TTC Board approves 2015 budgets, unprecedented investment in service

The Toronto Transit Commission Board, approved the 2015 TTC and Wheel-Trans Operating budgets, and its 2015-2024 ten-year Capital budget. The Board also approved effective March 1, 2015, a ten-cent increase to the cost of a token and an increase to the cost of an adult Metropass (2015 fare prices attached). Cash fares remain unchanged. Children 12 years of age and under will travel free on the TTC.

City Council will now consider the subsidy request of $478.9 million for TTC’s 2015 Operating Budget and $108.8 million for the 2015 Wheel-Trans Operating Budget, an increase of $38.8 and $2 million over the 2014 budgeted levels for TTC and Wheel-Trans respectively. TTC subsidy per rider remains the lowest in North America at 88-cents. By comparison, Montreal’s is $1.21, New York City’s $1.14 and York Region’s is $4.34.

The budget includes an unprecedented investment in new and enhanced transit service that will annualize to $95 million once fully implemented. These new investments will provide the following improved services to Toronto transit riders:

- Restoration of all day, every day bus service that was cut in 2011

- Ten-minute or better bus and streetcar service on key routes from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. six days a week (9 a.m. on Sundays)

- Reduced wait times and crowding at off-peak times

- Reduced wait times and crowding on 21 of the busiest routes during morning and afternoon rush hours

- Proof-of-payment and all-door boarding on all streetcar routes

- Expansion of the Express Bus network, adding four new routes to a network that serves 34 million riders annually

- Expanding the Blue Night Network, adding 12 routes to the 22-route network that serves 4 million riders annually

- Adding up to two additional subway trains on Lines 1 and 2 during morning and afternoon rush hours

- Route management improvements designed to reduce short-turns, bunching and gapping of bus and streetcar routes

- Additional resources to focus on subway reliability around signals, track and communications systems

- Warehouse and interim bus garage

- More station supervisors

This investment in TTC service also includes 50 new buses and a temporary storage facility to allow for the Express Bus network expansion, reduction of wait times and crowding on some peak-period routes, as well as the need for additional spare buses during maintenance.

Details of the timing of the introduction of additional service, as well as the restoration of service, will now be  developed by staff.

Budget Highlights

Operating

- $1.7 billion in expenses in 2015

- 545 million rides expected and service to match – increase of 1.9% over 2014

- Fare revenue = $1.1 billion

- City subsidy = $478.9 million (up from $440 million in 2014)

- A ten-cent increase to the price of a single token (from $2.70 to $2.80)

- Metropass trip rate increase from 49.5 to 50.5 trips per month – nets an additional $7 million in revenue

Wheel-Trans

- Customer trips expected to increase by approximately 180,000 to 3.25 million

- Total expenses for 2015 = $115 million

- fare revenue = $6.2 million

- total subsidy = $108.8 million (up from $106.8 million in 2014)

- Under provincial legislation, Wheel-Trans service became a 24/7 operation in 2013

2.0 million of 3.1 million Wheel-Trans trips taken in 2014 were by contracted taxi

Capital

- $9.3 billion – 2015-2024 ($1.149 billion in 2015)

- 96% of capital spending is focused on state-of-good-repair that includes:

- Rehabilitation of buildings, structures, tunnels, bridges and yards

- Track replacements

- Maintaining signals, electrical and communications systems

- Vehicle acquisitions including: subway cars, streetcars and buses to replace an aging fleet while also addressing ridership growth and service improvements

- Shortfall of $2.4 billion over 10 years, 84% in the latter five years

- Some projects, therefore, remain unfunded, including:

- Accessibility (Easier Access III)

- 372 T1 subway car replacements

- 201 new Wheel-Trans buses

- 60 new LRVs for growth

- 99 40’ LF Buses customer service initiatives)

- Bus heavy rebuild program

- Fire ventilation upgrade

- Train door monitoring system – T1 & T