hkskyline
March 4th, 2006, 04:57 PM
New buses more mechanics? Cash-strapped TTC isn't pushed to make sacrifices, critics say
Paul Moloney
Toronto Star
4 March 2006
Imagine you need to buy millions of litres of fuel every year.
And diesel prices are rising with no drop in sight.
That's the predicament faced by the Toronto Transit Commission, whose bus fleet guzzles 65 million litres annually - the equivalent of filling up your car more than 1 million times.
So when the fuel contract is up for renewal, it's an anxious time.
Does the TTC sign a long-term fuel deal now, or hold off in the hope prices will drop?
TTC officials decided to lock in at 86 cents a litre starting next month until the end of 2007, a whopping increase over the 54 cents per litre under the previous two-year deal.
This is just one example of the financial troubles faced by the country's largest transit system. Other problems include: rising costs, aging vehicles and no reliable source of income.
The fuel increase, combined with higher prices for natural gas and electricity, will push TTC's energy costs up by an estimated $27 million this year. A 3 per cent pay hike starting April 1 for the 9,500 employees adds another $25 million.
In response to the cost pressures, the TTC requested an eye-popping $70 million increase in its operating subsidy from city council, for a total of $306 million from a city facing a $400 million-plus shortfall this year.
Council's budget committee whittled the shortfall down from an opening deficit of $532 million, and the city is now awaiting word on how much help it can expect from the provincial government.
Council wants Queen's Park to return to a formula, scrapped in 1998, where the province and city each paid half the operating subsidy required by the TTC. Meanwhile, city hall budget committee members have been pressing for savings in transit operations.
Transit officials, however, have rejected suggestions to scrap the system's weekly pass, get rid of poor performing bus routes to save $5 million, and stop allowing the Metropass to be transferred. The commission also balked at allowing 62 overcrowded routes to become even more jammed.
"There's a school of thought that it's a system, and if you start removing chunks of it, it's no longer a system," said TTC spokesman Vince Rodo.
After going back and forth with transit brass, the budget committee recommended a subsidy of $246.3 million, still up 7.8 per cent from $228.5 million last year.
It's the biggest recommended increase among city operations this year, followed by garbage disposal, up 5.8 per cent, and police, fire and recreation services, which are each getting 4 per cent more.
But it wasn't enough. To help make ends meet, the TTC voted to hike fares 10 cents a ticket or token as of April 1. That will bring in an extra $11 million this year, which combined with a series of belt-tightening measures, accounting adjustments and money left over from last year, will allow the TTC to get through another year.
The books may be balanced, but the problems haven't been solved.
A frustrated Councillor Joe Mihevc, who sits on both the TTC and budget committee, accused his budget colleagues of being too stingy. Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul's) said the budget covers only a modest increase in kilometres of service, up 2.1 per cent to 204.5 million kilometres. Total ridership is expected to go to 437 million rides, up from 424 million rides last year.
He believes the TTC should be a higher priority.
"Our job is to get people to and from work, to and from school, to and from play, as quickly as possible," he said. "Jeopardize that and you jeopardize the quality of life and the economy of Toronto."
The budget committee, he complained, seems to want to portray the transit system as wasteful.
"Frankly, I don't think it's been a very constructive process. The impression that gets left is there's fat in the system."
Mihevc said the TTC isn't as heavily subsidized as other systems. Fares pay about 75 per cent of the operating costs in Toronto, with city council's subsidy covering the remaining 25 per cent.
Budget committee members say they, too, are frustrated.
Suggestions for cutting staff are met with resistance, said Councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East). Mechanics, for example, are being hired while the TTC is retiring 253 worn-out buses this year, including 95 buses that were purchased in 1982 and 1983.
"Granted we still have some old vehicles but we've bought new ones. How is it we've put so many new vehicles on the road and yet we still need 15 more mechanics?"
Councillor Sylvia Watson said the TTC proposed increasing subway janitors to 110 from 81, even after staff had suggested jobs could be trimmed by cleaning at night.
"Here was an opportunity to keep the same level of cleanliness as before and save a few million dollars," said Watson (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park). "And the commission said no."
She said the TTC isn't pushed to make sacrifices to the same degree as other city departments.
"In a perfect world, of course we'd all like to have more street sweepers, better pothole filling, better parks and recreation programs, better everything. ... But in the world we live in, basically every service in the city is at a standstill. We're not enhancing services."
What about the expensive streetcar service, wondered Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt). "There will be no decision to get rid of the streetcars because they're part of the Toronto fabric. ... The question becomes, how much do we operate? Maybe we have selective lines because some of them just aren't happening."
The TTC could be pressed to trim 5 per cent of its staff, introduce a hard spending freeze and accept a rigorous line-by-line review of their budget. But it won't happen, said Councillor Peter Milczyn (Ward 5, Etobicoke-Lakeshore).
"From council, from the mayor, I don't believe the political will is there to really do a serious reassessment of what we do and how we do it. Certainly, the mayor and council have come out against contracting out, cutting any service or laying anybody off."
Mihevc said the councillors' criticism is jarring.
"Is there another way of doing business that would save us wads of money? I don't think there is. You tell me where the fat is, brother, and we'll take it out."
Paul Moloney
Toronto Star
4 March 2006
Imagine you need to buy millions of litres of fuel every year.
And diesel prices are rising with no drop in sight.
That's the predicament faced by the Toronto Transit Commission, whose bus fleet guzzles 65 million litres annually - the equivalent of filling up your car more than 1 million times.
So when the fuel contract is up for renewal, it's an anxious time.
Does the TTC sign a long-term fuel deal now, or hold off in the hope prices will drop?
TTC officials decided to lock in at 86 cents a litre starting next month until the end of 2007, a whopping increase over the 54 cents per litre under the previous two-year deal.
This is just one example of the financial troubles faced by the country's largest transit system. Other problems include: rising costs, aging vehicles and no reliable source of income.
The fuel increase, combined with higher prices for natural gas and electricity, will push TTC's energy costs up by an estimated $27 million this year. A 3 per cent pay hike starting April 1 for the 9,500 employees adds another $25 million.
In response to the cost pressures, the TTC requested an eye-popping $70 million increase in its operating subsidy from city council, for a total of $306 million from a city facing a $400 million-plus shortfall this year.
Council's budget committee whittled the shortfall down from an opening deficit of $532 million, and the city is now awaiting word on how much help it can expect from the provincial government.
Council wants Queen's Park to return to a formula, scrapped in 1998, where the province and city each paid half the operating subsidy required by the TTC. Meanwhile, city hall budget committee members have been pressing for savings in transit operations.
Transit officials, however, have rejected suggestions to scrap the system's weekly pass, get rid of poor performing bus routes to save $5 million, and stop allowing the Metropass to be transferred. The commission also balked at allowing 62 overcrowded routes to become even more jammed.
"There's a school of thought that it's a system, and if you start removing chunks of it, it's no longer a system," said TTC spokesman Vince Rodo.
After going back and forth with transit brass, the budget committee recommended a subsidy of $246.3 million, still up 7.8 per cent from $228.5 million last year.
It's the biggest recommended increase among city operations this year, followed by garbage disposal, up 5.8 per cent, and police, fire and recreation services, which are each getting 4 per cent more.
But it wasn't enough. To help make ends meet, the TTC voted to hike fares 10 cents a ticket or token as of April 1. That will bring in an extra $11 million this year, which combined with a series of belt-tightening measures, accounting adjustments and money left over from last year, will allow the TTC to get through another year.
The books may be balanced, but the problems haven't been solved.
A frustrated Councillor Joe Mihevc, who sits on both the TTC and budget committee, accused his budget colleagues of being too stingy. Mihevc (Ward 21, St. Paul's) said the budget covers only a modest increase in kilometres of service, up 2.1 per cent to 204.5 million kilometres. Total ridership is expected to go to 437 million rides, up from 424 million rides last year.
He believes the TTC should be a higher priority.
"Our job is to get people to and from work, to and from school, to and from play, as quickly as possible," he said. "Jeopardize that and you jeopardize the quality of life and the economy of Toronto."
The budget committee, he complained, seems to want to portray the transit system as wasteful.
"Frankly, I don't think it's been a very constructive process. The impression that gets left is there's fat in the system."
Mihevc said the TTC isn't as heavily subsidized as other systems. Fares pay about 75 per cent of the operating costs in Toronto, with city council's subsidy covering the remaining 25 per cent.
Budget committee members say they, too, are frustrated.
Suggestions for cutting staff are met with resistance, said Councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East). Mechanics, for example, are being hired while the TTC is retiring 253 worn-out buses this year, including 95 buses that were purchased in 1982 and 1983.
"Granted we still have some old vehicles but we've bought new ones. How is it we've put so many new vehicles on the road and yet we still need 15 more mechanics?"
Councillor Sylvia Watson said the TTC proposed increasing subway janitors to 110 from 81, even after staff had suggested jobs could be trimmed by cleaning at night.
"Here was an opportunity to keep the same level of cleanliness as before and save a few million dollars," said Watson (Ward 14, Parkdale-High Park). "And the commission said no."
She said the TTC isn't pushed to make sacrifices to the same degree as other city departments.
"In a perfect world, of course we'd all like to have more street sweepers, better pothole filling, better parks and recreation programs, better everything. ... But in the world we live in, basically every service in the city is at a standstill. We're not enhancing services."
What about the expensive streetcar service, wondered Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt). "There will be no decision to get rid of the streetcars because they're part of the Toronto fabric. ... The question becomes, how much do we operate? Maybe we have selective lines because some of them just aren't happening."
The TTC could be pressed to trim 5 per cent of its staff, introduce a hard spending freeze and accept a rigorous line-by-line review of their budget. But it won't happen, said Councillor Peter Milczyn (Ward 5, Etobicoke-Lakeshore).
"From council, from the mayor, I don't believe the political will is there to really do a serious reassessment of what we do and how we do it. Certainly, the mayor and council have come out against contracting out, cutting any service or laying anybody off."
Mihevc said the councillors' criticism is jarring.
"Is there another way of doing business that would save us wads of money? I don't think there is. You tell me where the fat is, brother, and we'll take it out."