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Indeed the TTC has become infected with a similar problem recently where whatever new award(s) they manage to win take pride of place at meetings while serious discussion about ridership and service quality await reports that never quite seem to appear. Budgets do not offer options conflicting with Mayor Tory's insistence on modest tax increases. Getting an award for the "We Move You" marketing campaign is cold comfort to people who cannot even get on a bus or train because there is no room.
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Who Decides?
The great irony in this exercise is that the substantive policy decisions both at the City and Province are not made by the Boards of their respective transit agencies, but by their political masters. At both levels, the focus lies on construction, capital projects with lots of opportunities for photos in front of heavy equipment and empty lands about to become big holes in the ground. Far less is heard about the quality of day-to-day service, or how growing demand for local transit will be funded and operated.
Within Toronto, the TTC faces stagnant ridership, but a good case can be made that a major problem is one of capacity – there simply is no room for more people to board. All the marketing campaigns in the world are undone by one long wait as bus after bus, streetcar after streetcar, train after train pass by with no room for a would-be passenger.
Regionally, growth in transit demand will place a huge burden on municipal governments. The existing market share for transit in the 905 is small, and so growth represents a larger degree of change than it would in Toronto. Moreover, with a small existing market, the political appetite for more transit spending is weak.
There is also the basic issue that “regional” travel is not only aimed at Toronto’s core, important though that is, and that transit’s market share cannot be improved if it ignores a major segment of regional demand going nowhere near downtown.
As GO improves its services, especially with frequent all-day operation, the park-and-ride model with its ratio of two parking spaces for every three commuters will collapse. No station can be a “mobility hub” if there is little mobility in the form of local transit to serve it. Queen’s Park’s attitude is that this is a local problem, and yet, at a minimum, Metrolinx owes everyone detailed projections of how local systems must evolve as the GO/RER network builds out.
Within Toronto, the overlay of a GO network on the TTC brings the question of how the bus network should be oriented. For example, should bus routes in Scarborough force-feed “SmartTrack” services rather than the existing subway/RT? What happens when the SSE opens with its 30+ bay terminal at the Town Centre? Will Agincourt become a ghost station?
This brings us to the challenge that as an informal gathering, the two Boards may choose to meet in private. This would undercut the value of a discussion where public statements can inform public debate. That may not be to Metrolinx’ or TTC’s liking, but if there is information to be “shared” this should take place where we can all hear what is said.
I wish the TTC Board well in their Metrolinx dinner dates, but fear that they are doomed to wait a long time for deep and meaningful conversations.
There will be a lot of fish on the menu.
