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Province Rolls Out Greater Toronto Transit Authority

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CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR

TTC and Mississauga buses share space at Islington station.

Crossposted to Transit Toronto.

The Toronto Star is reporting that the Province of Ontario will be rolling out a Greater Toronto Transit Authority to knit together the dozens of transit agencies throughout the Golden Horseshoe into a “seamless” system. The move fulfills a Liberal campaign promise from the 2003 election.

It is unclear how much clout the GTTA will have (if indeed those are its initials). The Star provides a glowing outlook, saying: “this could eventually mean faster and smarter decisions on new buses, streetcars and trains, express right-of-ways, and paying through a “smart card” to cross municipal boundaries,” but it suggests that most of its focus will be on advising the province on various rapid transit initiatives around the city of Toronto, including the 403 Busway and transforming York’s VIVA into an LRT network.

Steve Munro suggests that now is the time to think big and he provides some sensible suggestions on how to do that. My own concern is that the focus of the GTTA is primarily in the 905 area of the Golden Horseshoe. Will politics result in the needs of 416 commuters being short-changed? And what of the cost of bringing 905 residents up to a 416 level of transit service? Will there be a fare-by-distance scheme to pay for it all? Remember, when the TTC was forced to drop its two-zone fare system, allowing people to ride from Finch and McCowan all the way downtown for the same prize as travelling from Union Station to the Exhibition, its need for subsidies dramatically increased, as did fares. On the other hand, it makes little sense for Mississauga Transit buses to go screaming past TTC riders on Burnhamthorpe Road, while the TTC spends its limited funds on providing its own bus.

It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the coming days. Much will be revealed tomorrow when the Liberals unveil their budget.

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6 comments

  1. In New York, the MTA, a state-chartered corporation, owns and operates the New York City Subway, the Metro North Railroad and the Long Island Railroad. Personally I feel they dedicate an equal amount of attention to the respective commuter rails and more attention to the subway. The burden is on the state to fund the subway instead of the city, and hopefully that will be the case for the GTTA and the Toronto subway.

  3. And given that GO Transit is owned by the province of Ontario, which is rolling out this initiative…

  4. Wow, I’d say I smell another provincial download, but there’s nothing TO download. To privatize, on the other hand…

  5. Is regulating transit with regards to noise and pollution control part of their mandate? I certainly hope so.

  6. Here’s a Taste of the 905 GTA Poltics We’re Into as

    Halton Region Doesn’t Follow it’s Own Higher Density models so No Full Service GO on Georgetown GO Line

    Raising a family in Halton Hills we had the Dominion Seed House Farm property in the middle of Georgetown.
    a Short Walk away is the Go Train Service which only goes into the City in the Morning & Out of TO at nite.
    When the Harding family wanted to Sell the property,
    Halton Region was having meetings about the Need for Regional areas called Nodes ? like what Oakville is trying to do around their Go station but Oakville already has ALL day go Train Service, so many from the North in Halton Region drive to Oakville to access Downtown TO.

    Unfortunately, Halton Region didn’t stand behind Their Own Words, which included the Mayor of Burlington.

    HighRise Towers were the perfect solution on the property as the property is surrounded by Regional arterial Roads & a Cemetary on one side so probably there would have been No OMB Challenge either.

    We then would have had enough volume of people for All Day Go Service. An elected rural member of the local Halton Hills Council, a Robert Heaton of the day then, raised this issue during rezonings for the property, the then Mayor Marilyn Sargenson got up along with the then Regional Councillor Rick Bonnette now the Mayor & an endorser of Brent Marshall running for Halton Regional Chair this & last time, a Councillor Norm Elliott from Acton left the Council Chambers, thereby adjouring the meeting due to lack of Quorum.

    The local Cable TV channel people were recording & the local Metroland Newspaper was there but No newstory was ever released to the Community.

    There were witness’s you can Contact as there were lots of others there too to comfirm what happened that night as the Town Clerk may have Never recorded the incident .

    What is there now is low medium density & NOT the New Fire Hall which was supposed to built on this Site as a Central Site to Service the Community.

    We’ve Lost the Only direct Green opportunity for residents to NOT have to drive to the Go Station etc.

    This also has taken away the Go Train Service numbers that would have helped Keep the Acton Go Train Service that used to run to Guelph that Robert Heaton helped bring into the rural area & Urban Community serving Wellington County with Ontario Transportation Minister MPP Ed Phillips.