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Sick transit: Toronto's transit system is mediocre by any standard. Political interference and inept management keep it that way
Jack M. Mintz
National Post
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Beleaguered Torontonians will continue to suffer poor urban transit services, especially with last month's unsuccessful bid to remove Howard Moscoe as chair of the governing municipal body responsible for the Toronto Transit Commission. Poor public transit is also becoming a problem for Canadian taxpayers elsewhere, since federal and provincial politicians have succumbed to the mistaken notion that urban transit needs substantial subsidies or special tax giveaways to improve performance. Instead, we need much better management of the system with less political interference.
To understand how badly the TTC is managed, just think of the following. Torontonians choosing the supposedly "better way" should be able to reduce substantially commuting costs by taking the TTC rather than a car. For example, the cost of a monthly pass -- $91.50 a month -- is substantially below the $300 a month for parking that Collier's International recently estimated for Toronto. On top of this, TTC riders avoid operating an automobile, which at a conservatively estimated 40 cents a kilometre including gasoline, maintenance costs and depreciation, could easily be double the cost of daily transit commuting. And, the TTC also provides intangible benefit in pollution reduction for those who are socially conscious.
With this price and PR advantage for public transit, you would think droves of Torontonians would be taking the Rocket. Not so. Since 1990, when TTC annual ridership peaked at 460 million, Torontonians have been abandoning the TTC, which witnessed a loss of almost 100 million riders by 1997, recovering to about 415 million today with a better economy. The steep fall in ridership also coincided with an eight-day strike by a union that can hold Toronto hostage to its wage claims. The strike weapon was repeated in 1999 and this past spring with an illegal one-day wildcat stoppage.
With a record like this, you would think some heads would be rolling, including Howard Moscoe's.
Why have Torontonians decided to drive cars rather than take transit? Municipal politicians like to argue that the rising cost of fares and lack of public subsidies is hurting TTC's performance. In fact, it all sums up to service, which the TTC fails to provide well. Even the TTC 2003 document on "Ridership Growth Strategy" recognizes that service is the main problem. A recently published Statistics Canada study has shown that it takes on average less time for people to travel by car than by public transit.
While travelling on public transit allows a person to read rather than sit in a car on congested roads, there is nothing more irritating than regularly waiting five minutes for a train to show up during morning rush hour, or standing in very congested TTC cars, all a result of the TTC reducing its service years ago in light of accelerating wage claims resulting from strikes. With little subway expansion to provide us with far better systems, such as are available in London, New York, Munich, Hong Kong, Montreal and other major cities around the world, TTC ridership has fallen despite increased population growth in the city.
As a regular TTC rider, I witness all sorts of irritating signs of poor service that are minor but easily fixed. Heavily congested parking lots, rather than multi-tier parking, require passengers to walk long distances to the station. Inaudible intercom announcements are unable to tell passengers why delays are taking place. Escalators during the day are stopped, making it hard for those to use the system who have trouble coping with steps. Monthly pass users are unable to access all station entrances because the technology is not consistently available. When we moved back to standard time last fall, it took months before the clock was adjusted at my station.
The much bigger management issue is that there is no overall creative push to improve transport policies in Toronto. Several good ideas have been raised to develop road pricing to reduce congestion and provide better infrastructure, some of which has been adopted, such as the 407 toll road. Pricing policies are also needed for urban transit that could generate more revenues, but Toronto has failed to adopt these innovative tricks used elsewhere.
For instance, unlike London and Hong Kong where transit fares are linked to distance -- and smart cards easily facilitating distance-related cost pricing -- Toronto maintains a system in which those travelling short distances subsidize the operating cost incurred for those travelling longer distances (all this contributing to urban sprawl). Even monthly passes are not differentiated since the same fee is charged for those who just ride the TTC and those who also get free parking at a station (a higher monthly fee for parking could provide revenues to build multi-tier parking and improve service).
Even competition and private participation could be considered to improve service. Some routes and times could be contracted out to private firms if they could provide the service at a cheaper price, such as by avoiding the use of large, rumbling, empty buses late in the evening. Private participation in the supply of capital to build more transit lines could compensate for governments that are reluctant to spend money on capital In fact, Hong Kong's subway is privately operated (with access to income from property near subway stops) and it runs far more efficiently than the TTC.
Unfortunately, federal and provincial politicians have not demanded better performance from municipal politicians clamouring for more subsidies. The money given to municipalities for urban transit accomplishes little reform since it makes it easier to accept substandard operational efficiency.
With the current crop of politicians controlling TTC governance, TTC operational mediocre is guaranteed. Inept performance and little creativity will be the TTC's hallmark unless Toronto's mayor and council start insisting on improvements, including the dismissal of the current governance leadership. If this is not achieved in the future, voters should consider removing the mayor and council instead.
Jack M. Mintz is a professor of business economics at the J.L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Jack M. Mintz is a professor of business economics at the J.L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Jack M. Mintz
National Post
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Beleaguered Torontonians will continue to suffer poor urban transit services, especially with last month's unsuccessful bid to remove Howard Moscoe as chair of the governing municipal body responsible for the Toronto Transit Commission. Poor public transit is also becoming a problem for Canadian taxpayers elsewhere, since federal and provincial politicians have succumbed to the mistaken notion that urban transit needs substantial subsidies or special tax giveaways to improve performance. Instead, we need much better management of the system with less political interference.
To understand how badly the TTC is managed, just think of the following. Torontonians choosing the supposedly "better way" should be able to reduce substantially commuting costs by taking the TTC rather than a car. For example, the cost of a monthly pass -- $91.50 a month -- is substantially below the $300 a month for parking that Collier's International recently estimated for Toronto. On top of this, TTC riders avoid operating an automobile, which at a conservatively estimated 40 cents a kilometre including gasoline, maintenance costs and depreciation, could easily be double the cost of daily transit commuting. And, the TTC also provides intangible benefit in pollution reduction for those who are socially conscious.
With this price and PR advantage for public transit, you would think droves of Torontonians would be taking the Rocket. Not so. Since 1990, when TTC annual ridership peaked at 460 million, Torontonians have been abandoning the TTC, which witnessed a loss of almost 100 million riders by 1997, recovering to about 415 million today with a better economy. The steep fall in ridership also coincided with an eight-day strike by a union that can hold Toronto hostage to its wage claims. The strike weapon was repeated in 1999 and this past spring with an illegal one-day wildcat stoppage.
With a record like this, you would think some heads would be rolling, including Howard Moscoe's.
Why have Torontonians decided to drive cars rather than take transit? Municipal politicians like to argue that the rising cost of fares and lack of public subsidies is hurting TTC's performance. In fact, it all sums up to service, which the TTC fails to provide well. Even the TTC 2003 document on "Ridership Growth Strategy" recognizes that service is the main problem. A recently published Statistics Canada study has shown that it takes on average less time for people to travel by car than by public transit.
While travelling on public transit allows a person to read rather than sit in a car on congested roads, there is nothing more irritating than regularly waiting five minutes for a train to show up during morning rush hour, or standing in very congested TTC cars, all a result of the TTC reducing its service years ago in light of accelerating wage claims resulting from strikes. With little subway expansion to provide us with far better systems, such as are available in London, New York, Munich, Hong Kong, Montreal and other major cities around the world, TTC ridership has fallen despite increased population growth in the city.
As a regular TTC rider, I witness all sorts of irritating signs of poor service that are minor but easily fixed. Heavily congested parking lots, rather than multi-tier parking, require passengers to walk long distances to the station. Inaudible intercom announcements are unable to tell passengers why delays are taking place. Escalators during the day are stopped, making it hard for those to use the system who have trouble coping with steps. Monthly pass users are unable to access all station entrances because the technology is not consistently available. When we moved back to standard time last fall, it took months before the clock was adjusted at my station.
The much bigger management issue is that there is no overall creative push to improve transport policies in Toronto. Several good ideas have been raised to develop road pricing to reduce congestion and provide better infrastructure, some of which has been adopted, such as the 407 toll road. Pricing policies are also needed for urban transit that could generate more revenues, but Toronto has failed to adopt these innovative tricks used elsewhere.
For instance, unlike London and Hong Kong where transit fares are linked to distance -- and smart cards easily facilitating distance-related cost pricing -- Toronto maintains a system in which those travelling short distances subsidize the operating cost incurred for those travelling longer distances (all this contributing to urban sprawl). Even monthly passes are not differentiated since the same fee is charged for those who just ride the TTC and those who also get free parking at a station (a higher monthly fee for parking could provide revenues to build multi-tier parking and improve service).
Even competition and private participation could be considered to improve service. Some routes and times could be contracted out to private firms if they could provide the service at a cheaper price, such as by avoiding the use of large, rumbling, empty buses late in the evening. Private participation in the supply of capital to build more transit lines could compensate for governments that are reluctant to spend money on capital In fact, Hong Kong's subway is privately operated (with access to income from property near subway stops) and it runs far more efficiently than the TTC.
Unfortunately, federal and provincial politicians have not demanded better performance from municipal politicians clamouring for more subsidies. The money given to municipalities for urban transit accomplishes little reform since it makes it easier to accept substandard operational efficiency.
With the current crop of politicians controlling TTC governance, TTC operational mediocre is guaranteed. Inept performance and little creativity will be the TTC's hallmark unless Toronto's mayor and council start insisting on improvements, including the dismissal of the current governance leadership. If this is not achieved in the future, voters should consider removing the mayor and council instead.
Jack M. Mintz is a professor of business economics at the J.L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
Jack M. Mintz is a professor of business economics at the J.L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
