The Ever Looming TTC Strike
(April 9, 2005)

The TTC loses riders every year due to constant increases in fares without increases in service. We just experienced another fare hike before this strike, cash fares went up 25 cents, and ticket/tokens went up 10 cents, a lot of money when twice a day, every day.

People have the following options for alternative transportation. Walk, bike, drive their own car, take a taxi, rent a hotel room. Taxi’s and hotels are expensive. Parking and traffic conditions will be a nightmare. And it’ll probably become very unsafe to walk and bike in Toronto due to increased traffic.

In my own simple world, I have come up with the most brilliant plan. The TTC shouldn’t cut all services in order to get their message across. They should restrict them. Here’s what I would do if I were running things:

• Run on Sunday/Holiday hours (8am-12am)
• Run subway & RT at 10 minutes/train.
• Run busses/streetcars every 45 minutes.
• Remove routes extending outside of the GTA.

This will still get the point across to the TTC, will still piss people off and will still pressure negotiations between the TTC and the union, but they will also still be able to get around and that’s the important thing.

I propose the TTC start planning on contracting work out, because this could be their contingency plan to have “scabs” run the unit since the union seemingly is becoming more strike-happy. And it’s just good business sense, it can cut enormous costs which can be reinvested into improving and adding services.

I propose the union get real as to what they’re demanding, and realizing that no one is on their side if/when they strike. While their 5 days (so far) of striking in the past 20 years is not a lot, people only remember the bad, not the good.

I propose the government declare the TTC an essential service, which will stop them from being legally allowed to strike. They asked / begged / demanded to be declared an essential service during the “Great Blackout of 2003? and throughout the rolling blackouts & brownouts… so give it to them. And show them the other side to being declared essential is not being allowed to strike.

I propose that the 1.4 million riders as well as their employers, file a class-action lawsuit against the union that the TTC employees are under, because 8000 people should not have the right to screw up the lives and businesses of 1.4 million others.

(Update: April 11, 2005)
The TTC ended up *not* going on strike, some time Sunday afternoon they had come up with a tentitive agreement that will likely make everyone happy, and the union is supporting accepting this agreement. The funny part of the story is, while nothing progresses at “the table”, it took a childish shouting match in the hallway of a prestegious hotel for these two parties to realize they were both being silly. My (unannounced) proposal that Toronto citizens boycott the TTC is still in order, and to my knowledge, at least a percentage went through with it because traffic was worse than normal.

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