Speaking of stagnant transit,
Major bus plan postponed by TTC staff
A plan to run buses every 10 minutes or better on some of the city's most heavily travelled routes, many of which are located in suburban areas, is being postponed due to a lack of funding, Toronto Community News has learned.
"Right now there's nothing in the 2011 budget for this (plan)," confirmed TTC Spokesperson Danny Nicholson Friday, Jan. 7. TTC staff will make a presentation on their proposed 2011 budget to the city's budget committee Friday, Jan. 14.
Nicholson said major improvements to bus service outlined in the TTC's Transit City Bus Plan (TCBP) and scheduled to start this year will not happen "for funding reasons."
Service changes that were supposed to start this year, according to the plan, include:
- phasing in the increase of bus service to 10 minutes or better on a network of 21 busy routes (see sidebar). The improvements were originally scheduled to start this past fall but were pushed back to start November, 2011 followed by a second phase in late 2012.
- expanding express bus service on Jane Street and Don Mills Road and introducing express buses on Scarborough's 116 Morningside route.
- starting to implement the final phase of the TTC's Ridership Growth Strategy, approved in 2003, by increasing the frequency of service on all other bus routes to 20 minutes or better.
The TCBP, which was supposed to be implemented completely by 2014, also calls for hiring more on-street supervisors, equipping 1,150 intersections in the city with transit signal priority, building 10 new queue jump lanes for buses at congested intersections in Scarborough and North York and constructing 19 new bus bays along the 39 Finch East route. It also envisioned expanding or adding express bus service along 15 bus routes in 2014.
TTC staff estimated the plan would require $77 million in capital costs and $39 million annually to operate. When fully implemented, it would attract 7.5 million more customer trips annually. There were 300 million TTC bus trips made in 2008, and 60 per cent of TTC customers use a bus for all or part of their trip.
The city's budget chief said postponement of the plan doesn't constitute a service cut.
"It's a plan and it's a plan that hasn't been executed, so it (the service) is not there to begin with," said Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt), chair of the city's budget committee.
"At the end of the day, for everybody including the city, it's a question of affordability," Del Grande said. "So if you don't have the money to afford, you can't do certain things."
Most complaints he's received about bus service are not about frequency but bunching up of buses and short turns, he added.
Transit City Bus Network
10 minutes or better service is proposed in the TCBP for the following routes:
7 Bathurst*
22 Coxwell
24 Victoria Park*
29 Dufferin*
39 Finch East*
43 Kennedy*
44 Kipling South
46 Kipling*
52 Lawrence/58 Malton*
53 Steeles East*
54 Lawrence East*
60 Steeles West*
72 Pape
76 Royal York Road South
84 Sheppard West*
89 Weston*
94 Wellesley
95 York Mills*
96 Wilson*
102 Markham Road*
129 McCowan North
* indicates routes are also scheduled to get new or expanded express bus service in 2014
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/cityhall/article/926756--major-bus-plan-postponed-by-ttc-staff
We knew this was already going to happen, anyways, so no big loss.
