Mayor Rob Ford is open to it. Premier Dalton McGuinty is willing to discuss it, albeit not until after the October election at the earliest. But what would a provincial takeover of the Toronto Transit Commission really mean for Toronto, Queen's Park and the average rocket rider?
The money
The city: The $1.4-billion TTC is a huge financial drain on Toronto, which is virtually alone among major cities in subsidizing day-to-day transit operations on property taxes alone. A complete provincial takeover would free the city to spend elsewhere the $429-million it gives the TTC annually as an operating subsidy. A partial takeover, on the other hand, could be the worst of both worlds for Toronto. If, for example, the province picked up a cash cow like the Yonge subway and left money-bleeding bus routes behind, the city would cede control without reaping adequate savings.
The province: Swallowing the TTC wouldn't come cheap. Along with paying the system's $429-million annual operating subsidy, the province would have to assume the municipality's share of capital projects and purchases. On the bright side, the province, through regional transportation authority Metrolinx, would own new lines outright, allowing it to spread the cost of future subway or light-rail projects over time. The critical question for riders is whether the deficit-laden province could afford to feed more money to the cash-starved TTC. "That's the big elephant in the bedroom here," said Ed Levy, a transportation consultant. "Without proper funding, you can change the administration as much as you like and I don't know what benefit it's going to have."
Local service
The city: It's Rob Ford's favourite buzzword, and now customer service is supposedly all the rage at the TTC. The red rocket doesn't have a great reputation for serving its riders well. Still, as a local transit authority, it's much better placed to design and adjust routes to meet neighbourhood needs. "We all know that the TTC operations people have got a million excuses why things don't work," said transit advocate and blogger Steve Munro. "Imagine that level of intransigence sheltered behind an organization like the province of Ontario that just does not understand dealing with people on a local level."
The province: Fast trains to Hamilton? Yes. Night buses to Scarborough? No. The province and Metrolinx have made no secret of their focus on regional transit at the expense of hyperlocal connections. If the province takes over, local service could wither. That's part of the reason former mayor David Miller was dead set against handing over the TTC to the province. However, GO Transit, a division of Metrolinx, is generally acknowledged as a better service provider than the TTC. Some of that might rub off if they merged.
Regional integration
The city: Municipal boundaries don't mean much to passengers. TTC chairwoman Karen Stintz is in favour of a regional transportation system, but she doesn't think "the first step is uploading." She points to the Presto fare card as an example of how Metrolinx, the TTC and regional transit authorities can work together without a formal merger. And Kathleen Llewellyn-Thomas, commissioner of transportation services for York Region, adds that York and the TTC are already co-operating on bus routes that traverse borders, along with the pending Spadina subway extension into Vaughan.
The province: If it controlled the TTC, the province could integrate the GO and the TTC as it pleased. It would run into fewer cross-jurisdictional squabbles, such as the spat that happened when former TTC chair Adam Giambrone tried to bring in an open-fare system that would accept credit and debit cards instead of sticking with the province's Presto smart card.
Kelly Grant