tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12218227.post114977293738006923..comments2024-02-12T05:46:36.595-05:00Comments on talk talk talk: TTC Shenaniganstalk talk talk / Shireenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10453931641034885060noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12218227.post-1149867185865270992006-06-09T11:33:00.000-04:002006-06-09T11:33:00.000-04:00Steve Munro's site is at http://www.stevemunro.ca....Steve Munro's site is at http://www.stevemunro.ca. You should check it out.James Bowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11888307747088266395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12218227.post-1149859861554812442006-06-09T09:31:00.000-04:002006-06-09T09:31:00.000-04:00"the impact of wages as negotiated between union a..."the impact of wages as negotiated between union and management has an effect on fares, but not on subway expansions."<BR/><BR/>I thought I had separated the two clearly, but I guess only in my mind, I'm sorry! I was trying to say that the Bombardier deal for new subway cars may have had an effect (or will have) on subway expansion, both being capital costs, and on the other side of the equation, that wages (an operating cost) affected fares, which pay for the operating expenses.<BR/><BR/>The feds are loath to pay for subway expansion, the province hasn't earmarked enough, and Moscoe with his Bombardier deal has just given ammunition to those who say that Toronto and the TTC waste money and therefore should cannot be trusted with any to pay for major projects like this. Thus it will be harder to get the feds to match the provincial subsidy and to get the subway expanding again.<BR/><BR/>On the operating side, Ducharme seems to be trying to introduce efficiencies into the system to avoid future fare hikes, one presumes. But if Moscoe keeps capitulating to the union demands, then we will have a fare hike. I, for one, am fed up with paying for fares I cannot afford to go towards the wages of drivers and maintenance workers who do not provide the service that they are supposed to and that they did 20 years ago. Back then the TTC was not a cesspit -- it was clean, noticeably cleaner than any other subway system -- and the drivers knew their routes and would always call out your stop. I will say that for the last couple of months the subway has not being ewww gross anymore (touch wood). It was really getting a bit beyond. Somebody obviously read the riot act to somebody.<BR/><BR/>"...the pressure to make Bombardier the sole supplier of our next generation of subway equipment almost certainly is coming from Queen's Park..."<BR/><BR/>On the news last night, Moscoe was defending his decision as a "buy Canadian" one and providing jobs for Torontonians for parts and for avoiding Siemens-associated costs of having to import parts. He didn't mention Queen's Park. It would make sense to me too that if this was for Thunder Bay's benefit (and a bit of one for TTC operating/maintenanace costs) that Queen's Park would have leaned on the Commission, but then why did he not mention them nor say he'd approached Queen's Park for the extra $100 million associated with the Bombardier bid? He also disputed the number as being from Siemen's and not true.<BR/><BR/>As for subway car design, I missed seeing the new ones. I assume they have the same individualized seats? I hope not because someone really needs to take us back to the bench seat era -- the only people who can fit comfortably side by side without sitting on the seat dividers are skinny small girls. Have you seen how people sit these days on the forward/backward facing seats? It's an interesting evolution of seating behaviour. Plus the overhead poles are useless for short people; the vertical poles work much better, not for traffic flow I know, but for hanging on and not landing in people's lap when the driver decides to have fun.<BR/><BR/>I'd be interested in looking at Steve Munro's website. Could you provide the address? Thanks!talk talk talk / Shireenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453931641034885060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12218227.post-1149818322007226772006-06-08T21:58:00.000-04:002006-06-08T21:58:00.000-04:00And I will give Moscoe credit for one thing he's d...And I will give Moscoe credit for one thing he's done recently. The new subway cars -- mockups of which have just been unveiled -- will have forward facing seats thanks to him. Some people in the commission wanted only side-facing seats, primarily to maximize the amount of space for standees, despite how uncomfortable many passengers find these seats.<BR/><BR/>The excuses they came up to justify the arrangement were lame, like concerns that forward facing seats increased the likelihood of terrorism, because it provided more places for packages to hide. Moscoe tore a strip off of the people presenting the side-facing seat design, and dismissed the proposed arrangement as "cattle cars". I respect Moscoe for his plain speaking in this instance.<BR/><BR/>Are you following Steve Munro's website? He has a pretty clear picture of what's going wrong, and what could go right with the TTC.James Bowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11888307747088266395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12218227.post-1149810925037487482006-06-08T19:55:00.000-04:002006-06-08T19:55:00.000-04:00I don't doubt that Howard Moscoe has been a liabil...I don't doubt that Howard Moscoe has been a liability to the commission, but respectfully you are making connections that aren't there.<BR/><BR/>Driver salaries are an operating expense, paid for by fares and subsidies offered by the city of Toronto, and one-time payments by the province of Ontario. With Toronto strapped for cash, and Ontario slow in restoring its share in the operating subsidy (they used to provide 50%, and the TTC's subsidy in 1995 was $250 million. After Harris, the TTC's operating subsidy is $100 million per year less), then fares pay for 80% of the TTC's operating costs. So, the impact of wages as negotiated between union and management has an effect on fares, but not on subway expansions.<BR/><BR/>Subway expansions, the purchase of new buses and streetcars are a capital budget, and are wholly a subsidy, with a third-to-a-half provided by the province and a third-to-a-half provided by Toronto, with the rest provided by the feds when they feel the need to make a political splash.<BR/><BR/>After the election of Harris, the TTC's capital budget shifted. It used to be that the province paid 75% of the TTC's capital costs, leaving the city to pay just 25%. For a while, all capital costs fell to Toronto as part of provincial downloading (a.k.a. "screw the big cities"). There is also the problem of a number of capital expenditures made in the late seventies coming due for replacement. Replacing the streetcars and the Scarborough RT are contributing hundreds of millions to the capital costs over the next decade, and the TTC is short hundreds of buses, and that money has not been budgeted for.<BR/><BR/>I wouldn't go so far to cite "corruption" here. It's a complicated situation with some villains, no heroes, and lots of people simply overwhelmed by the size of the problem. The union's wages aren't affecting the capital projects, and the pressure to make Bombardier the sole supplier of our next generation of subway equipment almost certainly is coming from Queen's Park, interested in preserving jobs in Thunder Bay (for a number of reasons, some good, some bad, all political).<BR/><BR/>Anyway, that's what I think.James Bowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11888307747088266395noreply@blogger.com