What Toronto mayoral candidates need to learn from abroad about financing transit

It was ironically fortunate that Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie could cite COVID-19 when she issued her recent appeal to the federal government to provide additional funds for the TTC (among other services). If last week’s mayoral debate is any indication, Toronto’s next mayor will try to draw on another emergency to argue for federal or provincial money for the 2024 city budget.

The pandemic is Toronto’s latest lobbying angle with other orders of government, but the transit funding crisis is a structural problem that goes back decades.

Consider the following quotes:

One would be hard-pressed to attribute these statements to specific individuals or sort them chronologically. It so happens that the first quote is from former TTC chair Howard Moscoe in 2006, followed by then-chairs Adam Giambrone and Josh Colle in 2007 and 2015, respectively.

To these we can now add McKelvie in 2023: “We are asking for help. We need both [the province and feds] to come to the table to help Toronto.”

When it comes to the question of how we’re going to pay for the TTC, COVID-19 is merely the latest lobbying tactic.

For too long, Toronto politicians have been focused on coming up with better lobbying strategies to get transit funding rather than the serious revenue discussion we need. The mayoral byelection suggests this tradition will continue. Several leading mayoral candidates claim they will “advocate,” “negotiate” or simply “work” with federal and provincial governments to secure more money, often pivoting to their personal charisma rather than providing a structured vision for sustained, dedicated transit revenue.

Of course, predictable transit funding would need to be backed up by effective, regional governance. As I argue in a recent report published by U of T’s Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, “Who Does What: The Municipal Role in Transportation,” that transit governance in Toronto is weak and unco-ordinated.

Take the relationship between Metrolinx (provincial), the City of Toronto and the TTC. Metrolinx controls certain capital projects like the Eglinton Crosstown LRT, but not all of them. The city controls some. The TTC runs most services in the city, but not GO Trains. Fares are different for each system. And no one seems to look after customer information.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Cities around the world have found ways of integrating and stabilizing transit finance and governance. For example, in Paris, Ile-de-France Mobilités manages, funds and co-ordinates the planning, operations, and development of all public transportation modes in the city and region. Importantly, Ile-de-France Mobilités enjoys dedicated revenue sources, including contributions from regional employers.

Inspiration is also available closer to home in the form of Vancouver’s Translink agency, which involves a governance partnership between the province and the region’s municipalities to plan and co-ordinate transit. Moreover, Translink levies a dedicated regional property tax to make that planning possible.

Funding from higher levels of government is necessary and welcome, but it has to go beyond the ribbon-cutting opportunities of capital investment.

Provincial and federal governments are notably reluctant to come to the table with sustained operating subsidies, hence the yearly pleas from the city. Data from the Ontario Public Transit Association shows that in Ontario in 2021, the provincial government spent four times more on transit capital than operating; the federal government (which rarely provides operating subsidies) spent 28 times more. This mismatch means, as the Star recently reported, that the TTC could get federal cash to buy electric buses, but no funds to actually run more service.

On June 26, voters should avoid fixating on which candidates claim to have that special something that will surely, this time, turn on the federal and provincial taps. Rather, they should support those who have the clearest policy vision of a sustainable transit funding mechanism, quite possibly involving dedicated revenue streams.

We must move past the annual transit funding dance and devote our time and energy into building the regional vision of a cohesive, integrated system, rather than bickering about who should pay.