Why now?
We love the TTC in Toronto. We love that it's relatively easy to get around the city, we love the operators that are helpful and friendly and offer a kind word for our thanks. We love the ding-dong of the subway doors closing and we love the automated street announcements. We love knowing when the trains are coming.
What we don't love? Being asked to bear the burden of the TTC's operating shortfalls through fare hikes without an appreciable difference in service. What's more, the highest fare hike is being proposed for Metropass riders - who are arguably amongst the TTC's most loyal riders.
$17 or .25 might not seem like a lot, but it adds up, and to some people, it will make enough of a difference for them to abandon the TTC altogether - or force them to stretch an over-stretched budget.
Riders have accepted fare hikes in the past with grumbling, but little else. Why now? Because if we don't say something sometime, we will be resigned to increases forever, until transit is no longer an affordable option.
To see the full proposed fare hikes, visit:
http://www.blogto.com/upload/2009/11/20091104_ttcfares.jpg
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Are you tracking how many people plan on joining the strike? I'd be curious to know.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping to do so - we've got a Facebook event going, which is a start... But not everyone's on Facebook by a wide margin. I'll probably start a thread here for the day of as well!
ReplyDeleteI am planning to provide printable flyers as well for people to leave out on TTC routes to spread the news beyond the net - and will be contacting the news orgs very shortly.
There are a lot of things you can do, including starting a Ning page, or starting an online petition (There are a ton of online petition services).
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to go without the TTC for the ENTIRE WINTER if there are a hundred or so out there who'll join me.
Seriously.
I live outside Toronto, i used to park at the ttc parking and paying for a pass, they hiked the pass and gave up the parking, now we have to pay between $4 to $6 dollars a day on the top of the pass. I stopped taking TTC for 3 years as i was working north, i am back downtown and i have to deal with this. The 1st week on the friday morning power went out between yorkmills and eglinton, i have to take the bus which was over loaded, after 5 buses i had to walk to lawrence station under the rain to get a bus! Yeah, F%#$@ beautiful! TTC more expensing way less usefull. "Ride the rocket", i would say ride the "wet firecraker"
ReplyDeleteScrew the damn ttc half the time they never pay attention o what people are putting in the cash bin or what ever and they are the only ones with out the device to count the change and then when they fuck up we suffer
ReplyDeleteI wish you luck and do not mean to put a damper on your efforts, but some people do not have another option for transportation. Is there another option that can be pursued, in concert with what you are attempting, to protest?
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not funding. It starts with the way the TTC is set up. The system is among the most archiac in the world. Toronto needs to look at European and Asian cities and how they run their transit systems. In Seoul and Tokyo, everything is automated. You use a 'pay as you use' card that charges a rider for distance and usage. These cards can be recharged at self-serve machines. For single rides, Seoul has implemented a single-use card, that charges a 50c deposit and you get that back at the destination. This automated system is both economical and reduces people taking advantage of the metro card and transfer system. And since the buses and subways are integrated, there is no need for transfer slips of people 'cheating' on fares. The real issue, and one that would keep fares reasonable, is not the fares themselves, but they way the system is run. I really want to see a fully automated TTC fare system. Why does Toronto remain so far behind the rest of the world?
ReplyDeleteJoin the facebook group "Modernize the TTC" as a petition to improve the transit system.
ReplyDelete