Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford has come forward with his proposed budget cuts for the TTC to save the city $100 million for 2012. The Toronto Transit Commission is being hit the hardest:
- At least 422 layoffs
- 10 cent fare increase on tokens
- Reduced service
By January 2012, Torontonian’s will be paying more money for longer waits to get on overcrowded buses, streetcars and subways.
New Democrat Party leader Andrea Horwath has called for a “cease on TTC cuts until after the provincial election.”
In a press release held at Ossington station, Horwath stated “A New Democrat government would match the municipal transit operating subsidy on a dollar-for-dollar basis, providing long-term, reliable operating support to municipalities. In exchange, municipalities would be required to freeze transit fares for four years
She continues, “The working mom who needs to take the bus home and feed the kids needs better transit, not more cuts and higher fares.”
NDP is taking control of a detrimental situation for Toronto. The future of the TTC has always been a crucial issue, as it is the most used route of transit for city dwellers. It becomes an essential service. While support for Ford is diminishing as his city plans are transpiring, NDP is essentially trying to save the city of Toronto by basing their platform on the TTC budget. They want to provide provincial assistance with transit funding.
This brings me to a couple questions:
Do you think that Andrea Horwath’s platform on “making life affordable,” could be strong enough to win the provincial election?
If NDP is not elected, does this mean that residents of Toronto do not care about the TTC service?
As a student living away from home, forced to buy into transit and plagued with the increase in the price of living essentials compared to my province--Andrea Horwath's platform is very appealing to my bottom line. TTC service is an important issue to me, and I support the province jumping in to provide what the city budget cannot.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I don't necessarily think that people who do not vote NDP don't care about TTC service. We have to consider the bigger picture, the people who commute by bike or car who would probably benefit from seeing fewer TTC cars on the streets. The number of accidents involving the TTC alone this past summer say it all. Other candidate platforms may target other issues they feel more strongly about, such as HST, childcare, education funding, healthcare etc.