Privatize Public Transit

Let those who use the system pay for it........

A lot rests on the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority. So much rests on it, yet in terms of integrating land use and transportation planning, it's not clear where the accountability rests, because there is no region-wide policy council."
"The funding is unclear and the accountability for land use planning either requires a strong provincial hand, or incredible municipal co-operation."

Anne Golden, chief executive, Conference Board of Canada

"We need to take advantage of private sector capital."

Rob MacIsaac, GTTA chair

"It's a wonderful use of long-term money. There's a huge appetite by people like us that have large pools of long-term money that's available to be invested. And quite frankly those are the type of opportunities that fit exactly with our goal."

If municipalities float transportation or transit projects, "I think they would find a receptive group of people to finance those opportunities."

Dominic D'Alessandro, chief executive, Manulife Financial Corp., asked if private sector capital is interested

"Toronto has added 40 million rides, which is roughly the size of the Mississauga transit system, in the last three years. If you're going to invest for impact, you need to take established transit corridors. They're not all in Toronto ... The Hurontario corridor in Mississauga is a well-used transit corridor.

"But you have to invest where transit is, if you want to get bang for your buck."

Adam Giambrone, TTC chair