1. The new mayor is willing to change his mind based on the evidence.

“I was wrong,” John Tory said during the news conference, in reference to a position he took on TTC funding during a campaign debate. This was after he’d already announced he “had a lot to learn” when he became mayor and was now breaking a promise he’d made to freeze TTC fares. Many politicians would find these dangerous words, inviting accusations of flip-flopping and promise-breaking. But a mayor unafraid to base decisions on the best evidence and expert advice he gets is far, far better than a hobgoblin stubbornly obsessed with foolish consistency.

2. Tory’s post-campaign commitment to bus service is more than lip service.

This is a substantial investment in TTC service levels — 50 new buses and garage space for them, reduced peak and off-peak crowding limits, new frequent service on more lines all day, 11 new night bus routes, four new express bus routes, and free travel for children, among other things. In all, it’s a $95 million commitment — dwarfing the promise of $15 million for buses that Olivia Chow was both lauded and pilloried for during the election campaign. And it comes from a mayor who didn’t make service improvements a big part of his campaign at all. It’s early to see whether the same decisive follow-through will be evident on other issues Tory embraced after taking office — including affordable housing and fighting poverty — but this TTC announcement should be encouraging to those who see hope in his rhetoric.

3. Tory is bringing a new level of showmanship and polish to city business.

Tory has already established himself as big on making announcements, an approach he’s now bringing to the budget. In the past, city budgets have generally been presented to the public first by the city manager in a PowerPoint-assisted report, and then debated over a series of meetings, punctuated by speeches and statements from the mayor and other officials. This year, a day before that presentation, Tory held a splashy news conference complete with school children and a prop bus to highlight a part of the budget he clearly wants to emphasize. It’s a public-relations approach to budget legislation we’ve grown used to from provincial and federal governments, but is new to city hall. It will be interesting to see if the rest of the month features more events highlighting other areas of the budget.

4. We might want to expect the unexpected.

More than any other part of the announcement, the decision to allow all children aged 12 and under to ride free came out of left field — it’s not a proposal I can specifically remember anyone putting forward for debate before. Parts of its rationale seem obvious. In policy terms, the $7 million in revenue from kids may not be worth the bother of collecting the fares, and poorer families may disproportionately benefit, given that, anecdotally, most parents who can afford to drive their kids around do so to avoid the hassles. Politically, no one ever seems to lose by pandering to parents and claiming to “support families,” and the surprise nature of the announcement grabbed at least some of the headlines from the promise-breaking fare increase. But it also sets an interesting possible precedent for major announcements that have a bit of creativity and overturn expectations.

5. No one likes paying more.

The announced 10-cent increase for non-cash fares (a 3.7 per cent hike) was accompanied by a $38-million increase in the annual subsidy city council gives to the TTC (an 8.7 per cent jump in funding from property tax payers). Given the service improvements, this may seem like a good deal for riders. Still, the backlash against the fare increase was swift, including an explosion of anger on social media and the advocacy group TTCRiders declaring its “disappointment” that the mayor had broken his fare-freeze promise. This is less something we learned than something we were strongly reminded of: any increase in taxes or fees will be met with anger by those who have to pay it. Tory and Co. already know this, of course, which should temper any speculation that his willingness to overturn promises will extend to larger property tax increases — at least in the short term.

6. A Metropass just isn’t worth it for most people anymore

At a new price of $141.50, a Metropass costs almost as much as 51 tokens or 47 cash fares. For most weekday commuters, that math doesn’t add up.

Edward Keenan writes on city issues ekeenan@thestar.ca . Follow: @thekeenanwire

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