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A transit advocacy organization has released a report card ranking the two leading mayoral candidates on their platforms and for all their differences it does seem that Jennifer Keesmaat and John Tory have at least one thing in common – failing grades when it comes to “properly funding the TTC.”
TTCriders evaluated both Keesmaat and Tory on their platforms and public commitments to transit as they pertain to five separate categories. Those categories are “keeping transit public,” “funding the TTC,” “lowering fares,” “improving service now” and “expanding rapid transit.”
Keesmaat received a green light in four of the five categories, which means that her platform and commitments were considered to be “on track” in those areas by TTCriders. Tory, meanwhile, received a yellow light in four of the five categories, meaning that he has made “some commitments” to specific actions advocated by TTCriders but has a platform that “needs work” overall.
Both Keesmaat and Tory received an orange light in properly funding the TTC, meaning that their commitments have largely fallen short in that area.
In the report card, TTCriders said that while the per rider operating subsidy for the TTC has risen to $1.07 under Tory’s leadership, it said that it should be at least $1.50 per rider, something that neither candidate has committed to doing.
In fact, the advocacy organization said that with both candidates committing to keep any property tax increase to the rate of inflation it is unlikely that either would be able to significantly increase funding to the TTC over the next four years.
“Neither Jennifer Keesmaat or John Tory got a passing grade on funding the TTC and that is the key issue in this election,” TTCriders Executive Director Shelagh Pizey-Allen told reporters at a news conference outside Osgoode Station on Tuesday morning. “The TTC is one of the most underfunded transit systems in North America and unless we see a change to that we are not going to see service improvements.”
Keesmaat scored well on “keeping transit public” because she, unlike Tory, signed a commitment that was distributed by the union representing TTC workers. The report also pointed out that Keesmaat is “opposed” to the Ford government’s plan to assume responsibility for the subway system while Tory has said that he would only be in favour of the move if it represented a substantial improvement for riders and taxpayers.
On service improvements, the report card credits Tory for adding 10-minute or better service on some surface routes, expanding overnight service on Blue Light routes and funding improvements to reduce overcrowding but criticizes him for a drop in adult TTC ridership over the last four years.
The report card applauds Keesmaat for committing to enhanced bus frequency on 10 routes through measures like transit signal priority and bus lanes but points out that she hasn’t revealed a plan to pay for the improvements.
