The extra money city council gave the TTC last week will probably be used to preserve Wheel-Trans service for dialysis patients.

Against the wishes of Mayor Rob Ford, council approved a motion increasing the TTC budget by $5 million “to prevent service reductions.”

Many councillors wanted the money used to prevent February cuts to bus service. But the TTC’s chair, Councillor Karen Stintz, said the money, taken out of the $150 million year-end surplus, should instead be devoted to the city’s $700 million bill for buying new streetcars, since, in her view, bus cuts would merely be delayed if this year’s operations were funded using a one-time windfall.

City solicitor Anna Kinastowski, asked for a legal opinion by Councillor Gloria Lindsay Luby (who supports avoiding the cuts to buses), wrote, “The TTC must use the monies to prevent service reductions as per council’s direction.”

TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said the transit commission and city lawyers agree that under the motion, the money could go either to the main TTC operating budget or to the Wheel-Trans operating budget. Stintz said she is willing to avoid a further fight by using it to keep mobile dialysis patients eligible for Wheel-Trans.

Lindsay Luby, however, rejected Stintz’s purported compromise as “too cute” and “disappointing.” The bus cuts, she said, will affect “thousands, thousands” of people.

The TTC originally proposed to eliminate Wheel-Trans service this month for about 800 dialysis patients who are mobile. The TTC later gave them a six-month reprieve as it continued to search for long-term funding.

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