Ali Mustafa interviews Free and Accessible Transit activists

No Fare is Fair!

"This campaign also arose in part from the energies around the Right to the City campaign and the recognition that organizing around the issue of transit can have great popular appeal right now because so many residents of Toronto are upset about the recent fare-hikes. While transit systems in other large metropolitan areas get large government subsidies to cover their costs, Toronto's transit system relies on user fees for approximately 70 percent of its operating budget, causing fares to rise to $3.00 in 2010. As a result, there has been a lot of dissatisfaction regarding the state of transit in the city. We believe that by building a effective campaign around free and accessible transit, we can direct that anger and frustration around fare-hikes to include an analysis of public goods, public accountability, the failures of the market system, and the right to democratic participation in the shaping of our city. A free transit campaign has the potential to be a popular movement because it has clear and tangible links to the daily experiences of many people, especially those with low income."


Check out Ali's blog, From Beyond the Margins

Jobs and Free Transit!

How Does Free And Accessible Transit Create New And Better Jobs?


An expanded transportation system provides more jobs. A large part of the manufacturing infrastructure in Ontario and elsewhere - made idle by the shift in private production to lower wage areas for higher profits - means that those capacities
can be harnessed for the production of new and advanced mass transit vehicles, components, construction of routes and other parts of a new accessible transit system. This means a shift towards public ownership of manufacturing,
more jobs, and employees with more democratic input into the work that they do. Just as original
subways, buses and streetcars were financed by issuing Ontario bonds, this can be done today- without burdening current and future generations with the profits paid out to private interests. And new jobs will expand the tax base.

Why Free Transit?

What Is Free And

Accessible Transit?

Public transit should be a right for

all people in the city. Using subways,

busses and streetcars in Toronto should

be fee of fares. Transit users are

not ‘customers’. Mobility is not

a commodity to be bought and

paid for by individual users. It is

an essential right, like public education,

libraries, water, doctors and hospitals.

It should be funded by government revenues.

Transit should be accessible to everyone

who needs it. That means

regardless of their income, which

part of the city they live or work in, or if

they are living with disabilities and have

particular physical challenges. All of us

would be able to travel anywhere within

our city when we need to.

Can you imagine how empowering

it would be to go where you need to be,

when you need to be there, not just on an

overpriced ride to and from work or the

occasional appointment or family event

– but where you need to be and who you

need to be with, any time of the day or

evening?

What Do We Mean By

Accessible Transit?

At $3 per fare, transit is becoming

too expensive for poor and

working people. For disabled

workers, a ride that normally takes 1

hour takes 3-4 hours on Wheel-Trans.

Wheel-Trans riders also get “demerit

points” for missing the bus. Most

buses and streetcars are not accessible

for people with disabilities

or for many seniors. Only half

of TTC subway stations have elevators

but they are often out of service

How Could We Pay For

It?

A fairer tax system would provide

enough revenue to pay for fare-free

transit. The provincial and federal governments

would have to contribute their

fair share of funding to Canada’s largest

city. The amount of taxes that

riders would have to pay would be

lower than the amount they spend

each year on the cost of commuting

today. Right now, government subsidize

roads and highways that cars use.

With a fare-free transit system, we could

save on the costs of environmental

pollution and diseases caused by

our current dependence on private cars.

We need to make our tax dollars benefit

the common good.

July 16 2010 - Bringing the Campaign to the Workers' Assembly Membership

From the Campaign Launch Street Party! No Fare is Fair!

No Fare is Fair!