TORONTO, ONTARIO – Carlos Santos, President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113, released the following statement regarding the Ontario Progressive Conservative government’s scheme to force the TTC to replace some TTC bus routes with privatized “microtransit” as a condition of eligibility for the second round of emergency transit funding for coronavirus relief.
“At a time when our government should stand up for Ontario workers, Premier Doug Ford wants to sell off public transit and line the pockets of big ride-share corporations headquartered in San Francisco.
Now is the time to strengthen public transit, not attack it. Cutting service and selling off parts of the TTC to for-profit corporations will only hurt Ontario workers and riders.
Toronto’s public transit workers, who have been on the frontlines serving Ontarians during the pandemic, call on the Ford government to stop its heavy-handed scheme to force municipalities to consider privatizing transit as a condition of emergency funding. As always, ATU Local 113 will continue the fight to keep transit public.”