[URBAN NOTE] "Lower TTC ridership leaves $25 million budget gap"
Ben Spurr's report earlier this month in the Toronto Star is alarming. We need more funding, people.
Faced with declining ridership and a projected $25-million shortfall, the TTC intends to cancel planned service improvements and crack down on youngsters who ride for free by making kids as young as 10 get photo ID.
According to a ridership update released on Wednesday, the commission has carried 250.3 million passengers so far this year, which is slightly less than numbers posted at the same time last year and 7.4 million fewer than the amount the TTC was anticipating by this point in 2016.
Commission staff project that by the end of the year, the agency will fall short of its originally-projected 553 million rides by up to 13 million trips, leaving it with a $25-million hole in its budget.
In order to make up the shortfall, the commission has already identified about $10 million in savings that include lower-than-anticipated costs of fuel, hydro, and employee benefits. To save an additional $1.5 million, the TTC intends to abandon service improvements planned for the fall of this year. That leaves a gap of about $13 million that the commission needs to bridge.
Faced with declining ridership and a projected $25-million shortfall, the TTC intends to cancel planned service improvements and crack down on youngsters who ride for free by making kids as young as 10 get photo ID.
According to a ridership update released on Wednesday, the commission has carried 250.3 million passengers so far this year, which is slightly less than numbers posted at the same time last year and 7.4 million fewer than the amount the TTC was anticipating by this point in 2016.
Commission staff project that by the end of the year, the agency will fall short of its originally-projected 553 million rides by up to 13 million trips, leaving it with a $25-million hole in its budget.
In order to make up the shortfall, the commission has already identified about $10 million in savings that include lower-than-anticipated costs of fuel, hydro, and employee benefits. To save an additional $1.5 million, the TTC intends to abandon service improvements planned for the fall of this year. That leaves a gap of about $13 million that the commission needs to bridge.