It’s now up to you to elect a Mayor and Councillor who share our priorities.

We’ve made it clear who supports our pledge to keep the TTC public, properly funded by all levels of governments, and who will work to complete the Transit City plan that was promised to us.  Click here to review our report cards and see where candidates stand on transit issues.

To see how candidates have been graded on public transit and other important issues by PTC partner organizations click here.

Now’s your turn to step up and help those candidates who share our vision for Toronto’s public transit system. The final push is on and candidates across the City need help now! Please get in touch with the candidates with the highest scores on our report cards and ask how you can help them get to City Hall.

On Monday, make sure you vote for the candidate who cares enough about all of our neighbourhoods to deliver decent transit to all of Toronto now!

The report card makes it clear where the top 4 mayoral candidates stand on key issues facing the TTC.  Joe Pantalone scores an A+, George Smitherman gets a B, and Rob Ford and Rocco Rossi got Fs as both failed to complete the survey.

The survey asked ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions to find out where candidates stand on issues including:

• Public-private partnerships (PPPs) and other forms of privatizing the TTC
• Building the Transit City Light Rail Plan by 2020
• Keeping TTC fares in check
• Provincial funding for TTC operating costs
• Maintaining existing TTC service levels and expanding service to all wards
• Keeping City Councillors on the Transit Commission

Transit has been a top issue in this election. Our report card provides Torontonians with a tool to show which mayoral candidate has the best vision for how to improve public transit. If you care about the TTC ,review this report card before you vote on October 25th.

The survey was sent to all registered Council candidates in August. The PTC repeatedly contacted candidates who had not responded, encouraging them to fill out the survey.

The Good News:  More than three quarters of respondents scored 80% or better on the survey reflecting the commitment most candidates have to expanding and improving the TTC.

The Bad News:  Not all candidates seem to share this commitment as 17 incumbent candidates refused to fill out the survey

Torontonians care about the future of the TTC.  Now they have an important tool to find out which candidates running for City Council share their vision for a better TTC.  We hope voters will consider these results when they head to the polls on October 25^th.

“Some mayoral candidates want the private sector to play a substantial role in the TTC. So we spent the last few months researching other cities comparable to Toronto that have privatized their transit systems to see what happened,” said Dr. Franz Hartmann, Executive Director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance and PTC member. “The consequences have ranged from disappointing to disastrous for commuters and taxpayers. We felt it was really important for Torontonians to know the facts about privatization before they vote.”

The campaign, titled “Keep TTC Public,” includes:

• A 30-second television ad that will air several hundred times before election day on October 25;
• A website – KeepTTCPublic.ca – that provides information on the failure of transit privatization and a “Report Card” (to be posted soon) on where the mayoralty and Council candidates stand on the future of the TTC;
• A compelling video, narrated by Canadian actor Eric Peterson, that explores Toronto’s transit history and details the problems with transit privatization in Melbourne, Aukland, London (England), and Vancouver. The video is hosted on the campaign website and available on YouTube;
• Ads in daily newspapers and on TTC vehicles.

“The TTC has problems, we all know that. Privatization is clearly not the solution. We urge Torontonians to visit KeepTTCPublic.ca and see what’s happened in other cities that privatized their public transit systems,” said Hartmann. “Then we hope they will tell candidates to avoid the mistakes other cities have made and keep the TTC public.”

- Franz Hartmann, Executive Director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance, as part of a series articles for Torontoist.com focused on the environment and Toronto’s upcoming municipal election. To read the whole article, click here: How We Make Decisions, Not Just What’s Decided, is an Environmental Issue Too.

The PTC firmly believes that the renewed commitment to serving TTC riders and residents of Toronto can only be achieved within the context of a fully funded, publicly owned, and democratically accountable public transit system.

The continued under-funding of public transit in Toronto is at the heart of many of the recommendations and observations made by the Panel. To address these issues systematically, the Provincial government must return to the table and recommit to funding public transit. The Province must restore its 50 per cent subsidy for operating costs for public transit, cut during the Mike Harris era and continued this year by Premier McGuinty. In the 2010 budget, this would amount to approximately $256 million.

The process undertaken to achieve these recommendations is also a sign of the importance of and need for public accountability. The Panel’s very existence is a response to public input and demand.  Without a democratic and accountable Toronto Transit Commission, a report like this would not be possible.

In her letter Mayor McCallion says:

“…the recent implementation of the Metrolinx “Achieving 5 in 10″ Plan, delays to the ECLRT [Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit] extension to Pearson Airport (“Airport”) will now go beyond 2020, thereby creating a 7.5 kilometre gap between the proposed Jane Street terminus and the Renforth Gateway Mobility Hub. For more than seven years, Toronto transit riders destined to the Airport and surrounding employment area will be required to make additional transfers.”

Mayor McCallion goes on to say:

“The ECLRT extension to the Airport presents an attractive opportunity to connect the Mississauga Bus Rapid Transit (“BRT”) system to the Renforth Gateway Mobility Hub creating a seamless transit connection and maximizing significant investments by the Province in the Mississauga BRT Corridor and ECLRT projects.”

See the Resolution adopted by the City of Mississauga as well as correspondence between Mayor McCallion and Metrolinx here (pdf).

One resident said that on a good day it takes two hours to get from Birchmount and Finch to Yonge and Bloor. Another resident pointed out that the fares are too high and the service is infrequent. The residents were very interested in working with the Public Transit Coalition and want to ensure their community has the opportunity to see the benefits that more transit brings.

They are interested in arranging MPP meetings and letter writing campaigns to get transit on the agenda for the 2011 Provincial elections.

Images of the Transit City Light Rail plan shrinking over the last three years:

• 2007 Transit City
• 2009 Transit City
• 2010 Transit City

The residents discussed a number of different ways to get people more engaged in transit issues such as doing outreach at different community events and places were people gather such as the mall. One suggestion was riding the buses and going to bus stops in Rexdale and talking with people about Transit City and the delays/cuts in funding to the project and how it will affect them as TTC users. They also talked about connecting with civic engagement meetings that are being held by different organizations and networks such as the Neighbourhood Action Plan and seeing if we could put transit on their agenda.