TORONTO'S TRANSIT SYSTEM is a mess. In the past year, fares have increased, service has decreased and wait times have ballooned. A staff report from late 2022 showed that the TTC's bus and streetcar routes were particularly migraine-inducing. About two-thirds of riders were routinely getting stuck on vehicles that were either chronically late or mired in construction. A lucky 14 per cent rode routes that were classified as on-time. The rest were what the TTC calls "on the cusp," meaning that they were mostly punctual, most of the time. Major projects are habitually completed years late and millions over budget. And then there's the rise in violence throughout the system, the half-measured response to it and how both have combined to turn people away from public transit.
The city's current transit woes are the culmination of decades of inertia, political meddling and bad management. The problems now vexing the TTC, and public transit more broadly, arrived neither suddenly nor without warning. They were allowed-and, in some cases, encouraged-to happen. Today, the whole system is sorely underfunded, neglected and saddled with leaders who often act only when sufficiently embarrassed. Worse still, nobody seems to have a viable plan to make it any better. Here's an inside look at everything wrong with Toronto transit and who's to blame.
PROBLEM 1
The farebox funding model is a nonsensical, unreliable mess
THE PLAYERS: Mike Harris, Kathleen Wynne, John Tory
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von Toronto Life.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der July 2023-Ausgabe von Toronto Life.
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There will be blood
Bedbugs are-no exaggeration-everywhere in Toronto: our libraries, offices, schools, hospitals, hotels, transit and homes. Inside the always expensive, often traumatic, probably futile battle to eradicate the bloodsucking parasites that are ruining our lives
Work Less, Live More
The 40-hour workweek sucks. Ambition is overrated. Life is short. Confessions from the new and intentionally underemployed labour force
Dinner, Party
Four resto-clubs where you can fuel up then boogie down-all without leaving the premises
Urban Diplomat
One of my friends has started policing strangers' social lives online. If he overhears people gossiping, he'll whip out his phone and surreptitiously record.
Car Guy
Flavio Volpe built a $20-million concept car to show off Canadian auto parts. Now if only he could get someone to finance production
Lighting the way to more efficient treatment
Markham Stouffville Hospital's new GreenLight Laser is reducing hospital stays and wait times for prostate surgeries.
Saving Sila
Yara Abualjedian was nine months pregnant when the bombing started in Gaza. Her husband, Ahmad, was in Canada, 9,000 kilometres away, with no way to reach her. Then she went into labour. A story about love and perseverance in a time of war
BRUTE FORCE
Firouzeh Zarabi-Majd always wanted to be a cop, and she loved the job. Even when her fellow officers started harassing her, she said nothing at first. That's the codeyou don't go public, no matter what. But eventually she had to speak up, and it cost her everything
THE GOOD LIAR
Carolyn Krebs (alias Carolyn Goodman, alias Marian Linton) may be the city's most hated landlord. She ignores work orders, falsifies documents and evicts tenants without cause. How one woman is making a killing off a system that's too broken to stop her
THE SECRET CITY
INSIDER TIPS AND TRICKS THAT MAKE LIFE EASIER, CHEAPER, FASTER, SLOWER, TASTIER, SMARTER AND WAY MORE FUN