TTC says some bus lines saved; Toronto Roller Derby still left in the dark

TTC says some bus lines saved; Toronto Roller Derby still left in the dark

Is it too early to start calling it the Ford Two-Step? Between the quickly rethought fare hikes and the announcement that the TTC will not be cutting as many routes as immediately thought, we’re beginning to see a pattern: announce something big and upsetting, then scale it back so that people think they’ve been saved. Yesterday, TTC chair Karen Stintz announced that the TTC had managed to save seven of the 48 route cuts that had been previously announced.

According to the Toronto Star:

On 19 more, part of the proposed reduction in service has been restored, including the 98 Willowdale-Senlac bus, which serves the Rotary Cheshire Home and the Canadian Helen Keller Centre.

The Star’s Joe Fiorito, in a Monday column, pointed out vital the bus route is to the 16 residents of the home and 80 clients of the Helen Keller Centre, the only such facilities in Canada for people who are both deaf and blind. That bus will continue to run weekdays until 1 a.m. and weekends until 10 p.m.

In all, 67 of 212 threatened boarding periods will be saved and only about half of the original service cuts will go ahead.

Unfortunately, one of the routes that was not entirely spared is the 101 Downsview bus, meaning that the women of Toronto Roller Derby (ToRD) will still need to walk the last one kilometre to their practice, often in the dark. League rep Saira Peesker told the Toronto Sun “We’re still going to be walking at night, that’s the big thing, we still practice there every night and so do lots of sports groups.”

If the current list of changes goes ahead without any more revisions, this still leaves our preferred option: a roller derby contest featuring Rob Ford, Stintz and maybe budget chief Mike Del Grande, versus some of the members of ToRD and—if we can pry her from the ground in New YorkEllen Page.

TTC restores some bus routes flagged for cuts [Toronto Star]
TTC makes changes to service cuts proposal [Toronto Sun]
• TTC to scale back bus route cuts [National Post]