Massive cuts, fare hike coming to Toronto transit: chair

'This is a horrible day,' Adam Giambrone says

Last Updated: Friday, July 20, 2007 | 7:53 AM ET

CBC News

Toronto's transit agency plans to close down its newest subway line, drop low-ridership bus routes and hike fares as a result of city funding shortages, the chairman said Thursday.

The massive cuts come in the wake of Mayor David Miller's defeat in his bid to impose new taxes that would have raised millions of dollars for the cash-strapped city.

The Toronto Transit Commission has reportedly been told to slash $100 million from its budget.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Pres)

"This is a horrible day," Toronto Transit Commission Chair Adam Giambrone said. "This is going to have a dramatic effect on Torontonians, not just TTC riders."

An emergency meeting of the commission board is scheduled for Friday to formalize the cuts, Giambrone told reporters. The commission was told to slash $30 million from its budget this year and $100 million from next year's.

The proposed cuts include:

• Cancelling about 20 low-ridership bus routes, including the Dupont, Pharmacy and Calvington lines, as soon as October.
• Abandoning plans to put 100 new buses into service this fall, instead using them to replace old vehicles.
• Closing the Sheppard subway line at the beginning of 2008.
• Cancelling all planned service improvements.
• Hiking fares by 10 to 25 cents.
• Unspecified layoffs, mainly through attrition.

The commission has yet to decide how many and which other bus routes will be on the chopping block, but more information is expected at Friday's emergency meeting.

The 6.4-kilometre Sheppard subway line is the newest branch of the system. It opened in 2002 and cost almost $1 billion and took eight years to build.

City council decided Monday to defer until October, after the provincial election, a decision on the mayor's plan to raise $356 million through land transfer and vehicle registration taxes. Miller said the postponement left him with no choice but to make immediate cuts and said everything is on the table.

Among the departments asked to trim their budgets was the Toronto police force, with a request to trim $10 million from its $780-million operating budget.

"It will be a challenge for us because we have a fairly tight budget and we have to make sure that there's no reduction in the level of service that we provide to the community," said Toronto Police Services Board Chair Alok Mukherjee.

The board will meet next week to scrutinize the budget for possible savings. Mukherjee said he fears the cuts could mean fewer officers on the street, but insisted community safety would not be compromised.

One city councillor, Denzil Minnan-Wong, suggested an alternative to service cuts — creating "Miller Days," modelled on the controversial wage freeze and mandatory unpaid days of leave for civil servants dubbed "Rae Days" imposed under former NDP Ontario premier Bob Rae. Miller said he's not considering that option.