Sheppard Subway to be Mothballed?

Cuts, fare hikes menace TTC
TORY ZIMMERMAN / TORONTO STAR
The Red Rocket holds a special place in the hearts of many a Torontonian.

TTC told it has to chop $30 million from its budget for this year and another $100 million next year, Adam Giambrone says

Jul 19, 2007 03:10 PM
jim byers
city hall bureau chief

The Sheppard subway could be mothballed and Toronto Transit Commission riders hit with a 25-cent fare increase because of budget cuts at city hall, TTC chair Adam Giambrone said today.

"It's a dark day," Giambrone told the Star in a telephone interview. "But we have no choice. I can't print money."

Giambrone was briefed on the city's budget crisis today by city manager Shirley Hoy and said the TTC has to chop $30 million from its budget for this year and another $100 million next year. He's called an emergency commission meeting for 1 p.m. Friday to talk about how to cope, but he said he's calling for a number of critical moves that he admits will cause tremendous anger amongst transit users.

The Sheppard subway could be closed entirely by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, Giambrone said.

He also said the TTC likely will have to chop 21 surface routes, including the 26 Dupont, 67 Pharmacy and 120 Calvington routes. That will save one million dollars this year and $10 million next year, he said.

The commission had hoped to spend millions to improve service and ease overcrowding on the Yonge Street subway line, but that no longer will be possible.

City council on Monday voted to defer consideration of new taxes that would raise $356 million for the cash-strapped municipality next year. Mayor David Miller the next day said that means immediate moves are needed to contain costs. He warned some cuts might hurt, but there was no indication the damage would be so severe.

Giambrone said the TTC cuts aren't a public relations measure aimed at trying to get council to change its mind or convince the province to help the city.

"I can only provide service as to our budget," he said. "I can't have employees work for free." Giambrone said he warned councillors on Monday that major changes might be needed if new tax money wasn't forthcoming.

"There will be a lot of pain," he said. "This affects each and every Torontonian."

Maybe they could close it during off peak times, like they used with the University subway line. Mothballing it totally would be crazy.

Shut down the entire system and see massive protests leading to the province picking up the TTC as their service.

I'm pissed.. David Miller and Dalton McGuinty are both getting the finger at the next election.

Retarded ferries, cutting 22 lines...Giambrone sure is innovative!

They could cut from the social programs/housing/shelter budget...poor transit will hurt poor people a lot more. They could also suspend library renovations, reduce flower plantings in parks, etc. There's plenty to cut if they want to.

MetroMan said:

Shut down the entire system and see massive protests leading to the province picking up the TTC as their service.

I'm pissed.. David Miller and Dalton McGuinty are both getting the finger at the next election.

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I would include Stephen Harpon on that list.

Wow. Adam's off the deep end.

I just don't know what to make of it - there are supposed to be big improvements coming this fall to deal with oveecrowding, their budget set for this year. The TTC a few years ago during the dark Lastman days was making these kind of doom-and-gloom announcments reguarly, but really nothing happened, except deferred improvements. There's only so many times the TTC can be taken seriously on this especially when there's been so much buzz about transit in the past year or two.

I can see that the Sheppard line was a great investment....

Maybe it's time to cancel the Greg Sorbara line, I'd love to whip that smug look of that idiot's face.

MetroMan said:

Shut down the entire system and see massive protests leading to the province picking up the TTC as their service.

I'm pissed.. David Miller and Dalton McGuinty are both getting the finger at the next election.

Click to expand...

Uh, yeah, that's a good idea... especially since David Miller wanted to avert these problems with his targeted taxes, and McGuinty gave him the right to enact them in the first place and is pouring billions into transit...

The TTC does this every single year. I may have been scared five years ago, but it's just gotten ridiculous now. No, they're not going to shut down the subway. No, they're not going to cancel all those routes. In fact, they're improving service on those routes, and note that they're not cancelling any of the service improvements. It's because none of this will happen. The mayor's just trying to embarrass councillors who opposed the new taxes and put more pressure on Queen's Park.

The Sheppard line was a good investment...it has generated thousands of new residential units, generating enough taxes to - should they be funneled to transit instead of being raked in by other levels of government - pay for finishing the line as intended.

ITcomputer said:

I can see that the Sheppard line was a great investment....

Maybe it's time to cancel the Greg Sorbara line, I'd love to whip that smug look of that idiot's face.

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Amen, brother.

unimaginative2 said:

Uh, yeah, that's a good idea... especially since David Miller wanted to avert these problems with his targeted taxes, and McGuinty gave him the right to enact them in the first place and is pouring billions into transit...

The TTC does this every single year. I may have been scared five years ago, but it's just gotten ridiculous now. No, they're not going to shut down the subway. No, they're not going to cancel all those routes. In fact, they're improving service on those routes, and note that they're not cancelling any of the service improvements. It's because none of this will happen. The mayor's just trying to embarrass councillors who opposed the new taxes and put more pressure on Queen's Park.

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I find it curious that they were no warnings of this during the debates and now all of a sudden it's crisis time.....

You know, Toronto has got to be literally the only city in the entire world where people oppose subway lines and consider themselves transit supporters. It's just bizarre. Here's a newsflash. In cities with successful transit, transit supporters support transit.

If the line is closed the Sheppard East bus will instantly become the busiest surface route in the whole network, prompting people to demand they build subway to replace it.

A little harsh, Unimaginative.

You must admit that there are very valid criticisms of the Sorbara extension to Vaughan - I think most people that support transit yet do not support certain subway lines believe that there are more worthy projects.

I support the York U extension, with only a few caveats. I have become resigned to the Sorbara Line being built, but I am not happy about how that superceded more worthy projects - it was a very political decision.

Smoke and mirrors. Bet we will be hearing a lot of this over the next while as city hall tries to make this 'a Provincial election' issue.

I had no issue with the tax thing, the only thing I wished they had done was had a broader plan instead of just two big cash cow taxes. Spread a little bit of tax out over many things and most people would barely have noticed.