Author: nanderson

President Carlos Santos delivers a deputation to the TTC Board on April 11, 2019. Watch it here:

Sisters and Brothers, massive resistance is building to the Conservative assault on our publicly funded education system. School Boards across the province are speaking out in opposition to the cuts, and parent groups are coming together across greater Toronto.

That’s why it is important you join ATU Local 113 at the Rally for Education. Find the details below.

Where: Queen’s Park ( 111 Wellesley Street West in Toronto)
When: 12:00 PM
More Details: Visit the event on Facebook.

Education has and will always be the bedrock of how we progress ourselves in society. Ford government announced dramatic changes to Ontario’s education system, including increases to class sizes and mandatory online learning in secondary schools. The cuts being made to the education budget will have devastating effects on student well-being and achievement. 

On March 16, ATU Local 113’s annual charity hockey game against Toronto Maple Leafs alumni successfully raised $30,000 in support of multiple sclerosis research. All proceeds were donated to the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital.

For the first time in many years, the Local brought home the win!

Thank you to all donors and supporters of the event.

Read the full CBC News story or watch this video to see another example of how Presto is failing Toronto.

Presto is taking much needed cash from our public transit system, costing workers and riders. ATU Local 113 members should maintain Presto machines – not Metrolinx contract workers who take more time to fix the problems. The TTC doesn’t have a ridership problem – it has a fare problem! Action is needed now to fix the failed Presto system.

Glitch in new Presto app can shut down systems, Toronto man warns

Less than two months after the launch of the new Presto mobile app, a Toronto man is urging Metrolinx to correct an apparent glitch that he claims can shut down fare gates and card loading machines at subway stations.

Robert Leyzerovich, who works in software quality assurance and tests mobile apps professionally, said he discovered the issue while playing around with the app’s new function that loads money on a Presto card.

Leyzerovich says he’s sounding the alarm because he’s worried the glitch will lead to more fare evasion, just weeks after the City of Toronto’s auditor general found the TTC lost $61 million dollars in 2018 due to passengers avoiding paying fares.

“If the wrong person figures this out — how it’s done — a lot more can happen,” Leyzerovich told CBC Toronto.

“I knew there was going to be glitches, but nothing this serious,” he added.

He claims he encountered a series of errors while testing the loading function on the app. When he later went to tap his card at a subway station, he said the screens on the gates turned black, and that the same thing happened when he took his card to a fare loading machine. 

“They had to completely restart the system,” said Leyzerovich, who claims he reported the problem to both the TTC and Presto immediately after.

Metrolinx said it is investigating Leyzerovich’s claim.

Metrolinx unveiled the Presto app in late January, after a month of testing by more than 15,000 users. It has a number of features, including the ability to load funds, manage multiple cards and issue notifications for a low balance.

Leyzerovich said he first installed the app a month ago on his Samsung smartphone. 

“I was curious about the functionality of exactly how it worked,” said Leyzerovich.

After trying out different loading functions on the card, Leyzerovich said he tried to put $50 on the card using the app but it didn’t work.

“I closed the application, and it still showed a ‘please put your card toward the phone’ to load the balance. But once I did that, the app crashed,” said Leyzerovich.

He said he tried again but no balance was ever loaded. When he got to Islington subway station, he said he was curious to see what would happen if he tapped his card, and that’s when things went wrong.

“When I tapped it at the access point of where you actually walk into the subway it turned black — the entire screen.”

Leyzerovich said he went to tap at other gates and the same thing happened. He said he spoke to a TTC official at the station who told him to try the loading machines.

“When I placed it in there that device completely shut down and could not be turned back on,” said Leyzerovich, who said that in the meantime, no one could tap their cards and operators were forced to let the passengers in for free.

The TTC estimates it lost $3.4 million in 2018 because of malfunctioning Metrolinx equipment.

In an emailed statement, Metrolinx confirmed it’s investigating the claim and that it’s been in touch with Leyzerovich. 

“The security of the Presto system is central to our work,” the statement reads.

“While we can’t comment on the specifics of the investigation, any individual who deliberately tries to shut down or tamper with a Presto device could be subject to prosecution.”

In an e-mail, a spokesperson for the TTC said: “We take issues like this seriously and we will continue to look into this occurrence.”

Meanwhile, Leyzerovich said he worries about others who might be able to figure out the glitch.

“There’s so many transactions that are done. It’s bound to happen sooner or later,” he said.

Read and share John Cartwright, President of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council’s op-ed in the Toronto Star, which explains how Premier Doug Ford’s plan to steal the subway system from the TTC is really just a power grab with shady motives such as privatizing public transit.

Doug Ford can’t be trusted with uploading Toronto’s subway

The Doug Ford Conservative government is planning to pull off one of the most ambitious power grabs in recent memory — taking the entire subway system away from the TTC and the people of Toronto. This would tear apart an integrated system of buses, streetcars and subways that moves over a million and a half people every day — over 80 per cent of all passengers in the entire Greater Toronto region. And it would open the door to creeping privatization of public assets and services.

The Conservatives say the province will take over responsibility for building and maintaining new and existing subway lines, while allowing the city to operate the subway system. But a careful look at history shows that scheme is fraught with danger. Ontario’s transit projects feature 30-year deals with companies like SNC-Lavalin and Bombardier for maintenance of vehicles, stations, signals, and tracks — which is where the surplus is generated for years to come.

Both those companies have troubling records on performance, but SNC’s stake in Highway 407 manages to reap huge profits from commuters every day. In British transit privatization deals, bankruptcies of private contractors have landed billions of dollars in liabilities on the shoulders of the public.

What is the real motive behind this takeover move? Many observers point to the desire of the premier to decide where new subway development takes place — favouring Conservative ridings over improving service across the system. Others point to the drive by developers to get their hands on air rights over stations and other TTC properties. But nobody can answer the question of where the money will come from. Particularly from a government that has slashed its own revenue by billions of dollars, even while inflating deficit numbers to rationalize cuts to education, health care and social services.

There is a huge backlog of repairs and maintenance needed to keep the subway running safely. And there is an urgent need to build new transit lines. The Conservatives are promising to find money for all this without saying how they will actually pay for it. The idea that private developers will pick up the full cost is dismissed by experts as pure fantasy — local neighbourhoods would have to accept huge clusters of highrise buildings to generate anywhere near the fees required.

But we do know this — the only city council to ever cancel transit projects was the one run by the Fords; and the only provincial government to cancel subway construction was the Harris Conservatives. They threw away $100 million just to fill the in excavation for the Eglinton line. If they really cared about riders, we could have had rapid transit to the Scarborough town centre, the airport and York University decades ago.

Currently, the TTC is accountable to the people of Toronto. Ordinary citizens can make deputations and talk to their councillors about every aspect of transit service. If the takeover goes ahead, the subway would be transferred to the province’s transportation agency. Metrolinx board meetings do not allow in-person deputations, including by local politicians or city councillors. It may take a bit of time for decision-makers to listen to the people, but democracy actually matters when it comes to aligning public services with the public interest.

But more importantly, after the tainted effort to appoint a Ford crony as OPP Commissioner, the arbitrary firings, the millions of dollars in penalties due to the Ford regime’s interference in Hydro One, and the obsession with punishing political opponents — can any of us trust this government to not politicize and distort transit decisions in the future?

The TTC generates $1.2 billion from fares and the subways carry 230 million passengers. It gets the lowest amount of financial support from senior levels of government of any transit system in North America. That was caused when the previous Conservative regime abolished the traditional funding formula that saw the province and city equally cover the operating subsidy. And it never got fixed. Riders are asked to pay more, wait for crowded vehicles, and face growing uncertainty in getting from point A to B.

We all have a stake in ensuring that transit in Toronto is efficient, accessible and affordable. It is no accident that four former Toronto mayors signed a joint letter opposing the takeover. The answer to improved service is not breaking apart the TTC. The solution is to fund the system properly, and to keep all transit publicly owned, operated and maintained.

ATU Local 113 Sisters and Brother can Keep Transit Public by opposing Premier Ford’s upload scheme. Toronto’s transit workers have a unique perspective on the risks with this disastrous plan — that’s why it is important to show solidarity with riders, other unions, environmentalists, students and civil society leaders at two upcoming community events. See you there!

1.Councillor Paula Fletcher’s Transit Town Hall

Councillor Paula Fletcher is sponsoring a Transit Town Hall to discuss the dangers of the Ford government’s plan to steal the subway. This will be a chance to hear from transit experts and talk to your neighbours.

2. INFO PICKET for #OurSubway

Join TTCriders at MPP Kinga Surma’s constituency office to send a message: the TTC is #OurSubway!

MEETING LOCATION

Thursday, March 14 at 9:30 a.m.

Kipling Station
45 Kipling Northbound bus door

We’ll ride the 45 Northbound to the office together. Or you can meet us at the office for 10:15am.

OFFICE LOCATION

Thursday, March 14 at 10:15 a.m.
201 Lloyd Manor Rd – Unit 102, Etobicoke

City Council voted 23 to 2 to keep Toronto’s Subway with the City. That’s in direct opposition to Premier Ford and his so-called subway upload scheme that’ll break apart the TTC. That historic vote is not just symbolic, writes former mayor of Toronto John Sewell, it appears to have law on its side. Read his full explanation in The Globe and Mail today.

Toronto does not consent to Ontario’s proposed subway takeover – and that matters

John Sewell is a former mayor of Toronto.

Sometimes governments find it is easier to get their way by disregarding their own laws and proceeding as though there are no fetters on their actions.

So it is with the government of Premier Doug Ford.

That Ontario government has declared that it will “upload” the ownership of the Toronto subway system. It has appointed transportation consultant Michael Lindsay to advise on how that will be done, although it has said his advice will be kept confidential. The province has also said it will introduce legislation to assume ownership of the subway once the new legislative session begins Feb. 19.

The City of Toronto owns the subway – the land, the stations, the tracks, and other things involved – through its agency, the Toronto Transit Commission. On Dec. 19, by a vote of 23 to 2, city council stated it is opposed to this takeover, and the law appears to be is on its side.

Undeterred, the province is forging ahead without a meaningful definition of what “uploading” means nor clarity about whether the city would be paid for the appropriation of the system.

What the provincial government ignores is the law that governs this kind of dispute. Section 2 (1) of the Expropriation Act states that “despite any general or special Act, where land is expropriated or injurious affection is caused by a statutory authority, this Act applies.” Section 1 (1) defines expropriation as “the taking of land without the consent of the owner by an expropriating authority in the exercise of its statutory powers.”

That is certainly the situation here. Toronto has made it clear it does not consent. The law also applies to those who hold easements over the subway, none of whom have given consent.

Section 3 states “This Act binds the Crown.” That means that the province must follow the provisions in this statute.

The Act goes on to define which ministry would be responsible the expropriation process, and states that where it is unclear, responsibility falls to the Attorney-General. It then requires the Attorney-General to give notice to the city of its intentions and publish this notice in a local newspaper for three consecutive weeks. Such notice has never been given, nor has a notice been published in a Toronto newspaper.

These are simple procedural steps that the province has not bothered to take, apparently hoping to threaten city council enough that it reverses its opposition.

But the Act gives the city a strong negotiating position if it tells the province it must to adhere to the law. Section 6 states that the city can apply for a hearing about whether the expropriation is “fair, sound, and reasonably necessary,” and that hearing, conducted by an independent inquiry officer, permits cross-examination of witnesses.

The province has been unclear about why taking ownership of the subway is reasonable or necessary. It has talked vaguely about extending the subway, but to do so does not require ownership of it. And it doesn’t make much sense for the province to own the system, with the TTC still operating it, while running a separate transit system that is integrated with the subway.

Minister of Transportation Jeff Yurek recently stated the government intends to sell air rights over the subway, and that’s probably what the takeover is all about. That hardly satisfies the legislated criteria of the takeover being “fair, sound, and reasonably necessary.”

Then there’s the matter about what the province would have to pay by way of compensation. Section 13 states compensation will be based on market value. What is the subway and its associated land worth? We know the under-construction Eglinton Crosstown LRT is valued at about $8.4-billion. It has 25 stations, while the subway has 75. Does that mean the subway is worth three times as much? A hearing would have to determine the value.

Toronto city council must demand that the law be followed. That’s the only way this significant asset – worth a great deal of money, but also vital to Toronto’s continued efforts to be a world-class city – is fully protected.