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MEETING DATE: September 25, 2001

SUBJECT: RESTORING A CONVENIENT TTC/MISSISSAUGA

TRANSIT CONNECTION AT ISLINGTON STATION

It is recommended that the Commission:

1. Restore the convenient, weather-protected transfer arrangements within Islington Station for customers using both TTC and Mississauga Transit (MT) buses on Burnhamthorpe Road, by allowing such MT buses back into the Islington bus terminal;
2. Acknowledge the importance of protecting such convenient inter-regional connections, noting the provincial government’s recent policy statements supporting these types of transit connections;
3. Authorize TTC staff to enter into a long-term license agreement with MT for their use of the Islington Station bus bays, in a form satisfactory to the General Counsel, in recognition of the continuing need for a convenient transfer between TTC and MT services at Islington Station; and
4. Forward this report to the Cities of Toronto and Mississauga, the Greater Toronto Services Board (GTSB), and the Burnhamthorpe Residents for Traffic Safety (BRTS).

The restoration of all MT services into Islington Station would restore the TTC’s bus bay lease revenues at Islington Station to the approximately $250,000 per year which MT was paying prior to its removal from the station.

Mississauga Transit has been operating bus service along Burnhamthorpe Road, into the TTC’s Islington Station, since 1973.

Since March, 1996, TTC staff have been involved in attempting to mediate a dispute between the Burnhamthorpe Residents for Traffic Safety (BRTS) and Mississauga Transit (MT), the former of whom wish to have MT buses removed entirely from Burnhamthorpe Road east of Highway 427. In 1996, MT operated seven routes on Burnhamthorpe Road, generating 404 bus-trips per weekday, to and from Islington Station (see Exhibit 1). Over the last four years, after considerable discussion between MT and TTC staff and BRTS, MT reduced the number of bus-trips on Burnhamthorpe Road from 404 per day to the current 308 per day, a reduction of approximately 25%.

This reduction did not satisfy the Burnhamthorpe residents and, in response to BRTS’s request that the Commission take action to further pressure MT into removing their buses from Burnhamthorpe Road, the Commission, in November 1998, directed that MT buses which use Burnhamthorpe Road be denied access to Islington Station. Since December 1, 1998, MT buses using Burnhamthorpe Road have been picking up passengers on Bloor Street, east or west of Islington Avenue, instead of in Islington Station. These passengers, in addition to the inconvenient transfer, have also been left without the benefit of any amenities, as are provided to TTC customers within stations, or any shelter from the weather.

At its meeting on November 17, 1999, the Commission considered a staff report entitled, Mississauga Transit Buses on Burnhamthorpe Road: Proposed Resolution, which recapped Mississauga Transit’s initiatives intended to resolve this matter and recommended that the Commission restore MT’s previous bus bay lease arrangements within Islington Station. This was recommended because the situation between BRTS, MT, and TTC constitutes a stalemate that benefits no one and, in fact, penalizes transit customers who have chosen not to add their cars to the congestion on Toronto streets. The Commission directed that further discussions take place with MT to come up with a resolution that would be satisfactory to the Burnhamthorpe residents. However, discussions and correspondence over a subsequent six-month period were fruitless, and the stalemate remains.

The shared use of Islington Station by both TTC and MT buses, an arrangement which has existed since 1973, has been a model of inter-regional and inter-agency co-operation and efficiency. By sharing the costs of operating and maintaining this terminal, the TTC and MT have been able to provide their customers with quick, convenient, weather-protected connections between each other’s services, while also reducing operating costs, capital expenditure requirements and, ultimately, taxpayers’ subsidies.

The current situation at Islington Station, which keeps many MT buses out of the station because of a local residents’ traffic dispute, has resulted in well-intentioned transit customers being inconvenienced by our own Commission, to no benefit. Not only has the local residents’ issue not been resolved to their satisfaction, but the interests of transit customers have been sacrificed, for almost three years now, in an effort to force MT to take action that would, effectively, reduce the efficiency and customer convenience of its transit services. Since MT has clearly refused to take such action, this has become a "lose-lose" situation that should not be allowed to continue. The Commission, the advocates for transit users in Toronto, should also not want this situation to continue.

TTC staff recommend that the Commission re-establish the previous long-standing convenient transfer between TTC and MT at Islington Station by allowing all MT buses to use the bus terminal on a long-term basis. In contemplating this recommendation, the Commission should also consider the following facts:

• The Commission’s action to date has not been successful in getting MT buses completely off of Burnhamthorpe Road, but it has made transit less convenient for transit customers, the very people whose interests the TTC should be protecting over others;

• MT has already reduced its bus volumes on Burnhamthorpe Road by 25% in a gesture of goodwill and in an effort to meet the residents part way;

• The number of buses on Burnhamthorpe Road is no greater than bus volumes on other, similar roads in Toronto;

• The character of Burnhamthorpe Road, as an arterial link between Toronto and Mississauga, would not be substantially changed by the removal of MT buses, given the road’s full-cloverleaf interchange with Highway 427, and given the large amount of other traffic, including trucks and buses, that use this road on a daily basis; and

• The TTC and the City of Toronto have no practical, legal means of forcing MT to re-route their buses, making the objective of complete removal of MT buses from Burnhamthorpe Road unrealistic.

If the City of Toronto is serious about the need to improve transit service and convince more people to leave their cars at home and take transit, then actions like shutting MT buses out of Islington Station and forcing people to wait for buses out in the blowing snow or driving rain, while perfectly usable transfer facilities sit empty, have no place in its planning policies or those of the TTC. It is time for the Commission to take a leadership role on this issue, to bring closure to this long-standing dispute, and to act in the best interests of GTA transit customers.

The current situation between MT and TTC at Islington Station benefits no one, including the Burnhamthorpe residents who were supposed to be the main beneficiaries of the Commission’s 1998 decision to shut certain MT buses out of Islington Station. After almost three years, it is clear that MT will not allow the TTC or the City of Toronto to force them into a less-efficient or less-convenient bus routing. The City of Toronto’s new Official Plan policies, and those recently stated by the provincial government, clearly advocate for better transit service including inter-regional services. The transit customers who transfer between TTC and MT at Islington Station, and who have been caught in the middle of this unfortunate dispute, have been inconvenienced enough. The time has come to end this "lose-lose" situation and re-establish the long-standing, convenient cross-boundary in-station transfer arrangement between TTC and Mississauga Transit services at Islington Station, which has long been a model of inter-regional and inter-agency co-operation and efficiency.

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August 31, 2001

11-46-53

Attachment: Exhibit 1 – Mississauga Transit Buses on Burnhamthorpe Road

(Drawing No. 11210a)

Filename: S:\svrplan\mag\mt transfer comrep