Welcome to Toronto: A city where every year, people pay more to get less.

Toronto is serviced by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), a ramshackle network of 2 (and a half) subway lines, increasingly unreliable bus routes, and a few streetcars that crawl along roads choked with car traffic.

While the public are kept in suspense regarding the eventual (?) opening date of the Eglinton Crosstown ("Line 5"), and incidents of crime are on the rise, how has the TTC delivered for ordinary Torontonians?

By kneecapping the poorest in our city once again: Come December, the TTC will have stripped all stations of free public WiFi.

To justify this, the TTC cites the $17 million it would take to upgrade the service and keep it functional. Apparently, they can't be bothered to keep it running, and the natural solution is to let it rot. Why repair the tracks? Or the trains for that matter? Would anyone notice the difference?

The truth is that the cost of repairs represents 0.6% of the TTC's annual budget for 2024.​ That's right. They'd save 0.6%! What a steal! And who better to steal from than the poorest Canadians?

15% of Canadians don't have a data plan. That's more than the population of British Columbia. That's who could lose out from this. It shouldn't be a surprise, when Canada has some of the most expensive data plans in the world. Add to that anyone in between data plans, who wants to navigate around the city. Anyone in between phone plans who wants to call a friend on WhatsApp or Messenger and just feel safe. 

It is time for decisions like this one - that quietly roll back the quality of life of ordinary Torontonians - to be aired publicly. It is time for the absurd $3.30 fare that we pay (among the highest in the world) to do something. 

It is time for the TTC Board to do something.

A recent motion to keep TTC WiFi running narrowly failed at the Board. A key vote in opposition was Councillor Dianne Saxe. After you sign this petition, consider reaching out to her here about this issue:

Toronto City Hall
100 Queen Street West, Suite C47
Toronto, ON M5H 2N2
Telephone: 416-392-4009
Email: Councillor_Saxe@toronto.ca

The Board is just ten people. It only takes a couple to care about ordinary people, or at least about the perception of the TTC as a laughingstock, to make this change. 

Thank you all, and ride safe.