Transit chair wants ‘TTC tax’ on drivers

Moscoe eyes licence renewal surcharge New powers under City of Toronto Act

The next time you renew your licence plate, you may have to pay a fee to the TTC.

Transit commission chairman Howard Moscoe wants the TTC to be the first to take advantage of the new City of Toronto Act, and charge city motorists an extra vehicle registration fee. He has asked staff to look into and report back on his plan.

“ If you can afford to drive a car, you can afford an extra five bucks or so to go to public transit,” Moscoe said.

“Automobile drivers are the biggest beneficiary of a wellfunded public transit system. The more people on public transit, the clearer the roads, the less gridlock.” Moscoe asked TTC staff to come up with a proposal that would outline how a surcharge would be levied and how much money would be raised once the new City of Toronto Act comes into being. It is expected it will be introduced in the Legislature next month.

Moscoe has proposed the vehicle fee as a way to avoid a fare hike next year as the TTC searches for solutions to a $66 million gap in its $ 1.069 billion operating budget.

“ We’ve already had a fare increase this year, I don’t think our riders can sustain another,” he said.

Other ideas to bridge the budget gap that TTC commissioners considered yesterday at their monthly meeting include:

A10- cent- a- ride fare increase, generating $20 million.

Cutting service on routes with poor ridership, saving $9 million.

Allowing even more overcrowding, saving $6 million.

Asking the federal government not to charge GST on fuel, saving $27 million. But Moscoe said it was important for the TTC to fully exploit the powers of the new City of Toronto Act. Under the act the city would get the power to levy a range of fees to raise revenues, including road tolls, taxes on tobacco and bar drinks, or even surcharges on hockey or concert tickets.

“ But I’m not touching tobacco and liquor because I don’t think that’s appropriate. But I do think it’s appropriate to tax automobiles,” said Moscoe.

“ The City of Toronto Act is supposed to be proclaimed very quickly. If it is, I want the TTC to be first up. I think people will applaud it. I’ve never been worried at being first at the trough.”

In southern Ontario it costs $75 a year to renew a licence plate. In Quebec, the province sends $20 from each registration fee to help fund Montreal’s transit system. TTC commissioners also approved the recommendations of an environmental assessment for the final route of an extension of the Spadina subway line into York Region through York University. The final stop would either be north of Steeles Ave. or in the Vaughan corporate centre near Highway 7.

“ This is the first time we have an unprecedented inter-regional project with the City of Toronto, the TTC, the City of Vaughan, York Region and York University all together working for one common purpose,” said Councillor Peter Li Preti. The study will be forwarded to the environment ministry for final approval, but the TTC doesn’t have any funding in place for the $ 1.4 billion project that would take seven years to complete. And even at this early stage, the project has found opponents, including businesses and land owners whose property would have to be expropriated to make way for the first kilometre of track.

“ We just moved there two years ago and we made a lot of improvements,” said Gary Stern, owner of a discount plaza at 1150 Sheppard Ave. “ We’re under a cloud right now. The property has no value, in a sense.

“ You can’t destroy lives like that.”

Commissioners also approved a capital budget of $590 million, part of a $ 3.67 billion five- year plan to buy buses, streetcars and subway cars, as well as repair and upgrade vehicles and facilities.

In 2006, the TTC expects to spend $ 317 million for vehicles and $272 million for infrastructure and related projects.