The TTC continues its consultation on a five-year plan for service combined with a “customer experience action plan” with a series of pop-ups in mid-August, meetings with various stakeholder groups, and an online survey available until August 27.
With the election of a new Mayor and a shifted political balance of the TTC Board, the context for these plans has changed quite substantially. After years where “less is more” might have been a fitting logo, the TTC now faces key questions about its future. What should transit be? How deep are it shortfalls? How high should we aim for improvement?
For information about previous rounds, see:
Current plans are to take the Annual Service Plan for 2024 to the TTC Board in Fall 2023. There will be a final, fourth round on the Five-Year Plans in November 2023 and they will go to the Board in early 2024. It is not clear how the Five-Year Plan will interact with the 2024 budget process which will already be substantially complete. This timing is a remnant of the Tory era at City Hall when the budget was a “done deal” at the Mayor’s bidding and debate on future options simply was not tolerated.
An important part of the Five-Year Plan is the TTC’s claimed “vision” for its future:
Focus on improvements that enhance TTC’s core-competency: mass transit – moving large volumes of customers safely, reliably, and swiftly across Toronto
In all of the talk about transit and various improvement schemes, staying focused on moving people must be a top priority. The attractiveness of transit for that function – getting from “A” to “B” and back again – must not be lost in flirtations with marginal technologies, ancillary services or “improvements” that will not touch most riders’ daily experience.
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Steve Munro 