TTC Changes are Inconsistent with Citizen’s Needs

divider

By Lily Luong Do 

ttc1

Grassroots organization the TTC Riders may be only in its second year, but in the time allotted, they’ve managed to make their presence known advocating for all public transit users.

On June 24th, 2015 TTC Riders held a rally outside of City Hall along with the Fair Fare Coalition.

With all the recent contention the Toronto Transit Commission had over their budget issues on transit projects like the Spadina subway expansion, and the LRT city Councillors were amicable to accepting the TTC Riders report and mandate “Affordable TTC: A Ticket to the City.”

TTC2

In meeting with Council members and other city staff, both groups indicated in discussion that while money has been spent on upgrading their infrastructure technicalities, their policies continue to fail their riders.

The riders most affected continue to be from communities like Downsview, where many riders have low-incomes, are adult students, or part-time workers, and also those who are disabled, but struggle with meeting the cost of accessing Wheel Trans services.

Some of the most affected are those on social service programs such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) where the support it gives lacks attention to the financial cost of transportation.

Stephen Johnson from Mayor Tory’s office agreed that there are major gaps to fill, and that he will bring the issue forward as priority.

As it stands a person on ODSP receives an average stipend that is anywhere between $300 and $400 a month, in relations to TTC costs it falls short on helping low-income households and individuals in accessing affordable transportation. At the end of the day, ODSP individuals can barely survive.

Councillor Joe Mihevic spoke about the new Presto system now utilized in most stations, but while the “pilot project” is streamlining: there are still many differences of opinion about whether this will save riders and the city money.

At the end of the day, the nickels just aren’t adding up.

Tell us what you think about the cost of riding the TTC. E-mail us at

info@downsviewadvocate.ca

2015 TTC Budget Promises Better Bus Service

Untitled

By Tom Rakocevic

Tom TTC 1 It is commonly said that religion and politics are topics that do not make for friendly conversation. Transit could probably be added to that list.While the debate usually surrounds big transit projects such as subways and LRTs, bus service can be more important for suburban residents.Consider this: even though the new subway line through our community will be open in 2016, most Downsview residents will still need a bus to get to it.Our community was mainly established in the 1960’s and has grown ever since. Has local transit service matched the growth? A comparison of local bus routes in 1975 to 2015 suggests there has certainly been a great improvement to the service in our area.According to 2011 census data, there are around 50,000 people living in Toronto’s Ward 8, a community residing within Downsview. TTC data indicates that there are almost 82,000 bus trips a day that either begin or end in Ward 8.Tom - TTC 2- Bus tripsSo how do Downsview bus users feel about local service?At Jane and Finch, Meghan Robinson, a weekly 6 am regular on the 36 Finch West bus isn't impressed, "The 6 am bus is packed like sardines and if you miss it, there's no bus until almost 6:30 [am].”Overhearing the conversation, Nam Do joins in saying he is satisfied with service, although noting that “for some routes you have to wait 30 minutes for a bus in cold weather."Not too far away, at Driftwood and Niska, Kim says, “Sometimes, I could walk to Jane and Finch before an afternoon bus comes by.”At Sentinel and Finch, the view seems a little more optimistic.Billy, a York University student who rides the 106 says that TTC service is “good” while Josey Williams, another 36 Finch West passenger says the bus 2 “comes fast.”This year's TTC budget promises improved bus service through the restoration of services that were cut in 2011, expansion of the Express Bus and Blue Night Network, management improvements to reduce bus bunching and more. See https://www.ttc.ca/News/2015/February/020215_Board_Approves_Budget.jsp for details.As well, effective March 1st, 2015, children 12 years or under will be able to ride the TTC for free. For children who may look a little older than their age, the TTC sends Proof-of-Age Cards to local schools. These cards are also available by calling 416-393-3030.The good news about improved bus service and eliminated fares for children does come with a 10 cent fare increase; which some people are unhappy about.Ms. Robinson also had something to say about that, “What are we going to pay an extra 10 cents for? More lousy service?”I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.--- In a separate text box below:We want to hear from you! Tell us what you think about the TTC service in your neighbourhood by e-mailing us at info@downsviewadvocate.ca

Pearson passengers pay the price for mismanagement

DA-site-IMGS-dividerBy Matias de DovitiisAIRPORT-1-DEC14It’s the holidays and I was trying to help a friend book a flight out of Toronto going through ticket prices when I remembered: we have one of the most expensive airports in the world.It is very expensive to fly out of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. It is more expensive than big European cities like London or Paris. It is more expensive than New York or Beijing. It is more expensive than Dubai, which is currently building the biggest airport in the world. In fact, it is more expensive than anywhere in the world except for a few cities in Japan and it is still the most expensive airport in the Americas. This has been true ever since they built the new airport terminal at Pearson. At the time, it was a very big project, but there are much bigger and newer airports in other places, and they are not as expensive.The airport fees out of Pearson (the ones you see and the ones the airlines pass on to you as a passenger) are so steep that hundreds of thousands of people drive to Buffalo and other nearby cities to fly from there every year.Big fees might be a good thing if passengers were getting a good return on their investment. After all, the airport is publicly owned and the fees go to maintain and operate it. The problem is that the airport is operated privately through an agency called the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) that operates like a private monopoly. While the agency does not make a profit for investors (it is not a for profit entity), it is filled with management types that make big salaries, but are doing a poor job of flying us in and out quickly.The airport famously failed last January during a cold winter spell. The airport was shut down, because the deicing operations were backed up and the computer systems failed. Hundreds of flights were delayed for days. The airport was in chaos, yet, the top management made big bucks and nobody got fired.CEO, Howard Eng was on vacation during the crisis and had to apologize publicly a number of times. According to the sunshine list, Howard Eng made $712,138 a year in 2012.CFO, Brian Gabel was responsible for the contracting out of the IT services that crashed during the January storm. He has since left the GTAA and probably received a big severance package on his way out. 2012 SALARIES OF GTAA OFFICIALS:Howard Eng, CEO$712,138*Brian Gabel, CFO$513,300Douglas Love, VP$906,240**Pamela Griffith-Jones, VP$407,950Patrick Neville, VP$392,945*Including incentives**Including a severance package of $514,000 

A modest proposal to ease traffic congestion in Downsview

DA-site-IMGS-divider by Howard MoscoeTRAFFIC-1-DEC14 How do you feel when your car is sitting in rush hour traffic on Steeles Ave., or Sheppard Ave.? Frustrated? Everyone complains about traffic congestion and all of the politicians promise to do something to ease it (at least during the election period), but nothing ever seems to get resolved. That’s because clogged roads are the product of a number of cumulative decisions that force traffic onto main Streets. It’s human nature to want to live on a quiet “car free” street. Over the years, residents have pressured their local councillors into measures that discourage local traffic. They press for stop signs that don’t make sense, speed humps and traffic mazes that push traffic off their particular street and the end result of that is traffic congestion on main roads. The road systems are designed to make traffic flow. Streets like Sentinel Rd., Grandravine Dr., and Derrydown Rd., are classified as “collector roads.” They are designed to collect traffic from local streets. That is where the cars are supposed to flow freely. Yet, as a result of pressure from residents on these streets, they have been clogged with Stop signs and speed humps. TRAFFIC-2-DEC14Case in point is Grandravine Dr. In 2001, under pressure from local residents, the city surveyed residents of Grandravine Dr., about traffic calming. Traffic calming is where you erect barriers along the street to slow traffic and discourage cars. Of the 466 survey’s sent out only 71 bothered to respond and only 38 of these supported the installation of traffic calming. The traffic calming was installed. That means that a small group, fewer than 8 per cent, was able to dictate to the 6,000 drivers that used the street daily. Is it any wonder our main streets are congested? City traffic planners have laid out a plan that would ease traffic congestion in north-west Downsview. Grandravine Dr., is the only east-west route from Keele to Jane between Finch Avenue West and Sheppard Ave. W. The plan was to extend Grandravine eastward across an empty field to connect with Sheppard Ave. W. Right now, cars going eastbound to Allen Road have to travel an extra 2.8 km (South on Keele St., left at Sheppard Ave. W, and northbound again on Sheppard.) to get around where the Downsview Airforce Base housing is located. That plan has been blocked by residents on Grandravine Dr., who do not want the extra traffic on their street. I don’t blame them, but at some point, the greater good has to come before the local interest. Grandravine Dr., should be extended east to connect with Sheppard Ave. W., but because of local pressure on our councillors, it’s not likely to happen. There are some things that can be done to ease traffic pressure in the area. Right now, cars avoid the extra 2.8 km journey by using St Regis Cres. Another option is to use Bakersfield St., and Ashwarren Rd., but it’s a one way trip westbound. You can’t do it on the return trip because the exit onto Sheppard Avenue W is blocked by a concrete barrier that prevents cars turning west from Bakersfield. The city can open this route to traffic by signalizing the intersection of Bakersfield and Sheppard. This will take a lot of traffic off the main streets. It will be needed because of all of the high rise density that comes with the subway that will be stacked on the east side of Keele Street north of Sheppard, the area that presently houses the Downsview base officers’ housing. It has to be there because the flight restrictions posed by the Downsview airport flight contours will prevent it from being located at the Chesswood subway station.Vast amounts have been spent for road diversion related to the subway construction. We have all suffered the huge increases in volumes of traffic routes off Keele St., through our neighbourhoods to accommodate subway construction. Surely they can find something in the subway road diversion budget to bring this relief now.

Safety first in our schools and our roads

By Matias de DovitiisCommunity-Safety-4 Last year, the school year in the Downsview community started off with a tragedy. On the first day of school, Violet Liang, a high school student was hit by a truck and killed as she was crossing the street on Lamberton blvd. We should remember this event and learn from it to do honour to Violet. As school starts again and as construction and City traffic bottle, we as drivers should remember that we share the road with children, bicycles and other drivers. As a community, we should also learn from it to avoid such accidents from happening again. With this in light, the City of Toronto started a number of actions to rethink school zone safety such as lowering speed limits around schools, creating more signs to warn drivers they are in school zones and improving their designs, pavement markings, as well as meeting with the school boards to determine safety concerns, educational measures for students and more. These actions were started at the request of Councillor Anthony Perruzza, who asked for a report and started the ball rolling late last year. For the community around Sentinel Rd., the effects were two fold. Last year, we added a crossing guard at the intersection at Lamberton Blvd., and Sentinel Rd. The office of the Chief of Police expedited the process due to the circumstances and the crossing guard was added almost immediately after the request was made. Secondly, a new pilot project called “Watch your Speed” will be starting this fall. The City is purchasing a number of portable speed measuring display signs. There have been a few of these around, but the city will be purchasing more of them. Importantly, the location at Sentinel Rd., and Lamberton Blvd., will be one of 10 locations in the City of Toronto to get one of the displays on an almost permanent basis. It was chosen, because of the accident that occurred last year.Community-Safety-1The project will last a year and start this fall, by late October or early November. It will help to remind drivers of the school zone driving speed. Importantly, there is a possibility of expanding the project to other areas. As construction and congestion in the community pushes traffic into more residential areas we need to start looking at ways to make our roads safer. One of the things that the school boards should be doing is rethinking how we transport our children. The TDSB only offers school bus services to students in grade 5 or under if they live more than 1.6 km away from the school they attend. For a 10 year old, with the way traffic in the City has grown, that distance is starting to become more of a danger. It is about time for the school to rethink the distance requirement. We need to think about the dangers that these distances create for school children, particularly to younger children.