Tory wins, Mammoliti out, little changes -- Toronto's election brings neo-liberal continuity

After the drama of Doug Ford's undemocratic downsizing of Toronto City Council mid-election, the new, smaller results represent neo-liberal continuity. Very little of any fundamental significance has changed.

John Tory won a landslide victory over his main opponent, Jennifer Keesmaat, which is unsurprising given that there was almost nothing that separated them. Disappointingly, neo-fascist candidate Faith Goldy garnered more votes than leftist candidate Saron Gebresellassi, though neither broke 3.5% of the vote.

Meanwhile, council races were a mixed bag.

Michael Ford's result in Ward 1 has to have been uncomfortably close for his uncle given all the political resources he invested in it. A loss would have been politically catastrophic for him though it did not happen. Ford beat another reactionary Vincent Crisanti by almost eight percent of the vote.

In a silver lining Giorgio Mammoliti, who ran a disgraceful, dog-whistle campaign and who has been a disruptive far right presence on council for all too long, went down to a richly deserved defeat. He lost to Anthony Perruzza by nearly 12 points. This was, at least, a minor setback for Ford style bombastic stupidity at City Hall.

Many of council's "progressive" establishment "heavyweights" have been returned for what that is worth.  Family heritage crew Mike Layton and Joe Cressy are still there, as are centrists like Kristyn Wong-Tam. Gord Perks won easily in Ward 4 which is a positive given that he is likely the sole Councillor that can honestly be described as a leftist. Labour Council endorsed (surprise, surprise) Paula Fletcher defeated fellow progressive Mary Fragedakis whose personal connections were perhaps not quite as close.

In a fascinating example of the paucity of politics now, Josh Matlow -- a liberal notable largely for his fierce and correct resistance to Tory's inane Scarborough subway plans -- handily defeated the supposed New Democrat Joe Mihevc in Ward 12 by over 10 points. Mihevc might be remembered by The Left Chapter readers for his relentless nonsense about alleged TTC fare evasion and his musings on making sure kids get on the Presto train. He also, in what was a truly cynical and telling move, asked for John Tory's endorsement and received it. It likely, and deservedly, did more harm than good.

Deeply ironically Labour Council endorsed Jennifer Keesmaat ganged up with John Tory to back Brad Bradford over Labour Council endorsed former NDP MP Matthew Kellway in Ward 19. Bradford won. Sadly, I doubt this will cause the Labour Council to reflect on its pattern of often terrible, short-sighted decisions.

Overall, despite the hyperbole and the Ford machinations, the results indicate continuity. They do not appear to show any shift significantly to the right or ideologically otherwise at all. In fact, only 12 of 25 candidates endorsed by Doug Ford's de facto official organ the Toronto Sun won. The composition and balance of power between what passes as a left, the centrists and the right remains largely the same.

The lack of an organized socialist civic movement, though, is as glaring as its consequences are telling.

The council also continues to lack anything remotely like the diversity of the city it supposedly represents.

With this council we can anticipate little serious or significant resistance to the Ford provincial agenda municipally. When understood within the broader politics of disillusion in Ontario, it is clear that any fightback will have to be organized outside of and in spite of existing mainstream electoral channels.

See also: Ontario’s 2018 Election: Pessimism Today, Strategic Organizing Tomorrow

TTC fare fallacies -- Neoliberal delusions in transit costing

The start of the 2018 election season is nearing and fanciful neoliberal narratives about transit fares and the TTC are in full swing.

As 2017 ended an internal TTC report of questionable accuracy was obtained by the media stating that fare evasion allegedly "cost" the service $50 million a year (approximately 4.3% of fare revenue of around $1.16 billion) as opposed to the $20 million (or approximately 1.72%) previous studies and audits had stated. Councillors like Joe Mihevc said that they felt "vindicated" in their previous claims that fare evasion was a more serious issue than some claimed it was.

Meanwhile the TTC is moving ahead with a project to allow 2 hour transfers meaning that people will be able to pay a single fare and get on and off the system at will, in any direction and with stopovers in between, for a full two hours. This is projected to allegedly "cost" $20 million. Councillor John Campbell described the idea as more of an "open-ended cheque" and then displayed a total lack of understanding of who uses transit by claiming it would primarily benefit the well-to-do and tweeting a bunch of rubbish about Bay St. executives hopping on-and-off buses between power lunches. 

As we will see, both of these assessments of "cost" are predicated on notions of revenue that frame the TTC in ways that make no sense for what should be viewed as an essential public service.

To return to Campbell though, the point of a 2 hour fare window is to allow people to make trips to get groceries, take the kids to school, shop locally, etc. and return home without the burden of paying an extra $2.05 to $2.10 (for teens and seniors) or up to $3.25 for everyone else. It is not the well off who will take advantage of this, but rather students, people who do not own cars, the elderly and people making short trips.

In many cases these will end up being people who simply would not have used and are not now using the system in the absence of this fare window for these types of trips. This is a key point that also applies in the case of fare evasion and that renders many of these "cost" assessments fundamentally questionable.

As a personal example, I do not own a car. As I work out of home I also do not buy a Metropass generally. Some days  I still have to take my kids into school and their school is actually over 20-25 minutes away by foot. While in inclement weather I will use the TTC, if the weather is nice I will walk both ways to save the total cost of $6 - $6.50 (depending on if I use Presto or not). However, if the cost were only $3 - $3.25 for the entire trip due to the fare window I would be far more likely to use the TTC meaning that, in fact, on many school days over the last few years the TTC has lost at least my single fare because I would rather walk than pay for the trip both ways. This equally applies with a lot of local grocery shopping I do. I can assure you that I am far from alone on this.

In other words, many people cannot afford or do not want to pay as much as $6.50 for a local two (plus) way trip and so instead of possibly getting one fare from each of these people the TTC ends up getting nothing on routes that are running anyway. 

What we see here is that not only will having the fare window encourage positive things like local shopping and allow greater social mobility for those with low or fixed incomes, but that some of the "cost" assumptions (other than fixed ones like setup changes to systems) are based on the false idea that the return fare is being "lost" when in the much greater number of cases there would simply have been no fare to begin with.

Even if Campbell is right and some suits due to a new fare window suddenly want to use the TTC to gallivant around at lunch that would be better for the TTC in terms of revenue generation than them deciding not to use the system at all!

His argument fails not just in terms of social fairness and policy objectives, but also in terms of his own frame of fiscal reference.

Keep in mind what I said above as well. The buses, streetcars and subways are running regardless of whether any specific person uses them. These routes and the costs of running them as a service are already in place. These costs do not decrease if either I, a local elderly shopper or a Bay St. bistro enthusiast chose to walk instead of getting on for a ride. The only thing that changes is potential revenue and the opening of different transit opportunities for people, something that someone with an actual understanding of who uses public transit and why would be more likely to grasp.

This is the same problem with the way many exaggerating the significance of fare evasion frame matters as well. The primary cost that ends up being associated with fare evasion will almost always be the expense involved in trying to catch or prevent it.

All studies show that the vast majority of riders, whether it is 96% or 98% of them, pay their fares via the established and normal safeguards/waypoints in place. To begin with, this means that calls to spend more on enforcement are also calls to harass and make transit less pleasant for the overwhelming majority in order to attempt to "catch" a tiny, tiny minority. As I said in a previous piece related to this the "point is both that the enforcement measures are very expensive and that they don't only deter so-called 'cheats', they also deter everyone else" from using the system in the first place.

But further, regardless of how one views the small numbers of those evading the fares, the notion of lost revenue is, again, predicated on the idea that they would have paid to use the system if there was sufficient enforcement in place to totally prevent fare evasion (a notion as absurd and impossible as it would be exceptionally expensive to achieve).

Remember, as with the fare window riders, all the TTC routes are running whether 2-4 % of those riding them find ways to get on for free or not. As I have also pointed out in the past, creating the type of enforcement network that would put a serious dent in fare evasion "still would not generate new revenue for the system as in most cases these are riders who are hopping on to go a few stops or who do not have the money to afford to pay. If enforcement does succeed in deterring them all the time, they will simply not use the system. They will walk or find other means instead. The net gain financially to deterring this type of behaviour is actually negative as the TTC will have to spend a lot of money to stop people who were never going to pay in the first place."

These are truly examples of failing to see the forest through the trees.

The broader point is that public transit is something that we as a society allegedly want to promote and expand for essential environmental, social justice and social inclusion goals. We want to encourage people to get on buses, streetcars and subways. If we make it onerous (financially and in terms of scheduling) and unpleasant (in terms of over-enforcement or making it hard to board, etc.) to use transit fewer people will do so. If we make it easier, more flexible and more enjoyable more people will take "the better way".

We will go a long way towards achieving this if we always frame transit as a fundamentally important basic service and right for the public and the public good of the city and stop seeing it through a neoliberal lens that places the emphasis on "costs" as opposed to people.

Further Readings:

The TTC 'fare evasion' fraud and Toronto's fiscal chickens coming home to roost

Free transit: Three reasons it is an idea whose time has come

TTC fare increases continue Toronto's war on transit riders

Reality again derails Tory's fantasy SmartTrack plans

Joe Mihevc and Toronto politicians are "ripping off" the TTC -- Not transit riders!

The TTC 'fare evasion' fraud and Toronto's fiscal chickens coming home to roost

Lost late last week in the cacophony of reaction to Mayor John Tory's announcement that he would be considering the implementation of road tolls on Toronto's highways was a very interesting article from the Toronto Star's Edward Keenan. 

Keenan reported on the fact that -- as many such as myself have long believed -- the notion that TTC riders cheating on fares is a serious or significant contributing factor to the transit system's fiscals woes is nothing but balderdash. It is a convenient, though false, attempted diversion by Toronto politicians from real issues.

His article is worth quoting at some length. As I also noted here on The Left Chapter about Mihevc and others a few months ago, Keenan writes:

Earlier this year, TTC chair Josh Colle and TTC commissioner Joe Mihevc were spinning tales about this scourge on transit finances, and the topic came up again, inevitably, at the transit budget meeting this week. Monday night, Mayor John Tory found himself musing about it on his call-in television show. “I even said we may have to get to the stage where we have to shame people and publish their picture in the newspaper and say this is somebody, who for the sake of a TTC fare, you know, made everybody else pay,” Tory said....
...All this finger pointing at schemers, apparently, makes for great political drama. It’s satisfying! There’s someone to blame. We get to say that part of our difficulty balancing our budget and keeping fares low is that bad guys are cheating us. Having a villain makes for easier politics and better storytelling. If we can somehow work a high-speed streetcar chase through the financial district into the climax, it will make for an entertaining film adaptation.
As a way to actually discuss any real problems — budgetary or otherwise — that the TTC faces, however, it leaves much to be desired.

Why?:

 TTC spokesperson Brad Ross tells the Star there’s no reason to think fare evasion is a particular problem at the TTC, nor any reason to think it has risen dramatically. Most transit systems, he says, see about 2 per cent of riders try to sneak on without paying, and that’s about what the TTC estimates it suffers from — a percentage that has remained “fairly consistent” even as the TTC has introduced all-door boarding and free rides for children.
So: management says they see no evidence of this problem that politicians are banging on about. 

After noting that there are far bigger problems facing the TTC, Keenan also writes:

 The New York City website Streetsblog recently reported on a discussion panel in which transit executives from Boston, London, San Francisco and Oslo talked about how, in order to serve riders well, they basically stopped worrying about fare evasion. “Fare payment isn’t the point of running a bus system, (the point) is getting people to the places they want to go,” David Block-Schachter of Boston’s transit authority reportedly said. London, England’s transit authority is no longer even handing out fines for turnstile hopping. “When you stop worrying about fare evasion, but you focus on the convenience of the fare system — you focus on the service it provides to the rider — it opens up a lot of options for the agency, which could allow you to offer better service at lower cost,” one speaker at the event said.
This isn’t because it isn’t annoying that some people cheat the system. It’s because some people will always cheat the system, and the cost and hassle of making it difficult for them is not worth it — especially since most enforcement measures make the system a hassle for all riders. And what you want to focus on, if you want more riders, more honest, fare-paying riders, is making the system as hassle-free as possible.

This point is key and needs to be emphasized again: "This isn’t because it isn’t annoying that some people cheat the system. It’s because some people will always cheat the system, and the cost and hassle of making it difficult for them is not worth it — especially since most enforcement measures make the system a hassle for all riders."

And this is critical to understand. In a piece this past February both here and on rabble.ca, Joe Mihevc and Toronto politicians are "ripping off" the TTC -- Not transit riders! I wrote:

...hiring the new TTC goon squad that would be required to harass and police all those riders getting on at the back will not be free! It will cost millions and millions of dollars annually, so perhaps Mihevc could also investigate whether paying for the policing of transit users and constituents is actually even worth it.
Like all those now defunct "welfare cheat hotlines" that politicians promoted a generation ago I suspect it will turn out not to be.

The point is both that the enforcement measures are very expensive and that they don't only deter so-called 'cheats', they also deter everyone else. It is not simply the unpleasantness of having to interact with and be interrogated by wanna-be cops, it is also the soon to come hassle of having to have Presto cards, user IDs and even a proposal for TTC IDs for children as young as 10 to prove they should get to ride for free, which is simply absurd.

There is no doubt that the new layers of harassment the TTC is seeking to instigate in conjunction with yet another round of fare hikes will deter people, and especially casual users, from taking public transit.

Why would it not? You don't make a system appealing by making it cost more, forcing riders to jump through various hoops to use it and basically saying that you don't trust the people who are taking it! It is worth reminding the TTC's City Council overlords that they put in place the policy of opening the back doors on the streetcars to speed up the streetcars and reduce hassle. To then turn around and behave as if those riders doing what they are supposed to do and using these doors should somehow be regarded with suspicion is bizarre.

In addition, even if enough policing were put in place to seriously deter actual fare cheats, it still would not generate new revenue for the system as in most cases these are riders who are hopping on to go a few stops or who do not have the money to afford to pay. If enforcement does succeed in deterring them all the time, they will simply not use the system. They will walk or find other means instead. The net gain financially to deterring this type of behaviour is actually negative as the TTC will have to spend a lot of money to stop people who were never going to pay in the first place.

This is why when you hear politicians talk about "lost revenue" from fare evasion they are largely wrong and blowing hot air. It is not "lost" if it was never going to happen to begin with. Again: "the cost and hassle of making it difficult for them is not worth it — especially since most enforcement measures make the system a hassle for all riders."

Now, I think most Toronto politicians are smart enough to actually know this, but they need a scapegoat.

They need a scapegoat for terrible wastes of money like the disastrous multi-billion dollar proposal for a one-stop Scarborough subway extension, the increasingly idiotic "SmartTrack" John Tory signature transit 'plan', and the terrible decision to adopt the "hybrid" eastern Gardiner Expressway plan that is seeing predictable and very large increased cost projections. 

As John Tory becomes desperate enough -- after a generation of governments on all levels being unwilling to maintain (let alone increase) taxes to the extent required to actually fiance the infrastructure and public transit projects the city of Toronto requires and that are in some cases decades overdue -- to be willing to touch that 'third rail' of civic politics that is road tolls, we see that Toronto's fiscal chickens are coming home to roost.

Councillor Gord Perks called the idea of road tolls a 'distraction' and writes rather convincingly (and at some length) about the reasons for this, not the least of which is that -- in addition to not generating what is actually needed in terms of revenue --  it will be years before the laws and infrastructure is in place for tolls to even generate a single dime for Toronto.

There is also an argument to be made that they are regressive, though that can be countered by the fact that they do discourage car usage -- a societal and environmental must -- as well as the reality that public transit users are made to pay "tolls" every time they use their system which makes one wonder why car drivers should not, especially given how clearly harmful car usage is?

But tolls are not going to generate anywhere near the money required to fund TTC expansion and keep fares down.

Doing that will require our politicians and parties on all levels to start being willing to actually have a serious conversation about the kinds of progressive income and corporate taxes, in conjunction with other taxes and revenue tools, that are required to achieve the funding for the Toronto and TTC we desperately want and need.

Until that day comes -- and it does not even seem to be on the horizon -- all the rest is, indeed, a distraction and trying to make an issue of fare evasion is nothing more than a pathetic, silly, simplistic and costly waste of time.

See also: TTC fare increases continue Toronto's war on transit riders

See also: Reality again derails Tory's fantasy SmartTrack plans

See also: The new TTC youth fare rules are a revolting attack on children

See also: Joe Mihevc and Toronto politicians are "ripping off" the TTC -- Not transit riders!

The new TTC youth fare rules are a revolting attack on children

The TTC and its sad Toronto City Councillor overlords have come up with a brilliant idea -- children as young as 6 will need to have cards to get free transit, children between 10 and 12 will have to have photo ID that they will have to pay for to ride for "free" and adolescents will have to display ID, even when they are OBVIOUSLY teenagers, to get a measly dollar off the fare.

This new system will be backed up by TTC security that are paid handsomely to police the minuscule problem of fare evasion, basically guaranteeing abusive and confrontational interactions between fake cops and children and their parents.

Anyone who thinks this new regime of crass fare intimidation will have an equal impact across social, class and community lines knows little about them.

This is truly, deeply, madly wrong-headed and is a sad reflection of how desperate Councillors and the Mayor are to deflect their terrible decision making and boondoggles -- like throwing billions away on a single stop subway extension -- by making kids the target.

"Progressive" politicians like Joe Mihevc helped make the case for this by actually pretending fare evasion is a serious issue,

Now it has been taking to a farcical extreme.

Are we really going to harass 10 year olds for an ID?

Are we really going to demand 13 and 14 year olds get off a streetcar if they cannot find or do not have an ID and cannot pay the full fare? How about young women? How about in a storm? How about at night?

Are we really going to demand parents riding with their child prove a 10 or 11 year old is 10 or 11 years old?

Are we really going to demand TTC ID for kids of casual users, who will basically then never take their kids on the system but get into cars instead?

Is this sick farce actually happening in Toronto?

Has anyone thought this through?

This is as low a moment as this city has ever hit in terms of tansit and it will not end well.

True to form Mihevc opined on this:

“There has been frankly too many teenagers taking advantage of this system. Some controls are necessary,” he said. He added that requiring younger kids to have Presto cards is “good training for them.”

Good "training".  Seriously.

Do folks like "chief customer officer Chris Upfold" actually want to claim somehow “Because if it gets to a stage where it actually becomes unsustainable, then people are going to lose that discount,” when by people he means kids?

Have we lost all perspective in our grotesque rush to pass the buck for what really ails the system -- generations of chronic underfunding and terrible choices like the Scarborough subway?

But now the direct victims of these choices will be kids.

Good job John Tory. Good job council. Hope you are proud. And unless you stop this hope you are proud when the inevitable incidents of kids being left at stops, young women being told to get off at night or 11 year olds being bullied by TTC security occur.

You will be directly responsible.

 See also: Joe Mihevc and Toronto politicians are "ripping off" the TTC -- Not transit riders!

Joe Mihevc and Toronto politicians are "ripping off" the TTC -- Not transit riders!

Toronto City Councillor Joe Mihevc thinks the TTC has a problem -- and that problem is all those dastardly fare evaders who are allegedly ripping the fine city of Toronto off!

Mihevc went on TV to state: 

“I take the streetcar virtually every day on St. Clair. I notice the number of people boarding on the back door and I do wonder whether some of them are getting a free ride,” Mihevc told CP24 on Friday afternoon. “I have never been asked by a fare checker and I have never seen them checking other people either. The honour system is present in many cities around the world but those cities don’t rely as much on the fare box as we do. We can’t just turn a blind eye to it.” 

He goes on to say:

“If you are cheating shame on you. You are ripping all of us,” he told CP24. “We are now looking at a 30 million deficit at the TTC which means less streetcars and less buses and some of that is because some people aren’t paying. That’s not fair.”

This is all pretty rich coming from a Toronto politician!

Never mind that, in his rush to blur and hide the actual reality of why the TTC faces deficits and is chronically underfunded -- which of course is directly the fault of elected officials on all levels such as himself  -- Mihevc has no evidence that those people using the back doors (as they have been encouraged to) which are an essential part of the "proof of payment" system meant to try to speed up overcrowded and frequently late streetcars are, actually, fare evaders!

None. At all. He simply tosses it out there as an "explanation" for the TTC's troubles. If he really does take the TTC everyday he clearly does not think terribly highly of his fellow riders and constituents!

But, moreover, the fact is that "fare evasion" insofar as it exists (and of course on some level it does and always will) is not at the roots of the structural issues facing the TTC in anyway. 

When he points out that most cities do not rely on fares to fund their transit systems to anywhere near the extent that Toronto does he is absolutely correct, but that did not just happen -- it is the result of successive municipal and provincial administrations unwilling to do what it took in terms of finding revenue streams through taxation or tolls that would be dedicated to transit funding and who have instead made the burden on transit users greater and greater.

Transit users who are doing the environmentally right thing and who are also disproportionately the young, people from lower income groups, seniors, people on fixed incomes, and the marginalized.

If anyone has been "ripping off" the people of Toronto when it comes to transit it is city council and provincial politicians by not funding the system properly -- which directly results in fares being raised year-after-year. 

Did you know, as just one example in decades of them, that in Mayor John Tory's first budget, supported by Mihevc, the annual cost of a TTC Metropass went up more in actual dollars than did the annual taxes paid by the average homeowner in Toronto?

Seriously.

And TTC fares increased again this year as the city's politicians chose to prioritize funding the massively bloated police service.  

Never mind that hiring the new TTC goon squad that would be required to harass and police all those riders getting on at the back will not be free! It will cost millions and millions of dollars annually, so perhaps Mihevc could also investigate whether paying for the policing of transit users and constituents is actually even worth it. 

Like all those now defunct "welfare cheat hotlines" that politicians promoted a generation ago I suspect it will turn out not to be.

So, you know what, Joe Mihevc and other Councillors prattling on about this are really full of it. When we should be doing everything it takes to make transit more affordable, they do the opposite. 

It is the politicians in Toronto's austerity consensus -- politicians just like him -- who are the ones truly at fault for the circumstances we are in and that transit users face. Mihevc and the rest of them should stop trying to blame others and instead be ashamed of how they have fucked up the TTC. 

See also: Toronto budget prioritizes policing -- Yet again

See also: John Tory's Stupid Track derails transit in Toronto yet again

See also: Free transit: Three reasons it is an idea whose time has come