2016 - ttcriders.ca | a voice for transit riders · ttcriders 2016 annual report 10 the scarborough...

2016 ANNUAL REPORT

1 TTCriders 2016 Annual Report

TTCriders 2016 Annual Report 2

Message from the directorLast month, I led a messaging and spokesperson training for our members and supporters at our member Training Day. One of the participants was a transit rider and airport worker called Monica. She talked about how, thanks to TTCriders’ advocacy, Toronto’s thousands of airport workers can now pay just $3.50 to ride the Union Pearson Express. What a victory! But Monica also shared stories about airport workers who came to Pearson Airport on the last bus of the night, and then waited around for hours in the cold until their shift started at 3.00am. Despite all the promises politicians have made, transit to the airport, and all around our region in fact, still falls so far short of what we need and can afford.

There’s so much more that still needs to be done. And now’s the time to take action. This month the city will begin debating whether to lower fares for riders in need, including people on social assistance and low income workers. In June, the city is deciding which transit projects to prioritize and how the city plans to pay for it. With the arrival of Presto in 2017, Metrolinx is wanting to radically change the region’s fare structure, by bringing in fare-by-distance, as well as higher fares for the subway and other fast transit services. This unfair system will mean low income riders in Toronto’s outer neighbourhoods will pay more for unreliable slower service.

The reality is transit is a unifying issue. It’s about championing the human right of being able to move around our city. It’s about stopping climate change. It’s about building a fair and affordable city. It’s about creating good green jobs.

This is our time. It’s our time to organize, to tell our stories, to engage in effective, democratic, and powerful advocacy. We know Toronto’s 1.8 million transit riders are on our side. We are already a political force to be reckoned with, and we’re going to get stronger.

Join us.

Jessica BellJessica Bell with baby Max at City Hall


Who are we?

TTCriders is a democratic grassroots transit advocacy organization made up of transit riders.

TTCriders campaigns for an affordable world class public transit system for Toronto. We believe that everyone in Toronto has the right to access fast and reliable public transit at an affordable price.

What did TTCridersdo this year?

We got more funding for the TTC

TTCriders spends most of our time on our priority campaign, which is to get more funding for the TTC from all levels of government so we can have better service and lower fares immediately.

What did we do? Lots!

• We turned out over 100 people at City Hall during budget season to demand more funding• We got coverage in all major media outlets dozens and dozens of times.• We called on riders to contact Wynne and Tory next time they experience a service delay, capitalizing on the fact that Tory failed to fund requests to make service more reliable and breakdowns less frequent. • And more.

The good news is this year the TTC rolled out the service improvements that John Tory promised us in 2015 in response to rider pressure. In addition, kids under 12 now get to ride for free but we can’t really take credit for that as this was an idea developed by one of Tory’s staffers without any consultation with the community. The bad news is that riders got slapped with two fare hikes, including a whopping massive increase in the metropass to $141.50 a ride.

Despite the improvements, the TTC’s funding per ride is at about .88 cents, below the 2010 level of 0.93 cents. The TTC receives the least amount of government funding per ride of any major transit system in North America. And the province still refuses to acknowledge its responsibility to make transit go. In addition, the TTC needs $2.8B over the next 10 years simply to maintain our system and make the TTC more accessible.

We’ll be keeping up the pressure to ensure riders get what we deserve.


Cindy talking to transit riders near Kathleen Wynne’s TTC stop.


TTCriders tells it like is is. On the left is how much Tory is promising to give transit. On the right is how much we actually need to increase current service, and build the transit we need for the future.

Bus lines during the massive subway breakdown in June.


We made transit an issue in the 2015 federal election

TTCriders got busy during the Federal election. We were no fans of Harper, we’re not going to lie. We released a Vote Transit report card ranking the candidates on their commitment to funding the TTC, funding new transit projects, and keeping the TTC public. We organized a sardine-theme day of action, and also encouraged riders to vote, volunteer, and give to candidates that stood up for great transit. We were the group CBC National called to get our take on transit when the Liberal’s first post-election Federal Budget was released.

So what did we get? The Liberal Government removed the Harper’s Government’s requirement that all new transit projects be delivered using the private sector. The Liberal Government also

promised about $191M a year over the next five years. Was this better than what the Harper Government was promising? Yes. Is this enough money? No.

$191M could build us about 500 metres of subway line if was directed to transit expansion. But if this $191M a year is directed towards addressing the TTC’s 10 year $2.8B capital shortfall then this funding would help us maintain current service by allowing the TTC to buy replacement buses, streetcars, and subways, and make the TTC more accessible.

The truth is there’s not enough funding for Toronto to maintain existing services and build new lines. TTCriders is calling on the Federal Government to contribute $1.4B annually to public transit to get the city moving.


Thank you Poe Liberado for this fantastic postcard design.

The low income pass is getting a little closer

In 2014, TTCriders, in partnership with the amazing Chinese Seniors Association and the Fair Fare Coalition, convinced the city to come up with a plan to provide low income fares. The recommendation was approved. Since then, our coalition has been meeting and planning. We developed our own demands, which include: free TTC for those on social assistance, and a $50 metropass for low income riders. We released a report documenting the impacts of high fares on riders. We pulled out over 100 people to city

hall. We are an active member of Commitment to Community’s anti-poverty coalition. And we’re getting ready to get our demands approved when this issue returns to City Hall on May 31.

If you want to get involved in the Fair Fare Coalition contact Karin at [email protected]

P.S. Every other region in the GTHA has a low income pass except for …. Yep, Toronto.


Thank you Jennifer Foreshew and CUPE 5277 for this infographic.

The Union Pearson train is now A LOT cheaper

Last year, Toronto get a new 23-km train from Canada’s busiest station to one of Canada’s largest employment hubs, the Pearson Airport. But no one was on this new train because the train only stopped twice and it cost $27.50 to board. CRAZY! Well, TTCriders took action. We:

• Ran a clean train colouring competition to educate all the schools in the region about the negative health effects of diesel

• We were the first to break the story that no one was riding the trains, despite Metrolinx’s assurances they were pleased with ridership numbers. And then we were relentless in keeping this story in the news, securing coverage in every mainstream media outlet dozens of time over.

• We gathered over 5000 petitions

• We re-framed the debate. A July Forum poll showed that 70 per cent of people felt the UPX should be incorporated into the TTC, with a lower fare and more stops included, far higher than public opinion prior to the train’s lunch.

• We got big results. The province dropped the price down to GO levels, and now airport workers can board for $3.50.

Do we have the more stops and the electrified trains that we also want? No. Is the price at TTC-level fares? No. But we’ve come a LONG way, and we’re not done yet.

This campaign was run partnership with our allies at the Toronto Airport Council of Unions, Social Planning Toronto, the Clean Train Coalition, and the Greater Toronto Workers Assembly.

Contact Jessica at [email protected] if you want to get involved in this campaign.


We are working hard to stop privatization

TTCriders Keep it Public Committee helped launch the first anti-privatization forum: Hands Off Our Health Care, Hydro, Transit and Housing. It was an overwhelming success, with 100 people in attendance. The forum included a presentation on the privatization of transit in

Toronto and a follow up discussion committee to keep the work ongoing. To get active in the Keep it Public committee contact Brenda [email protected] 416-264-8442 or Herman [email protected].

TTCriders member, Shaun, giving a presentation at last year’s AGM.

Our outreach and leadership committee grew

TTCriders held our first member training day on April 7, 2016. 20 members came from around the region to learn how to speak to the media, tell our stories on social media, give a deputation, and canvass on the TTC.

We’ve been giving speaking presentations to community groups around the city, including the University of Toronto, and the OSSTF’s human rights student conference.

And we’ve experimenting with a route captain and canvassing initiative where we regularly go out and canvass riders on the TTC.

Contact Bill at [email protected] or Kamilla at [email protected] if you’d like us to speak to your group or get involved in this committee.


The Scarborough Committee helped resurrect the Crosstown East LRT

It has been a very positive year for the Scarborough Committee. We’ve been working on a rapid transit network for Scarborough and lower TTC fares for those in financial need.

Six months ago the Scarborough Subway Extension was firmly in place, but we knew an LRT network was still the best plan for Scarborough’s outer neighbourhoods and campuses.

We took our message to transit riders at Scarborough Town Centre, Kennedy Station, U of T Scarborough campus, Centennial College Progress campus and the Scarborough RT. We talked to community agencies and neighbourhood associations. The majority of riders we canvassed, supported an LRT network and lo and behold, in January of 2016, Mayor Tory announced plans for the Crosstown East LRT. The SSE would stop at Scarborough Town Centre instead of Sheppard Avenue East and the money saved on two stations would go toward an LRT from Kennedy subway station to U of T Scarborough.

With the shovel-ready Crosstown East LRT back on the city’s to-do list, our next job was to get it built sooner than the eight years it would take under Metrolinx’s privatization model.

In March, TTC Commissioner, Joe Mihevc, moved to have the TTC manage the build-out of Crosstown East and West LRT by 2021. Armed with this TTC Commission directive, we are organizing for a show of overwhelming public support to get this LRT approved by Mayor Tory’s Executive Committee on June 28th . We need you to get active to make it happen. Look for ways to support building the Crosstown East LRT by 2021, in June.

Scarborough residents: we’re organizing a training to help Scarborough residents get active and fight for a low income pass. The training is at 10am to 1pm on May 12, Scarborough Village Recreation Centre on the northeast corner of Markham and Kingston Road.

Members of the Scarborough committee meet once a month. To get active contact Brenda [email protected] 416-264-8442.

Transit riders outside City Hall with our shovel-ready shovels, saying let’s get to work and build the Malvern LRT.


Our media committee catapulted us into the “go-to” transit group

TTCriders has evolved into the go-to organization the media calls when they want the public’s reaction to transit. TTCriders was featured in every major print, radio, and TV outlet on approximately 100 occasions total throughout the year, securing literally millions of impressions.

Through our digital channels, more people are on our website and they’re more engaged with what we’re saying: our website traffic was up 30% year-over-year, and our time on page doubled. Our social media share of voice has increased, and we’ve begun engaging multiple people to amplify the voices of transit riders on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

In the next year, we intend to:

• Increase our web traffic by 30% to 50,000 unique visitors per year.• Increase our email newsletter numbers by 30%.• Continue expanding our online presence with more opportunities for constructive conversation, more democratic debate and more insight into our offline (real-world) actions.

Contact Milan at [email protected] if you’d like to get involved in this committee.


The money

TTCriders budget has grown from $40,684 in 2014 to over double that in 2015. We’re on track to meet our budget target of $100,000 in 2016.

ACCOUNT

Cash $90,523.10

Surplus from the previous year $40,685.00

Foundations $15,810.00

Donations $3,603.41

Individual membership dues $10,671.00

Miscellaneous expenses $540.70

Organizational membership dues $94,024.16

Rent $4,085.23

Communications $5,063.01

Banking and accounting fees $365.32

Office supplies and printing $2,853.08

Postage $112.22

Miscellaneous expenses $625.00

Travel, including tokens $1,117.63

Catering and facilities $1,747.96

Staff expenses $57,477.69

Contractors $385.94

TOTAL

$165,334.27

$165,334.27

Expenses Revenue

Trial BalanceTTCridersReporting Period: as of December 31, 2015Created: February 03, 2016


Who makes our work possible?

THANK YOU to our awesome members, volunteers, and supporters!

Adam BarnettAdam SmithAlex GatienAlex WilsonAlfred MedeirosAlmuth WeigeldtAmanda LinceAnne SimonAnnella MendozaAnthony ScheinBarb ThomasBenjamin Donato-WoodgerBeryl PilkingtonBetty Ann MckenzieBill RenoBill Worrell Brenda ThompsonBrynne Sinclair-WatersChristine GebeCindy Loch-DrakeColette SnyderCorey GlasbergDan FoxDave McintyreDavid Del GrandeDavid StimpsonDenise MartinsDerek SeabrookeDiana CampbellElliott WhitbyEric KellyFlorence DaleFranz HartmannFrederick KnittelGeoffrey SingerHarriet FriedmannHelen Lee

Herman RosenfeldIain CampbellJaime RedfordJamie KirkpatrickJared KolbJeff SlaterJessie MacaulayJim PrallJoan WilsonJoe ChellakudamJoell Ann VanderwagenJohn RichmondJonah ScheinJosh ShookJoyce NakanishiJudith DeutschJudy RebickKathlene WillingKatie FullertonKatrina ByrneKingsley KwokLarry WilliamsonLiisa NorthMarco CoviMarilyn McKimMartin MostertMaureen KapralMawubi HargoeMelanie MilanichMelissa LoboMelvin MariampillaiMichael BarkleyMichael OlivierMyles StockerNatasha McKennaNirmalan VijeyakumarPam Mountain

Pat DixonPatricia WarwickPaul CliffordPhilip MurtonRebecca PhinnemoreRheba AdolphRianna Thompson-PaesslerRichard De GaetanoRonny YaronRyan FosterSamuel PerrySarah ThompsonSeth WilsonSharon LovettShaun CleaverSteve ShallhornSteven TuftsSuhail BarotTed ParkinsonTheresa EnrightTim RourkeVal KoziolYshmael Cabana

Karin Meizner, Chair, Fair Fare CoalitionRick Cicarelli, Clean Train CoalitionJennifer HuangTina Shapiro Kamilla PetrickOntario Chinese Seniors AssociationToronto Chinese Seniors AssociationAli Toufighi


Amanda LinceBrendan Agnew-IllerCameron MacLeodCarolyn JohnsonCelia LottridgeCheri Di NovoChristopher GordaneerClaude MarchandDavid StockDon ColeFrederick KnittelHerminia ManuelIan JohnstonJacob LouieJacob PendergrastJennifer CruickshankJennifer CruickshankJesse George Kathryn McIsaacKatie McIsaacLeonard WollschickLisa PozhkeMarko GombacMary LouieMary-Jill BlackmanMatthew KellwayMJ BlackmanPauline O’connorRoland MascarenhasSapphira CharlesSarah QuigShaine MacleodSusan KeeSusan OppenheimTaipang LuiTali Chernin

Organizational Sponsors • CUPE 3907

• OPSEU 552

• Ontario English Catholic

Teachers Association - Secondary

• Continuing Education Student

Association of Ryerson University

• CodeRedTO

• CUPE Ontario

• CUPE 4948

• IBEW 353

• USW Local 1998

• ATU Local 113

• Unifor 2002

• Cupe 3902

• University of Toronto

Scarborough Student Union

• IBEW 353

• Unifor 1075

TTCriders BoardDiana Campbell, TreasurerJessie Macaulay, Secretary Marco CoviJane MercerBrenda Thompson, Board ChairMilan Gokhale, Board Chair

DonorsAtkinson Foundation

StaffJessica Bell, Executive DirectorMary Breen, Interim Fundraising and Organizing Director

2016 - ttcriders.ca | a voice for transit riders · ttcriders 2016 annual report 10 the scarborough...

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