Thread by @gordperks

1. Hey transit people. You may have been following the issue of the additional streetcars. There's a wee bit of news. For those who haven't been following I'll summarize what's happening.

2. Back when @iamdavidmiller was Mayor the City ordered 204 streetcars to replace the aging existing fleet.. The deal permitted the City, at its sole option, to add another 100 cars. Neither Rob Ford nor @JohnTory have pulled the trigger on that option.

3. Recently, the TTC put out a five year plan for how much transit service they intend to operate. Among other things, it says that just to keep up with population growth, the TTC needs 60 more streetcars and 140 new buses. The report is here: ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/…

4. The TTC Board told their staff to come back with an implementation plan Jan. 27th. The timing is crucial because Council is in the midst of setting the 2020 budget. For a bunch of reasons, if we don't order the cars this year, we will not be able do the 5 year service plan.

5. I should note that the extra streetcars and buses are NOT in the draft budget right now.

I just looked at the agenda for the Jan. 27th TTC meeting and found that the report is not there. Instead there is a "placeholder" report. ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/…

6. Placeholder reports can happen for a variety of reasons. Most common is staff are dealing with a rapidly changing situation. (Maybe the Premier has done something rash and we need to deal with it.) That isn't the case here. We have know for years this decision was coming.

7. So here we are at a crucial decision point and staff missed the deadline for making their advice public ahead of the meeting. Not good.

8. On Jan 23rd the Executive Committee has a report which would give the Province enormous new powers in the areas of the City near the "Ontario Line" the Scarborough Subway Extension, The Yonge North Extension, and the Eglinton West Subway Extension. app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgen…

9. These SHOULD be related questions. When Council approved the original streetcar deal we said that we were buying them and dared the Province and Feds not to come up with a third each of the cost. Our strategy worked and they ponied up.

10. When the Province did the deal with the City to NOT upload the subway, but to instead build the four projects above, I objected, because there was no commitment to pick up future costs like vehicle purchases.

11. Instead, the Province said (and Mayor Tory agreed) that because the Province was paying the whole shot for THEIR transit priorities, the City would have financial room to do things like buy buses and streetcars.

12. It all comes together. We don't have the $ to keep up with repairs, vehicles, and pop. growth. Doug Ford got his transit plan w/o public consultation. The Province is taking away planning and other City powers around their lines. And,the staff report on priorities is "late".

13. I'm unimpressed and very worried. You should be too. - end