Finance

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Service Changes Coming in September

For September 2006 we will see many service improvements although these fall largely in the off-peak period as the fleet size constrains the TTC’s ability to run more peak service.  Looking through the long list, I noticed that the Service Planning folks have been squeezing every drop they can out of the available budget by, in some cases, only adding a few extra trips here and there rather than a service change for an entire operating period.  Typically, this extends the shoulder of the rush hour rather than, say, improving service all day long.

Some service improvements originally planned for early 2006 but deferred due to budget deliberations are finally in the schedules, while others remain on hold for future implementation.  Next year’s budget brings with it the big jump in the bus fleet and a concurrent need for additional operating subsidy.  We will see whether the Budget Advisory Committee, Council and the Mayor are willing to put their money where most of their mouths are on transit improvements.

In the long section that follows, I do not give the details of the changes (for that, you can look at the TTC’s own site when they are posted), but only a general idea of what is happening.  I have omitted the minutiae such as garage reassignments and operational changes that do not affect headways. Continue reading →

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Ridership Growth Strategy Update – More Buses Eventually (Updated)

[After I posted this article, I received an email pointing out that the change in off-peak loading standards I had described as only applying to low-floor bus routes had, in fact, been applied to all surface modes.  After checking the schedules for January 2005 against those for March 2006, I found that some service improvements were, in fact, made in off-peak frequencies on some streetcar routes.  The article below has been revised accordingly.] 

The July 19th TTC agenda contains an update on the Ridership Growth Strategy, and it contains many items worth talking about here.

Broadly speaking, there are four classes of changes covered by the RGS update:

  • Service Quality
  • Transit Priority
  • Commuter Parking
  • Fare Incentives

Service Quality improvements have two broad subgroups:  better loading standards and better minimum service standards. Continue reading →

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Proof of Payment and Service Quality

Proof of payment fare collection has been in place, officially, since 1990 on the Queen route.  All riders are expected to have a valid pass or transfer and in return they can board at all doors.  Riders who pay a fare when they board are given a transfer in case a POP inspector comes by. 

This setup allows all-door loading at major stops, shortens the time lost to boarding and gives a better distribution of passengers through the cars.  This is important on the ALRVs which ply Queen Street.

In practice, this does not happen very often.  Moreover, many operators don’t open all doors at most stops and the benefit of POP is lost.

A report on the TTC’s agenda discusses the history of POP, the benefits of the system and its future on the TTC streetcar system.  Continue reading →

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Reader Comments: Transit Service Quality

This post is in the best journalistic tradition.  On those slow days and holiday weekends, all the material you’ve been saving up for months finally sees the light of day.  To readers who submitted comments and wondered where they went, take heart.  Today is for you!  This post collects comments loosely related to service quality and operations.

Back in March, I was writing about how transit services are analyzed.  We’re still waiting for the 2007 Service Plan to give us updated stats, but it’s time to rekindle the discussion here. Continue reading →

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Where Did The Rush Hour Go? (Updated)

Looking at the June schedules for the TTC, I was struck by something quite odd:  on some streetcar routes there is either no additional rush hour service, or only a marginal change in service levels.  Have riders abandoned the TTC?  Are “downtown” riders travelling at times other than the conventional peak period?  Or is the TTC just pinching pennies by cutting service?  Here are some examples: Continue reading →

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To Scoff or Not To Scoff? (Updated)

Three comments originally posted here were on the subject of the TTC strike on May 29th.  I have moved them to the post specifically dealing with that issue.  If you want to comment on the strike, please do so there as it makes my editing job simpler.  If you want to talk about fare collection issues, please comment here.  Thanks. 

Sometimes, events unfold in unexpected ways.  What seemed like a bit of late afternoon trivia has turned into front page news. Continue reading →

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Readers Comment About Service Quality

I’ve been rather busy this week with various cultural events including the hotdocs festival (more reviews to come), a Jane Jacobs memorial get together (repeated on CP24’s Hour Town on Sunday at 6:00 am and 1:05 am), the launch of spacing magazine’s latest all-transit issue, a spectacular performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass by Tafelmusik, and it’s still not over.

Having a few moments here, I’ll catch up on some of the comments that have accumulated for the week. Continue reading →

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Service Quality: What Tax Cuts Don’t Give Us

Tonight, I spent the later part of the evening at the Gladstone Hotel at spacing magazine’s latest issue launch, one devoted to transit issues.  You can read all about it at www.spacing.ca.

Let me tell you about my trips to and from the Gladstone.  I arrived at Queen and Spadina on a southbound 510 just in time to see not one, not two, but three 501 Queen cars leave westbound.  Hmmm.  Not a good sign.  As things turned out, the next 501 (actually two of them) did not show up for 25 minutes, and the first car was going only to Roncesvalles.  Fortunately for me, the Gladstone is not in Long Branch.

On the trip home, a bit after midnight, the eastbound 501 showed up reasonably promptly and the trip across Queen was uneventful.  We pulled up to Broadview just behind a 504 King car, the one that should have taken me home.  Did it wait for transfer passengers from the 501?  No.  At least the following 504, about 10 minutes later, was not short turned (this happens regularly late at night when I attempt this route home).

In a way, these are two isolated incidents.  Eastbound service on Queen at Spadina during my long wait was quite regular.  Service on the Dufferin bus seemed to be running smoothly any time I peeked out the door or window from the bar at the Gladstone [please note how this demonstrates my commitment to monitoring the TTC, and the places I will lurk to do so].

But the point is that in both directions, I encountered problems that should not be part of TTC service — a long wait and bunched service one way, and a missed connection thanks to an inconsiderate operator the other way.  We can have the cheapest fares in the world, but if we don’t have reliable service, people will stay in their cars.

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Tax Cuts and the Metropass

Today, Ottawa unveiled a expected tax credit for people who buy monthly or annual passes.  Although this will not put more money in the pockets of transit agencies, it will substantally change the break-even point for people who buy passes.

Without the tax credit, a monthly pass costs $99.75, equivalent to 47.5 fares.

On the Monthly Discount Plan, a pass costs $91.50 per month, equivalent to 43.6 fares.

The new tax deduction, at 15.25% reduces these multiples to about 40 and 37 respectively.  This is an important psychological breakthrough when the cost of using a pass falls below the perceived cost of a regular, daily commute.

The TTC needs to proceed on two fronts:

First, a revamped Metropass Discount Program campaign to swing even more riders over to the pass market which has already seen the benefit of a transferrable pass.

Second, a thorough review of service implications especially in the off peak.  We can reasonably expect that most of the marginal growth through shifting riders to passes is in trips they might not have taken otherwise and to pass sharing.

The City of Toronto has to get serious about funding growth in transit services in any time period where vehicles are available to do so.