[URBAN NOTE] "It's more buses or bust"

[rfmcdonald]

Former TTC chair and NOW Toronto columnist Adam Giambrone makes the case for more spending on buses by the TTC.

[F]or the mayor to realize further improvements in crowding conditions beyond this year, more buses will be needed. And here's where things get tricky.

It’s 2014 fleet plans suggest the TTC intends to retire some 350 buses, maybe as many as 400 during this term of council, while buying 400 replacement buses. This is while ridership is expected to rise to close to 600 million, from the current 540 million‎, which means there will be few buses left to deploy to increase rush hour service with buses already promised to cover the increased express service promised under Tory's plan.

The purchase of the hundreds of new buses will require tens of millions in new capital funding which, with all the other transit and city projects, will be hard to find.‎

With capital dollars tight, t‎he TTC will need to consider rebuilding older buses in its current fleet (‎like its recent decision to do a limited rebuilding of 30 of its streetcars)‎ to meet Tory's services commitments.‎

The TTC has resorted to this tactic at least three times in the last two decades to respond to funding shortages. The most recent life extension of 28-year-old buses, cost around $70,000 per bus (although some needed much more work) and this turned out to be a faster and cheaper‎ way of getting needed buses into service quickly.