In recent weeks, calls to privatize all or parts of Toronto’s transit service have grown louder and more frequent.

Two pitches for transit privatization appeared within days in the Toronto Star. Patrick Luciani advocated widespread privatization of the Toronto transit system: auctioning off city bus routes to the highest bidder, and looking to the private sector to build subways.

Star columnist Christopher Hume also weighed in. Reflecting the frustration of many Torontonians with our transit system, Hume speculated we could be better off with a privately run system.

But arguments in favour of transit privatization amount to wishful thinking that defies both basic economic reasoning and the experience with transit privatization to date.

Let’s start with the proposal to auction off TTC bus routes. The key flaw in this plan is that many bus routes in Toronto lose rather than make money. Governments provide services to meet public needs and goals. Businesses understandably provide services to make a profit.

Business cannot be expected to provide services at a loss. But government exists to pool our resources to assure that all have reasonable transportation access and that we build an environmentally sustainable urban transportation system.

Auctioning off bus routes would create a checkerboard of bus service ranging from reliable in some areas to non-existent in others.

Private operators would happily bid on the busiest and most profitable routes.

But they would drop their least profitable routes, many located in the lower density inner suburbs of Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke.

Private carriers would also have incentive to cut service in costly off-peak hours that may be sparsely used but provide essential transport to those without cars.

A similar problem with profitability undermines the claim that the private sector will build subways without major government funding. It is fanciful to believe proposals that the private sector will build subways across the city if only given the chance at development rights.

Subways cost billions of dollars to build and millions more to operate annually, whereas development rights may bring in tens or at most hundreds of millions of dollars. We have already learned this with Rob Ford’s wishful and misguided claim that the private sector would fund the expansion of Toronto’s subway system.

Some cities have turned to public-private partnerships to design, build, finance, operate and maintain new subway and light-rail lines.

But these too have required major public subsidy. In the case of the Canada Line in Vancouver, governments paid around two-thirds of the project’s $2-billion capital costs, and guaranteed repayment of the private sector partner’s initial investment through ongoing annual subsidies.

There is no free ride for the public purse under private involvement in transit. And any service “efficiencies” would overwhelmingly come from cuts to non-profitable but needed services or from lower worker wages. While private sector involvement in transit can contribute additional resources, improving transit depends on government retaining control over service standards.

Fortunately, there is a more reliable route to improved transit in Toronto. Experience from around the world shows there are three key ingredients for a successful urban transit system. Regrettably, Toronto has none of these currently in place.

First is funding commitment from all senior levels of government. The TTC operates with among the lowest amount of government subsidy per ride of any major North American city. And it shows. Ironically then, Toronto’s transit problem is too little government support rather than the absence of private sector involvement. Urban transit systems require their own dedicated stream of assured funding.

Second, transit works when it is given priority as a mode of urban mobility. Upgrade the speed, reliability and comfort of the transit experience and all will benefit, including car drivers facing less gridlock.

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Third, successful transit cities think carefully about which transit service and investment works best where. They actually rely on research and public consultations to determine the best mix of streetcars, buses, subways and LRT.

The false fix of privatization will only give Toronto more transit troubles.