August 20, 1998

Ms. B. Liddiard

Secretary

North York Community Council

North York Civic Centre

5100 Yonge Street

North York, Ontario

M2N 5V7

Dear Ms. Liddiard:

At its meeting on Wednesday, August 19, 1998, the Commission considered the attached report entitled, "1999 Service Plan."

The Commission approved the Recommendation #1 contained in the report, as follows:

1.the recommended service changes described in the attached 1999 Service Plan report and summarised on the attached page, noting that:

- The service changes would improve service for customers and attract new customers to the TTC;

- The service changes would improve the financial situation of the TTC by increasing revenues with no net increase in operating costs; and

- Approval will initiate a 10-week consultation period, the results of which will be reported to the Commission if concerns are raised regarding any of the recommended service changes.

The Commission amended Recommendation #2 by striking out the wording contained therein and replacing it with the following:

2."That this report be forwarded to the Community Councils, as well as, any individual who has expressed a specific interest in any of the items outlined therein, with a request that they provide comments on the service change recommendations by October 28, 1998; and further that a public hearing be held on this matter at the first Commission meeting following October 28, 1998."

The foregoing is forwarded to the Community Councils and any Interested Parties for action, as detailed above. Please note that it is essential that all comments be received by the Commission no later than October 28, 1998.

Sincerely,

Vincent Rodo

General Secretary

1-64

Attachment

Copy:M. Sutherland, Secretary, Etobicoke Community Council

T. Fenton, Secretary, East York Community Council

M. O'Neil, Secretary, Scarborough Community Council

F. Pritchard, Secretary, Toronto Community Council

R. Maurice, Secretary, York Community Council

Interested Parties (list held by General Secretary's Office of TTC)

TORONTO TRANSIT COMMISSION

REPORT NO. 22

MEETING DATE:August 19, 1998

SUBJECT:1999 SERVICE PLAN

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that the Commission:

1.Approve the recommended service changes described in the attached 1999 Service Plan report and summarised on the attached page, noting that:

CThe service changes would improve service for customers and attract new customers to the TTC;

CThe service changes would improve the financial situation of the TTC by increasing revenues with no net increase in operating costs; and

CApproval will initiate a 10-week consultation period, the results of which will be reported to the Commission if concerns are raised regarding any of the recommended service changes; and

2.Forward this report to members of City Council, with a request for them to provide comments on the service change recommendations by October 28, 1998.

FUNDING

Introduction of the service changes recommended in the 1999 Service Plan would not change the overall operating costs of the TTC. Eight of the changes would be funded using resources made available from service reductions on routes with poor financial performance. All of the other changes have no cost implications. Overall, the service improvements would increase fare revenue by approximately $141,000 per year, at no net additional cost to the TTC.

BACKGROUND

Each year the TTC produces a service plan which recommends changes to routes to improve service for TTC customers. The service plan forms part of the TTC's service standards process, and is based on an evaluation of suggestions for improvements made by customers, councillors, and TTC staff.

Reductions in the subsidy provided for public transit by the municipal and provincial governments have made large-scale expansion or improvement of the TTC network impossible. With decreasing subsidies for transit, the only changes in transit service which can be considered are those which improve the financial situation of the TTC, and any new services must be funded through a combination of increased fare revenues and cuts in service elsewhere in the system. TTC ridership is increasing gradually, and service improvements to accommodate those increases, and to promote further increases, must be made without any additional subsidy. Because of this reduction in public funding for the TTC, and because such a high proportion of transit revenue comes from the fares paid by customers, meeting customers' travel needs has become, more than ever, the key to success for public transit in Toronto.

As has been the case in recent years, because of the constraints on the TTC's budget, the focus of the 1999 Service Plan has been on the improvement of current services, within the current budget and without increasing peak-period bus requirements. Changes can often be made at little or no cost which will improve service for customers, attract new customers to the TTC, and thus increase fare revenue and improve the TTC's overall financial performance.

DISCUSSION

Service standards process

In the preparation of the annual service plan, proposals are received from councillors, from TTC customers, and from TTC staff members. These proposals are evaluated using pre-set, objective standards, policies, and criteria. The process and standards are described in the Service Standards Process report, dated May 1990. The process and standards are also summarised in Section 1 of the 1999 Service Plan.

A public meeting was held at Metro Hall on May 26, 1998, to receive comments from TTC customers on the proposals that had been made by councillors and TTC staff, and also to receive other suggestions for service changes from TTC customers. Of the suggestions that were made at the meeting, all were reviewed, eight were evaluated in detail in preparing the 1999 Service Plan, and three have led to recommendations for service changes.

Recommended service changes

A total of 53 proposals have been evaluated in preparing the 1999 Service Plan. The recommended service changes are listed on the attached page, and described in detail in the 1999 Service Plan report.

The recommended service changes include the extension of nine routes, the introduction of service during new periods of the day on five routes, a change to three overnight routes, and smaller routing changes on three routes to improve service for customers.

These changes would improve service for approximately 10,100 customer-trips each day by reducing the distance that customers need to walk to or from their nearest bus stop, by reducing the numbers of transfers they need to make, or by reducing their travel time. It is expected that these service changes would attract approximately 102,000 new customer-trips to the TTC each year, and thus increase revenue by approximately $141,000 each year.

The recommendations increase the costs of operation on eight particular routes. These increased costs would be borne without changing the overall cost of operation of the TTC system, by using resources made available by service reductions on routes with low ridership, which have not met the TTC's financial performance standard. The recommended service improvements include the addition of four buses during peak periods, to be offset by the saving of buses on routes which do not meet the financial performance standard. The changes on the routes which do not meet the financial standard are described in Section 3 of the 1999 Service Plan report. The net effect of all of these changes would be to improve the financial performance of the TTC system.

The TTC's service standards process includes a consultation period between approval of the changes by the Commission and the introduction of the changes, during which time comments are requested from councillors. If requested, TTC staff will attend public meetings or provide additional information regarding the recommendations. At the end of the consultation period, if no suggestions have been made to change the proposals, then arrangements will be made for the service changes to begin early in 1999. If changes are suggested, TTC staff will review these suggestions and report to the Commission before changes are made to the service.

The consultation period for the 1999 Service Plan would begin upon the adoption of this report, and would continue until October 28, 1998. A report would subsequently be presented to the Commission outlining the results of the consultation.

All of the recommended service changes would be introduced for a trial period of at least six months, and would be subject to a post-implementation review, to ensure that they achieve the benefits that are expected. The results of the post-implementation reviews will be presented to the Commission. The 1999 Service Plan report also includes post-implementation reviews of five previous service changes.

JUSTIFICATION

The service changes recommended in the 1999 Service Plan report would improve service for approximately 10,100 customer-trips each day by making service more convenient, more direct, and faster. The recommended service changes should be introduced, to attract new customers to the TTC and thus generate increased fare revenue, and to improve service for customers without increasing operating costs.

- - - - - - -

11-100-76/57

August 7, 1998

Attachments:Recommended Service Changes

1999 Service Plan

FILENAME: COMREP/99SPRPT1.CR

RECOMMENDED SERVICE CHANGES

Improved services

No additional operating costs

49 Bloor West and 50 Burnhamthorpe ! New service on Mill Road

307 Eglinton West ! Overnight service to Pearson Airport

309 Finch West ! Overnight service to Humberwood Loop

74 Mt Pleasant and 103 Mt Pleasant North ! Combination into one route and new service

on Merton Street

80 Queensway ! Service to western beaches

85 Sheppard East ! Direct service east of Meadowvale Road on weekends

53 Steeles East ! New service on Elson Street east of McCowan Road

68 Warden ! Extension to Steeles Avenue

319 Wilson ! Overnight service on Martin Grove Road north of Finch Avenue

New services

Operating costs covered by re-allocating from routes with poor financial performance

83 Jones ! Saturday service

74 Mt Pleasant ! Monday-Friday evening service

131 Nugget ! Sunday and holiday service

80 Queensway ! Summer Sunday and holiday service to western beaches

73 Royal York ! New service on La Rose Avenue and Richview Road

76 Royal York South ! New service on Grand Avenue

Rustic Road and Falstaff Avenue ! New service

168 Symington ! New service on Weston Road to West Park Hospital

165 Weston Rd North ! Sunday and holiday late evening service to Finch Avenue

Service changes to improve financial performance

Operating costs to be reduced or fare revenue to be increased

160 Bathurst North ! Removal of late evening service

121 Front-Esplanade, 72 Pape, 65 Parliament ! Revised service east of Union Station

12 Kingston Rd ! Removal of service east of St. Clair Avenue

86 Scarborough ! Removal of non-summer weekend service to Toronto Zoo

115 Silver Hills ! Combination with 78 St Andrews

88 South Leaside ! Removal of Saturday evening service to Thorncliffe Park

168 Symington ! Removal of late evening service north of St. Clair Avenue

STAFF SUMMARY SHEET