Author: nanderson

Transit Advocates Rally as City Council Votes to Rebuke Ford’s Upload Scheme

by nanderson

Toronto City Council voted decisively to reaffirm its support for keeping ownership of the TTC on December 13 – rebuking Premier Ford and his scheme to break apart Toronto’s public transit system. The vote of 23 to 2 came as a coalition of transit advocates rallied outside City Hall demanding more transit funding from Queen’s Park to improve and expand service.

ATU Local 113 Sisters and Brothers rallied with TTCriders, Progress Toronto, Defend Toronto, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Toronto & York Region Labour Council and the Ontario NDP to make clear all that’s at stake for Toronto and its riders. Aleem Tharani, ATU Local 113 Executive Board Member, explained to the crowd, “Torontonians have funded the system for 100 years, it’s only fair we keep it!” Tharani’s concern adds to a growing list about Premier Ford’s hazy plan, including the implications of losing assets, the integrated system and accountable governance structures.

ATU Local 113 President-elect Carlos Santos, shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow transit advocates, demanding the City and Province keep transit public.

From left to right: Aleem Tharani (ATU Local 113 Executive Board Member – At Large Maintenance), Andrew Folatico (ATU Local 113 Health and Safety Representative), Jessica Bell (NDP MPP and Transit Critic) and Marvin Alfred (ATU Local 113 Executive Board – Transportation Arrow Road/Mt Dennis).

NDP MPP and Transit Critic Jessica Bell, standing beside Councillors Gord Perks and Mike Layton, called the so-called upload scheme for what it is, “Premier Ford’s grudge match against Toronto.” Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam added, “Torontonians say ‘no’ to Doug Ford stealing our subway!”

The vote in City Hall is a watershed moment for the fight to keep transit public. Mayor John Tory himself moved a motion to include an amendment affirming the City’s support for keeping ownership of the TTC, an indication he understands the value of Toronto’s 11,000 highly-skilled public transit workers.

Torontonians concerned about their public transit system are encouraged to sign the petition to Keep Transit Public here. ATU Local 113 members are urged to email fight2win@atu113.net to get involved.

New TTC Board Must Fight to Keep Transit Public

by nanderson

Toronto City Council appointed the new TTC Board on December 13, a mix of councillors and citizens who must be dedicated to ensuring our public transit system remains reliable, safe and prepared for the future. Councillor Jaye Robinson, of Ward 15 Don Valley West, will serve as Board Chair – and upon The Board’s first meeting, a citizen member will be elected Vice-Chair.

The TTC Board will play a crucial role in opposing Premier Doug Ford’s so-called subway upload. The Board oversees constructing, maintaining, operating and expanding the public transit system – all of which are under attack by the Premier’s scheme to rob the TTC of its crown jewel: the subway.

ATU Local 113 looks forward to working with councillors and citizens on the TTC Board to fight for a properly funded, public transit system that works for all and to build public understanding of all that’s at stake for our prosperous, vibrant city.

The TTC Board includes the following members:

  • Councillor Jaye Robinson (Ward 15 Don Valley West)
  • Councillor Brad Bradford (Ward 19 Beaches-East York)
  • Councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 17 Don Valley North)
  • Councillor Jim Karygiannis (Ward 22 Scarborough-Agincourt)
  • Councillor Jennifer McKelvie (Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park)
  • Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 16 Don Valley East)
  • Joanne De Laurentiis (Citizen)
  • Alan Heisey, Q.C. (Citizen)
  • Ron Lalonde (Citizen)

Our union will continue to urge all TTC board members to keep transit public – and to keep the TTC Subway system where it belongs: with Torontonians!

We’ll continue to post updates on transit matters, but you can also learn more on the TTC Board and its activities here.

In the Media: Urgent Fix Needed for Presto

by nanderson

There’s trouble ahead for public transit riders as the TTC will completely transition to Presto on January 1, 2019. ATU Local 113, and its over 11,000 frontline workers, understand firsthand the problems and frustrations riders will soon face: malfunctioning readers, out of service card reload machines and unnecessary repair delays through Metrolinx’s private contractors.

Presto is not ready for prime time – rather, it’s proven to be a system full of technical failures and repair delays costing Toronto’s public transit system.

That’s why ATU Local 113 sent a letter to Premier Ford with our members’ firsthand experiences with Presto. These are issues riders know all too well, and further justification for why ATU Local 113’s highly trained workers must  return to being responsible for fare collection repairs. A fare collection system that works better also means more accurate ridership numbers, a key metric that when underrepresented, undermines the building of badly needed transit infrastructure.

Read ATU Local 113’s letter to Premier Doug Ford on the urgent need to fix the Presto system, then see coverage on the issue below.

TTC Presto Fare System_Letter

TTC union warns Presto too unreliable for agency to end Metropass program next month (Ben Spurr, Toronto Star, December 7th)

Transit union, Tory ask Ontario government to fix problems with Presto-card transition (Alanna Rizza, Canadian Press, December 9th)

Rally to Stop the Subway Sell-Off

by nanderson

Doug Ford is steamrolling ahead with his plans to break-up and sell-off the TTC, starting with Toronto’s subway. This move is going to make commutes longer, increase fares, and send Toronto’s transit backwards. On Thursday, December 13 Toronto City Council will be debating Doug Ford’s plan for Toronto riders and commuters. Come and fill the gallery after the rally.

Join us at this rally to tell Doug Ford and Toronto City Council that the TTC belongs to Toronto not to Ford’s rich friends!

Thursday, December 13
12:30pm
Outside Toronto City Hall

This rally is a collaboration of the Ontario NDP, TTCriders, ATU Local 113, Progress Toronto and Defend TO.

RSVP now: https://www.ontariondp.ca/stop-subway-selloff

ATU Meets with Toronto Mayor John Tory, Share Concerns on Breaking Apart TTC

by nanderson

Yesterday, ATU Local 113 and ATU Canada leadership met with Toronto Mayor John Tory to discuss Premier Ford’s so-called subway upload. Mayor John Tory shared concerns about breaking apart the TTC – pledging to work co-operatively with ATU by sharing a list of our questions and concerns at his next meeting with the Premier.

While this is a welcome gesture, ATU will continue to press the Premier and his “special advisor” to rethink their troubling scheme. Toronto’s over 11,000 transit operations and maintenance workers have a firsthand understanding of the public transit system – including all that is at stake. The TTC belongs to Toronto and dividing the system means losing its integration and local democratic control. It will also mean reduced service and higher fares for riders – all while paving the way for privatization.

ATU will continue to share new developments at wemovetoronto.ca.

Fund the TTC, Don’t Break it! Transit Advocates Fight to Keep TTC in Toronto Hands

by nanderson

TTCriders, a transit advocacy group, led a day of action on Thursday, November 29 against Premier Doug Ford’s scheme to break apart the TTC through his so-called subway “upload.” ATU Local 113 members joined the rallies alongside dozens of concerned residents at Kipling, Donlands and Queen’s Park stations to spread the message directly to other riders. The message is clear — a rushed subway upload won’t fix the lack of public transit funding. Breaking apart the TTC means losing Toronto’s integrated system and local democratic control. For riders, this troubling scheme will lead to reduced service and higher fares – all while paving the way for privatization.

Read more about the successful day of action here and sign the petition to keep transit public!

Here are some photos of our sisters and brothers, alongside concerned residents, in action. Thanks for coming out!

Celebrate the Holidays with TTC LEGO

by nanderson

Public transit in the winter presents extra challenges. Snowy boots and dangling mittens can be uncomfortable – and on top of overcrowded buses, streetcars and subways – it can downright leave you feeling like the grinch.

That’s why Aaron Chapman is bringing his TTC LEGO to life in a whimsical winter scene on the Line 1 platform at Bloor Station. His “Toronto Rocket Subway Train” model circles a snowcapped mountain range filled with snowmen, Christmas trees and log cabins – warming the hearts of busy commuters.

ATU Local 113 members are encouraged to see the display, then vote to ensure LEGO IDEAS considers global distribution of the “Toronto Rocket Subway Train” model.

WHERE: Window on the Line 1 platform at Bloor station.

WHEN: the entirety of December.

More details on the “Toronto Rocket Subway Train” model below. It includes:

  • Two TTC operators, two TTC track workers, four passengers and LEGO RC powered;
  • Roofs and Control cabs are removable and complete with detailed operating controls;
  • Train Signal tree with rotating trip arm, train mounted trip switch and functional third rail;
  • And sliding passenger doors, overhead handles and subway advertisements.

Ontario PC Government Reveals its Privatization Agenda

by nanderson

It’s never been clearer: the Ontario government has a privatization agenda and it has set its sights on the TTC.

Last week at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Ontario’s Minister of Transportation Jeff Yurek addressed the Economic Club of Canada on “enhancing transit in the province.” It cost almost $100 per person to hear the “government for the people” issue a directive to Metrolinx to apply “market-driven approaches” to all new and existing transit projects – including leveraging “third-party investment” through “new forms of partnerships.”

Later in the week, and days before the report is due to cabinet, the government finally released the Terms of Reference for their “Special Advisor” on the so-called TTC Subway upload. The first objective: to secure provincial ownership of the TTC subway network and other strategic transit/transportation assets in Toronto. The Minister has refused to clarify if he’ll try to takeover more of Toronto’s public transit system.

While the Minister says he is looking for “market driven approaches,” in reality, the province’s scheme will do nothing more than harm public transit by shattering Toronto’s integrated system, taking away local democratic control and paving the way for higher fares and privatized service, similar to what we see with Metrolinx and GO Transit. Premier Ford, hands off our subways! The TTC belongs to Toronto.

The only way to protect Toronto’s public transit is to keep it public – and increase funding – so it can be improved and expanded for riders. Torontonians concerned about their public transit system are encouraged to sign and share the petition to keep transit public.

Read: Ford’s TTC meddling is a step too far

by nanderson

Read and share Christopher Hume’s column in the Toronto Star which explains how Premier Doug Ford’s plan to meddle with Toronto’s subway is a step backwards for transit in the city.

It’s one thing for the premier of Ontario to ignore the mayor of Toronto, quite another for him to ignore the City of Toronto. Doug Ford has managed both and in the process, taken relations between the two to new lows.

This bodes well for neither. Sooner or later, Ford’s shabby treatment of Toronto will come back to bite him where it hurts. In the meantime, his attack on civic governance and planned plundering of municipal assets has already weakened the city.

Not that the premier cares. Despite an unprecedented record of recklessness, Ford’s delusional regime never tires of patting itself on its collective back and giving itself standing ovations whenever one of its members opens his or her mouth. But by treating Toronto as an extension of the premier’s office, the Conservatives are meddling with the economic engine that keeps Ontario and Canada afloat. The city, which accounts for 20 per cent of the country’s GDP, is too important to be left to the whims of Ford’s hordes.

Yet because neither Canada’s inadequate constitution nor the 1849 Baldwin Act before it recognize cities, they exist in a legal limbo as “creatures of the province.” This rather embarrassing oversight usually goes unnoticed. But with Ford in control, it has become a major problem. Not that previous provincial governments brought much more enlightenment to the discussion; Ford’s predecessor, Kathleen Wynne, flatly refused Mayor John Tory’s request to toll the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway on the grounds that would hurt Liberal popularity in the 905. But with the exception of Mike Harris, Ontario premier between 1995 and 2002, no provincial chief magistrate has employed the power of primacy to intervene into the governance of Toronto for purely political purposes.

Regardless, many Ontarians view Ford’s assault on Toronto with amusement. Hogtown, the city they love to hate, deserves everything it gets. For their part, Torontonians are too busy with life at the centre of the universe to pay much attention to what the hinterland thinks.

But when Ford starts plotting the takeover of the city’s subway system, Torontonians get twitchy. It’s bad enough he cut council nearly in half and presided over the sale of the a key waterfront landmark, the Hearn Generating Station, to deep-pocketed buddies. But to mess with the subway is a step too far. Adding insult to injury, Ford’s avowed intention is to expand the metro into York, Peel and Durham regions, low-density suburbs that are not only the perceived heartland of Ford Nation but places where subways would be ruinously expensive.

Though he tried to justify his plan by explaining that provincial accounting methods would make subway expansion seem less expensive, that’s nonsense. And his assertion that the province would build transit more efficiently than the city is laughable. Though Ford’s brother Rob and John Tory have set Toronto transit back decades, Queen’s Park is every bit as inept.

Then there’s the question, a big one, of what it means to sell a subway. What’s a subway worth? How’s it done? Who decides? Toronto’s is a fully integrated transit system. Already hobbled by the underused Sheppard Line and the York Spadina extension, it has no need for more lines to nowhere. Experts agree the priority is the Downtown Relief Line, still a generation away from realization. Some argue the problem is its name. The Scarborough Relief Line sounds so much better.

This week Ontario transportation minister, Jeff Yurek, insisted the DRL is a priority, as are the Scarborough extension and the new suburban lines. But unlike talk, subways aren’t cheap; unsurprisingly, Yurek said nothing about where the money will come from. Though the DRL would serve the greatest number of people, transit reality here means ridership hardly counts.

The bigger concern is how two unequal and antagonistic jurisdictions so far apart on so many issues could co-administer an integrated transit system. And those councillors who feel the only question is whether the price is right miss the point. No wonder Torontonians are preparing for a fight. Last week, an angry crowd gathered at the Church of the Holy Trinity to plot strategy and let the premier know the system must remain under civic control.

Ford may have retreated from some decisions — eliminating Ontario’s French watchdog and allowing Greenbelt development. But Toronto’s subway is another matter; for a former city councillor who never got the respect he deserves, this one’s personal.

A Rushed Subway Upload Won’t Fix the TTC’s Funding Problem

by nanderson

Barely three months since the Ford Government announced plans to upload the TTC Subway, the Minister of Transportation announced today that he is ready to break up the TTC by early 2019. He’ll do that without consulting the over 10,000 hardworking public transit workers who maintain and operate the service daily – and it will ultimately cost the riders the most. At Doug Ford’s hand, Toronto is set to lose its integrated system and local democratic controls in way for reduced service and higher fares while paving the way for privatized transit. It’s not just wrong, it’s a rush job that will leave Torontonians waiting at the curb. The so-called subway upload is nothing more than another attack by Doug Ford on Toronto.

ATU Local 113 and ATU Canada encourage Torontonians to save their public transit system by signing the petition: https://wemovetoronto.ca/petition/