WHO BROKE THE TTC?

Toronto used to have one of the best transit systems in North America. Now it’s crowded, unreliable, underfunded and dangerous. The inside story of what went wrong and who’s to blame

- Stephen Spencer Davis

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