Late-night bus service set to take a trim

It's an open secret that some bus service is expected to take a hit when the TTC releases its operating budget . But it's not clear whether the details will be publicly available before transit officials depute before the city's budget committee on Friday, Jan. 14.

Any service reductions would likely be on poor-performing routes between 10p.m. and 1a.m., said transit workers union head Bob Kinnear, who was informed about three weeks ago that a few bus routes would likely have their hours trimmed.

"Every year we re-allocate the routes so it's likely some routes will change but what that looks like I can't say right now without the benefit of having the budget come before the commission," TTC chair Karen Stintz told The Toronto Star on Wednesday.

And "change" doesn't necessarily mean "cut," she warned.

Asked if a fare increase was on the table, Stintz would only say, "Again, it's being reviewed right now."

There will be a TTC board meeting to discuss budgets but Stintz said it wasn't clear whether that would take place before Jan. 14 or after. She attributed some of the uncertainty to this year's expedited City Hall budget process.

"We're working under these compressed timelines and it's making everything a little more fluid," she said.

TTC spokesman Brad Ross has warned that any talk of service cuts is premature. But there are only three ways the TTC can find operating money: cut service, increase fares or obtain increased government subsidies.

 

 



Comments

[Transity Cyclist]

I guess that means the Sheppard Subway would be cut, since it's a poor performing route.

[Dan]

I am someone who has to take 3 buses home from work at 11:30 at night. The bus service is already bad enough at that time. Do these rich people who have luxury cars and or drivers toting them around the city forget that there are tens of thousands if not hundres of thousands of people who are either coming home from or going to work during the proposed time to make these "trimmings"? Its already bad enough that when I miss a bus I have to wait another half hour for the next. It takes me less than a galf hour to get to work and nearly 3 times that to get home. Seem's to me that because all of us who work the later shifts are going to be punished yet again because we don't work "THEIR" shift. Shame on all you inconsiderate fat cats