m expected to travel on less service for more cost … then rip up one lane of each highway in the city and let’s see how drivers can cope with having to deal with less.
I hate to say it, the car is king, the car will always be king and nothing is EVER going to change that, I’d like to think I’m wrong. I’m being over simplistic again … but me, being a transit user costs the government money, drivers generate money. Do they really care if you get stuck in gridlock, no … it just means the coffers are being swelled while everyone sits in gridlock burning more and more gas, more fuel burnt more taxes to the government, so in effect they really have no intentions of reducing traffic on the road, otherwise they will have to find something else to tax.
I’m nearly 50 years old and NEVER owned a vehicle. Yes I can drive, I hold a full licence, not because I wanted to, because when I moved to Canada 10 years ago I went to a small town where driving is the only option, it took me until I was over 40 before I could drive on my own. Now I’m in the city, never felt the need to buy a vehicle. The whole transport system in the country is a mess, you’ve allowed the automobile to rule planning over several decades I’m afraid nothing is ever going to change and it’s going to cost a lot more to fix compared to most European cities. I follow all the arguments on here but is it ever going to make a difference NO. Someone like Mayor Ford is just not going to listen to you no matter the quality of your arguments, if Hudak wins, then you may as well shut up shop, no matter how much you push … they can never see further than the hood of their car …. these are probably the same people I see on the news that complain they can’t find a parking spot at Yorkdale.
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So they voted for him again. I wonder if we’re in for a repeat of that part of the story, too? Ford more years! Ford more years!
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YRT has been charging $3.25 for two years now, and might hike that again soon. OTOH, Ford is freezing TTC’s fare at $3.00 and cutting funding by not matching for inflation. It’s pretty hard to increase service under those conditions.
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Why is it that when they see a bus carrying only one or two passengers plus the driver, they say it is a unreasonable use of money? Then, if an automobile is carrying no passengers at all, only the driver, is that not also an unreasonable use of money? Maybe we should be prohibiting any non-commercial motor vehicle on the streets of Toronto that is carrying only the driver, if we are going to cut services on buses.
Steve: Nobody talks about subways carrying almost nobody because somehow subways are “charmed” and are exempt from this sort of consideration. The main thing, of course, is that they are underground where those who might complain about how few are riding late at night cannot see them, and are certainly unlikely to ever ride them.
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“Why is it that when they see a bus carrying only one or two passengers plus the driver, they say it is a unreasonable use of money? Then, if an automobile is carrying no passengers at all, only the driver, is that not also an unreasonable use of money?”
Seems simple. In the case of the bus, taxpayers money is being spent/wasted, in the case of the car taxpayers money is not being spent/wasted.
As a taxpayer I am concerned with the first example but the car driver can drive around 24/7 if he likes, it’s his money not mine.
Steve: The operative word here is “wasted”. There are many services where the utilization rate varies by time of day, by season, etc., but they are services most people expect to have available whenever they need them. They pay a price for this either in their user fees or through some form of subsidy.
There is an odd double standard about savings from this sort of cutback — often it goes to reducing a deficit, not to constraining a fare increase. After all, about 2/3 of TTC operating costs come from the fares, the money people pay directly for the convenience of the service they use. However, when people talk about empty vehicles, it’s always “the taxpayer”.
I am a taxpayer too, probably to the tune of about $5,000 per year based on the assessment for rental buildings, and I am a transit user. Does my voice not count for anything, or do I have to buy a house in Etobicoke?
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I’m still waiting for the Rob Ford loyalists (brainwashed grunts is more appropriate) to step in and defend these cuts.
Steve: We have already heard from Councillor del Grande, the budget chief, who was quoted as saying that some buses have to be cut so that more service can be run on busy routes. The real question will be whether we see both the cuts and the adds, or only the cuts.
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