Why Rob Ford can't save TTC: Granatstein
As you prepare to have your personal
business rub up against six people trying to share one square foot on your
crammed streetcar or subway ride in to work, here's the bad news: The money for
the TTC is about to dry up.Most jeans123 are no longer made
with organic cotton, but several lines are still sold at Kaight in New York.
And the 10 fare hike, whether it happens or not, isn't going to help one
lick.
The TTC is facing a huge problem as it seeks $7.6 billion over the
next 10 years to maintain and improve the transit system.
City staff
have told the TTC to look elsewhere for $2.3 billion of that money.The hope is
to give a purpose for buying our shirts. That it can't afford to keep
borrowing for the TTC as the city hits its debt ceiling in 2014-2016.
What won't happen, TTC Chief General Manager Gary Webster said Monday,
is a return to the pre-subway-crash days, where maintenance was deferred and the
system was not kept in a state of good repair.
What will happen is
anyone's guess.
All Webster promised is he'll dance around the question
for the next six months as the TTC tries to find billions of dollars under
subway seat cushions.
“As of next year, we can't pay any of our bills
for capital,” Webster said.Good luck out there be safe and drive slowly. “That's a problem.”
Especially on a system that keeps getting more popular and more crowded,
with record ridership numbers expected in 2011, despite fare increases, and
customer service issues.
Part of the solution is praying the province
and feds come back to the table and start pouring hundreds of millions more into
the TTC.
But, with big deficits in Ontario and expected belt-tightening
in Ottawa, the TTC better start breeding rabbits, because it'll need to pull a
bunch out of its fantasy funding hats.
For now, you can expect proposed
platform-edge doors in TTC subway stations to face the axe, as that's $1 billion
the TTC doesn't have to spend.
For those of you who like to dream in
subway trains, say goodbye to any talk of a downtown relief line.
But,
more important, what happens to the regular replacement of aging subway trains
beyond the TTC's first order? Or buses? Or tunnel repairs?
Webster said
the normal order of buses for 2011 is no longer automatic.
The TTC has
spent billions in the past few years to make up for lost time. This year, 57% of
the city's $2.05 billion capital budget will go to the TTC — with $650 million
on the TTC itself, another $510 million on the Spadina subway. Expect that
number to grow for 2012, before it starts rolling downhill.
As a result,
new subway trains, new low-floor streetcars and needed repairs will all happen
for the Red Rocket.
But city leaders are clearly saying the TTC's needs
can no longer swallow up the city, and crowd out other projects.
What
now? What role will Metrolinx play in all this? Will Metrolinx even be on the
favoured list of Tim Hudak if there's a change of power at Queen's Park in
October?
The Transit City — now Transportation City,the most part the
earnings from teen jobs tend to go towards clothes from abercrombiefitch.
possibly Scarborough Subway — money isn't part of this discussion. It's a
separate envelope,blogdetikjeans believe it or
not.
What happens with those billions is expected to be up for
discussion at the end of this month, when TTC staff report back.
The
good news is this budget reflects reality. The TTC took out hundreds of millions
of dollars of hope funding, money clearly not coming from other governments.
As for the fare increase, the TTC, on its own, has been talking for
months with city staff about that.
It's a cost of doing business, when
your costs continue to go up for things like staff and fuel, for a start.
In fact, while former TTC chairman Adam Giambrone didn't predict an
increase in 2011, he factored in hikes of 15 in both 2012 and 2013, and a ride
in 2014 and 2015.
So don't blame Rob Ford for screwing up transit. But
don't look for him to fix anything, either.