Sluggish Toronto-area commutes are hurting Ontario's economy big time - The Globe and Mail

Sluggish Toronto-area commutes are hurting Ontario's economy big time - The Globe and Mail: "What isn’t beyond our control is the ability to take steps to keep the Toronto region globally competitive. Ensuring that goods and services flow smoothly across the region is one obvious support we could give our economy. Gridlock is now costing our economy $6-billion a year in lost productivity, and this loss is headed toward $15-billion annually."

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Manitoba Green Party: Make #Transit Free- Winnipeg Free Press

Green Party unveils wide-ranging platform - Winnipeg Free Press: "The Green Party of Manitoba is promising voters free post-secondary education, free public transit and a guaranteed annual income as a part of a wide-ranging if not outright utopian platform."

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Horwath promises to ease cost of transit by half

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says her party is promising to ease the operating cost of transit for cities across the province by half if elected in the upcoming provincial election.

CTVOttawa

2010 Toronto Star calls for free public transit

Public sector austerity unreasonable and irrational - thestar.com: "Rather than freezing the public sector, this moment should be an opportunity to address the crisis in the transportation sector that is so vital to Ontario’s whole economy, as measured not only in auto industry shutdowns and layoffs but in notorious traffic congestion on our roads.

This would mean converting auto assembly and parts plants to the production of energy efficient mass transit vehicles and using the tax revenues from the jobs generated thereby to fund free public transit. If there was ever a time to use Ontario’s capacity to raise funds in bond markets for this, it is now. Far from placing a burden on future generations, it would guarantee them a future."

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2008 - Toronto Star calls for free public transit

Toronto News: Is free transit the better way? - thestar.com: "Despite arguments drivers pay their equivalent of a rider's transit fare via gas taxes, vehicle fees and registration, the fact remains there's no box at the end of the driveway or the highway entrance where they must put their money before proceeding. As a result, there's a perception roads are free and that encourages more people to get behind the wheel because they feel they've already paid for the drive, so they might as well.

What if we took the same approach to public transit? Just like the roads and bridges, the subway tunnels, streetcar tracks, buses and other transit infrastructure has been paid for with tax dollars. So, if the goal is building up usage to help the planet, create a more liveable city and move away from a car-dependent culture we now are, then eliminating fares seems to be a way shift that transportation balance."

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Oil industry desperate to force you back in your car

TTC defers fare hike but approves service cuts - The Globe and Mail: "Toronto transit riders can expect longer waits and more crowding beginning in January, but whether they will have to shell out more at the fare box for that reduced service won’t be certain until December."

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InsideToronto Article: NDP and CUPE lambaste proposed TTC cuts

InsideToronto Article: NDP and CUPE lambaste proposed TTC cuts: ""CUPE is absolutely opposed to cuts to the TTC," said CUPE Ontario secretary-treasurer Candace Rennick. "It's a direct attack on low-income residents, women and people who can't afford to drive cars. The Province needs to start funding the TTC. People need to be supported and cuts to services won't help.""

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Shortfall, cash-strapped, funding difficulties, -- it is all a big lie

People wait for the TTC Finch bus. The TTC still needs to 

find $30 million in savings to cover a projected

 shortfall across the conventional and Wheel-Trans systems.

TORONTO STAR PHOTO

Toronto News: Get ready for more crowded TTC buses - thestar.com: "The new year will be a return to the past for a record number of TTC riders who will be crammed tighter onto buses and left standing longer at the curb after the TTC board agreed to lower its service standards Friday."

Oil companies have gotten their trolls into power by trickery, lying, and plain old election fraud. The corporate media has helped by propagating their lies. There is no funding problem. All the money is spent on the auto-system, as if bus riders were not people. Actually bus riders are saving the economy. They should ride free.

Demand is up -- so, what, cut service?

Toronto transit eyes cutting 1,000 jobs, service on key routes - The Globe and Mail: "The Toronto Transit Commission is looking to shed almost 1,000 jobs and reduce service levels on some of the city’s busiest routes as the cash-strapped system hunts for the 10-per-cent savings requested by the city and struggles to close an estimated $101-million budget gap.

A 10-cent hike at the fare box also is on the table, but TTC chair Karen Stintz said she is not ready to ask riders to pay more without first looking for other savings."

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We’re talking mobility, not gravy - thestar.com

We’re talking mobility, not gravy - thestar.com: "There’s no gravy train in the City of Toronto, but there is a wrecking ball and it’s aimed directly at our transportation system. Since taking office last fall, Mayor Rob Ford has consistently shown a disregard for any notion of evidence-based planning of the city’s road and transit networks.

His bias against both streetcars and light rail transit (LRT) flies in the face of the fact that our current streetcar system carries many more riders a day than the entire GO Transit system and is essential to the daily functioning of the Toronto downtown."

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