Mayoral Candidate Mitzie Hunter, Photo: Mitzie Hunter, Twitter
TORONTO — The race for mayor is heating up in Toronto, and candidate Mitzie Hunter has released a plan to increase ridership on the TTC and “get Toronto moving again” while increasing confidence in the city’s transit system.
Promising to be an advocate to Metrolinx to ensure the City of Toronto continues to grow, Hunter’s plan includes building new transit that is “more transparent, minimizes and coherently coordinates road disruptions, and provides real benefits to communities impacted”.
Her plan includes free rides for seniors and Wheel-Trans users, fare reductions, restoring service to the transit system and reversing cuts.
“Safe, reliable, frequent and affordable transit is the best tool we have to get Toronto moving again as well as help us achieve our climate goals,” says Hunter.
“In the already-congested downtown core, the beginning of construction on the Ontario Line will only make traffic worse. This is the worst time to be reducing TTC service frequency and hiking fares. I will fix that by restoring service, reducing fares and making the TTC free for seniors and Wheel-Trans users,” Hunter said, adding that TTC ridership in 2022 was less than 60% of pre-pandemic levels, while traffic is heavy.
Mitzie Hunter’s Plan for Toronto Transit
According to a statement, Hunter’s plan includes the following points:
- Eliminating all TTC fares for seniors and all users of Wheel-Trans to help our most vulnerable and those living on fixed incomes with the rising cost of living and boost ridership, starting this September ($57 million estimate in 2024)
- Reversing the TTC fare hikes that took effect in April 2023 to save transit riders more than $20 million a year
- Reversing the almost $53 million in TTC service cuts that reduced service frequency by about 10 per cent and increasing Wheel-Trans service to accommodate increased demand
- Fully-funding TTC’s operational costs, while advocating for greater support from the Provincial and Federal governments
- Negotiating with the Province to reach a fair deal for Toronto to eliminate the dual fares paid by transit users when they switch between the TTC, GO and transit systems in neighbouring cities.
If elected, Hunter also plans to implement her previously-announced five-point safety plan, including increased police patrols around stations, pairing TTC officers with social workers to assist vulnerable people, a community ambassador program to carry out safety audits, implementing sliding safety doors, and tracking success by consulting with TTC workers about their safety and data collection.
In addition to the new transit projects already underway, Hunter will:
As part of the announcement, Hunter also shared that she plans to:
- Build the Eglinton East LRT extension to the University of Toronto Scarborough and Malvern, with the City’s one-third share coming from the existing Scarborough Subway levy funds given that those funds are no longer needed because the subway is now fully funded by the Province.
- Commit to building the Waterfront East LRT to extend streetcar service along the waterfront and transfer the City’s share of funding to a new and dedicated fund.
- Champion and advance the planning for the North York Scarborough Subway extension along Sheppard, connecting Line 4 to the new Scarborough Subway Extension in the east and to Sheppard West on Line 1.
- Advocate for the additional Cummer Station to serve the Newtonbrook area of North York as part of the Yonge North Subway Extension.
- Be a fierce advocate with Metrolinx to ensure as we grow our City and build new transit that it is done in a way that is more transparent, minimizes and coherently coordinates road disruptions, and provides real benefits to communities impacted – like improvements to public spaces, trees and relief for small businesses.
Hunter says that by the time the plan would be fully implemented by 2025, the total cost would be $144 million.
“My plan restores service cuts, gets more people riding the TTC now, but also sets out how we can make the TTC better than ever before in the future,” Hunter said.
“I am going further than any other mayoral candidate because I am bringing fresh eyes and new solutions to the TTC in order to get Toronto moving again.”
