On March 30th, the Ford Government introduced Bill 98 into the Ontario legislature. If passed, it will give the Minister of Transportation total control over TTC. We are leading the fight to protect TTC service and union jobs.
The Bill uses regional fare and service integration to justify taking over local systems. ATU Local 113 supports anything that makes it easier for riders to move around the GTA on public transit. That’s not what Bill 98 is. The City of Toronto Act already allows TTC to invite outside operators onto its routes and the One Fare program removes the penalty for riding on two systems.
What the bill does is give the Minister of Transportation total control over transit fares and service levels. Worse, it gives them the power to share TTC fare revenue with other transit operators and effectively ends democratic oversight of public transit in Toronto.
ATU Local 113 was the first to recognize the risk in the proposed legislation. In our April 2 statement, we showed the risk and raised some serious questions that need to be answered before the legislation moves forward.
Since then, ATU Canada and ATU locals in the GTHA joined forces to amplify our concerns about this bill. See the news coverage here.
Last week we addressed the TTC Board. There was a successful motion instructing TTC staff to:
- Protect democratic control of TTC
- Preserve service quality and standards
- Demand Provincial directions to be matched with full funding
- Demonstrate value for money of PRESTO payment system
- Respect input from local transit systems, including riders and workers
Next week we will be taking the fight to Queen’s Park where we will continue to advocate to keep transit publicly owned and operated, and to put riders and workers first.
Our friends and allies in the labour movement, at Queen’s Park, at City Hall, Progress Toronto and TTC Riders have all joined the fight.
You can read the TTC Riders position and sign their petition here.