Scarborough Deserves A Public Transit Gravy Train

Brenda Thompson
January 17th, 2012

For the past thirty years Canadian cities have been starved of funds for infrastructure. Today, there is a $53.5B public transit deficit in the country's large metropolitan areas. Why? Certainly it makes no sense when the majority of our population live in Canada's urban centres. It makes even less sense in Toronto. New jobs are moving from downtown into the suburbs. Low density sprawl creates enormous pollution and congestion in the absence of fast, reliable, public transportation. Downtowners are lucky. The Yonge and Bloor subway lines were already built before the housing boom and federal downloading hit Toronto in the 80's and 90's. Amalgamation was supposed to cut costs. This should have helped facilitate a more integrated and accessible public transit system throughout the entire GTA. Somehow those extra savings disappeared into the ether while inflated property values pushed new immigrants and the working poor, to the outer limits of the city in search of affordable housing. Once there, however, they were faced with another dilemma. How to get around in neighbourhoods designed for the car, without being able to afford one. For the vast majority who are not fortunate enough to live close to where they work, public transit is the only option. Toronto is the only city in North America that must obtain 70% of its operating budget from fares. Scarborough residents are ill equipped to shore up for this lack of provincial funding. Research by University of Toronto professors J. David Hulchanski, The Three Cities within Toronto Income Polarization Among Toronto's Neighbourhoods, 1970 2005 and Deborah Cowen, Toronto's Inner Suburbs Investing in Social Infrastructure in Scarborough provide an overview of the stark new reality of suburbs in Toronto. No longer a haven for the middle class, residents of Kingston/Galloway have seen their income decrease by more than 40% below the average income of $40,704, while residents close to the city centre have seen their incomes rise more than 40% above the average income. Both studies conclude that unless there is an increase in social and physical infrastructure investment 60% of Torontonians will be living in poverty and the middle class will have virtually disappeared by the year 2025. These findings were presented to Toronto city council last July. But nothing, not even the prospect of an extinct middle class can deter Mayor Ford from his budget slashing agenda. Instead of putting pressure on the federal and provincial government to contribute their fair share, he has forced a ten percent cut on the TTC. Despite increasing ridership, transit users can look forward to more service cuts on buses and a 10 cent fare increase in 2012. As it turns out, Scarborough residents will be hardest hit. Although they have whittled down the service cuts from 56 bus routes to 37, over half travel to neighbourhoods East of Victoria Park. And there is nothing to indicate that future public transit infrastructure expansion will improve the situation. Rob Fords' Eglinton Crosstown LRT plan does absolutely nothing for residents wanting to go East of Kennedy Station and the proposed extension of the Sheppard line hinges on private investment, which so far, has not been forthcoming. It has been thirteen years since amalgamation. We should have rapid transit along every arterial road in Scarborough. Instead with our heavy reliance on buses, we are first in line for the chopping block. The war on the car is over and transit users must be punished, is what Mayor Ford really means. Otherwise how could council allow police chief Bill Blair to submit a budget that is higher than last year? Jamie Fitzpatrick of TTC Riders put it succinctly, Crime is going down but the police budget has gone up. TTC ridership has gone up but the budget is going down.

Moving toward transportation without cars may seem like a radical step to some council members, but the idea of adequately funded accessible public transit is not far fetched. Many status quo organizations in Canada and the G8. such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Toronto Board of Trade, The Conference Board of Canada, Canadian Urban Transit Association, OECD, The Urban Transportation Task Force and federallyappointed, Competition Review Panel of 2008, have called for this very thing . The urgency of the situation has reached a point where these same organizations are on side with Olivia Chow of the NDP. Last February she introduced the National Public Transit Strategy Act in parliament. So far, Harper has ignored it. Even more disappointing is the fact that the Toronto Board of Trade remained silent during the city's standing committee hearings on services. It might have made it more difficult for council to dismiss the public, if they had heard these status quo organizations argue in favour of investing in public transit. Here is a brief summary of what they propose: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ..the annual cost of congestion to the Toronto region economy was $6 billion in 2006, and will more than double in the next 20 years if no 'significant' action is taken and the average commute time will hit close to 2 hours, the equivalent to almost 3 more work-weeks a year spent in traffic. Conference Board of Canada (who's who of Canadian corporations) Sustainable Urban Transportation A Winning Strategy for Canada 2007 A multi pronged strategy to increase public transit including road tolls, increased provincial funding and cooperation between the federal and provincial government to prepare a national urban transportation strategy similar to Europe. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities 2011 federal election platform A national transportation strategy that includes adequate federal funding and legislation for increased access to public transit over the long term. Supportive tax policies including tax-deductible employer provided public transit pass. As well, a greater proportion of the Gas Tax Fund toward covering the recently expired $400 million in federal transit funding. Toronto Board of Trade -2011 Federal Pre-Budget Submission Uses survey results from the OECD, Economist Intelligence Unit and Pricewaterhouse Coopers that state, transportation infrastructure is Toronto's Achilles heel. Chronic underinvestment in public transit has created a $53 billion infrastructure deficit over the next five years. The federal government must develop a national transit strategy with an annual financial commitment of $2.7B. Municipalities with public transit should receive all of the Gas Tax fund. Canadian Urban Transit Association Issue Paper 39 Building Sustainable Mobility: Federal Transit Investments Across Canada Transit use is growing and in order to meet the demand there must be a dedicated federal investment . We need a ' comprehensive Canadian transit policy framework' with long term funding from municipal, provincial and federal governments. Urban Transportation Task Force (Council of Deputy Ministers responsible for Transportation) - Urban Transit in Canada: Taking Stock of Recent Progress October 2009. Transit is crucial to the sustainability, competitiveness and quality of life of Canada's cities. All levels of government should promote transit as an alternative to the automobile and provide adequate funding to support it.

Business think tanks, public transit manufacturers and public interest groups like the Free and Accessible Transit Campaign, DAMN 2025, Fair Fare Coalition, TTC Riders and Scarborough Transit Action agree that adequately funded, accessible public transit is the way to go. Of course we don't all agree on where the money will come from. The Conference Board of Canada are of the opinion that this public infrastructure will need to be funded privately because there isn't enough government money available. Perhaps if they declined the $60B in corporate tax cuts that Harper is handing out we could call it even. Let's put this in perspective. When you compare the provincial and federal government's reluctance to adequately meet the public transit needs of cities to the efficient, accessible, affordable public transit systems in other western or westernizing cities around the world, it boggles the mind. Berlin, Paris - two cities the same size as Toronto have public transit systems that make bus routes in Scarborough look like a village milk run. Shanghai, has responded to their rapid population increase by building five new subway lines in eight years. We'll be lucky if we finish the Sheppard line in twenty. Transit workers are not to blame. Toronto has a crumbling, run down subway system and it's embarrassing. And what's worse it punishes the most vulnerable members of our society. Subjecting them to expensive fares and travel times that are too long, in over crowded buses. Torontos population is growing at near Asian rates, but infrastructure is being built to support this population growth at less than North American rates a damning thought indeed when compared to what Asian and European countries invest in infrastructure. Toronto Board of Trade Many argue that North American cities were designed for the car. But that wasn't necessarily the case for Scarborough. In the early 1900's there was a streetcar that ran along Kingston Road with stops at Victoria Park, Midland and as far east as Morningside. Today, you have take three different buses to go that far. We are worse off than we were a hundred years ago! It just goes to show how little we have come to expect from our politicians. Suggesting that a streetcar go the full length of Kingston Road is like asking for the moon. Yet if council had the courage to challenge provincial and federal downloading, it would be practical. Infilling has been part of our urban design for almost ten years and you don't necessarily need high density neighbourhoods all along a transit route for it to work. Transit ridership often depends on other factors like frequency and accessibility to other connecting forms of transportation. The keys to increasing public transport use in outer suburbs are more frequent buses, running at least every 1015 minutes, and not just in peak hour; better co-ordination with rail services; more convenient transfers; and fares that allow free transfers between modes. Dr. Paul Mees, RMIT University We already have six lanes for cars in Scarborough. It should be easy to allocate two of the them for public transit and bike lanes. Arguably that space has already been designated for transportation. It would not require any appropriation or demolition of valuable park space or homes. Road tolls could be used as an incentive to get drivers out of their cars but it won't do anything but build more resentment unless we have fast, reliable transit available to take the place of the automobile. Neither road tolls, high gas prices, climate change, smog, traffic congestion, or fatalities will push people to kick their car driving habit if it takes two hours for them to get to work by transit instead of forty minutes by car. Scarborough's transit infrastructure deficit has been languishing for too long. It's time to replace this neo-liberal cost cutting agenda with a vision that addresses the public transit needs of our suburban neighbourhoods.

Mayor Rob Ford and his ilk have been successful at directing our resentment toward union workers, the homeless and welfare recipients. But we shouldn't have to punish others to get whatever scraps fall from the provincial and federal plate. If the federal government can afford to give $60B in corporate tax cuts, while all the good manufacturing jobs disappear, they can afford to fund fast, reliable transit for Scarborough residents. Speaking at the Toronto Forum for Global Cities last October, Noble Prize-winning, former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz said that Canada is in a good position invest in public infrastructure. With interest rates on borrowing over the long term at 2% or 3%, investments in transit, housing, wastewater treatment etc. create jobs and what he terms, aggregate demand (demand for consumers goods and services, investment) which typically yield a return of 20% to 30%. In his opinion, to focus on budget cuts while the cost of borrowing is so low, is a suicide path, that will only bring, greater economic, social, and political instability. With budget cuts looming, lets hope there's still time for Rob Ford to come to his senses and realize that the only waste he needs to cut is the one around his middle. Brenda Thompson is a public transit activist who lives in Scarborough and uses the TTC to get around.