Since Ford has a sound record for complying with budgets, it can be predicted that in order to adhere to TTC’s budgetary constraints, underused bus routes may be cut. Interestingly, a blog post from Ford’s current Director of Policy, Mark Towhey, rationalizes how underused bus routes should be cancelled and the few who use those routes should “get to know their neighbours and share a taxi.” Although Ford's campaign has refused to acknowledge Towhey's post, the campaign team is inherently an extension of the candidate. And this post gives us an idea of how public transit is perceived by Ford's team. Towhey's post talks about various other issues concerning Toronto's public transit system, such as funding ideas and introducing specialized bus lines within communities. For more insight about Towhey's post, transit expert (and Spacing contributing editor) Steve Munro has addressed it here on his blog.
SUMMARY: Ford’s Current Transit Platform
Funding Approach: Ford proposes to gather funding from selling air rights on top of subway stations. He is a proponent for privatizing the system and has stated that without funding support from the federal government, privatization will be the only option that will work. He has not specified how, how much, or what components of the TTC would be privatized.
