Last year, Star readers identified putting the GTA’s transit systems under one authority as one of their top 10 big ideas. This week, we check in on what, if any, progress has been made.

A year after Toronto Star readers suggested amalgamating all of the GTA’s transit agencies under one roof, planning experts say it’s a pipe dream that wouldn’t solve that many problems anyway, and Mayor John Tory maintains he’s not interested in the idea.

The original proposal was to streamline existing agencies such as the TTC, York Viva, Mississauga Transit and Durham Transit and put them under the control of Metrolinx. Metrolinx would “require a source of long-term dedicated revenue,” the Star said at the time, but the move would “streamline decision making and planning and eliminate coordination issues.”

Murtaza Haider, a professor of real estate management at Ryerson University, says it would do none of those things.

“You cannot have one agency that does all. It’s beyond the capacity of one agency to be transit planner, buying buses, and then … operations,” he said.

Among the detrimental effects Haider lists for an amalgamated system, the first would be increased wage costs. Under one system, workers would expect to be paid equally, he said, and putting them all under one bargaining unit would result in wages rising across the board to whatever is the current highest rate.

“How would you tell a bus driver in Vaughan that he should be paid less for the same level of effort than a bus driver in Toronto?” he said.

Amalgamating all of Toronto’s public transit agencies is a big idea, but Patrick Luciani, senior fellow at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies has an even bigger one: sell the TTC.

“I don’t really care who buys it. The point is, Toronto is in a perfect position, given the low interest rate, to borrow money internationally, and to have a very extensive subway system. The only way we can do that is to attract foreign capital, and lots of it,” he said.

Luciani admits the idea might not be realistic, but he said that doesn’t matter because it’s necessary.

“I’m not really saying whether it can or can’t happen politically. I’m just saying it’s the only way we’ll ever get a proper transit system in the city,” he said.

Khandker Nurul Habib, a professor at the University of Toronto and transportation planning expert, has a different suggestion, which he thinks could strike a balance in being realistic, but also unifying GTA transit: a unified fare system. He says users don’t care about what agency they’re travelling with, as long as they can transfer from one to the other easily.

“They only worry whether they can get good service between point of origin to point of destination,” he said.

That idea might have a chance of occurring. During the last municipal election, mayoral candidates were asked whether they’d support having one transportation body for the whole GTHA. Most — including current Mayor John Tory — said no.

In an emailed statement, Tory’s chief spokesperson Amanda Galbraith confirmed that his position had not changed, but that he’s supportive of a unified fare system. The Presto system, which is slowly being introduced on more TTC services, could serve as that system, she said.

“Obviously it is very complicated, but we continue to work collaboratively with Metrolinx and other municipalities,” Galbraith said.

Anne-Marie Aikins, a spokesperson for Metrolinx, said in an email that fare integration is one of the agency’s goals.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“We want to make crossing municipal boundaries and switching between transit systems simple and hassle-free. The existing approach to fares in our region is complex, and finding a solution requires a significant amount of planning and cooperation,” Aikins said.

It’s probably the most realistic first step to an amalgamated transit authority, Nurul Habib said. But Haider said a unified fare would be enough, and that amalgamation would only cause extra problems.

“[Metrolinx doesn’t] have the competency there. So asking them to do better than those who have done it for decades, to me it’s wishful thinking,” Haider said.

Read more about: