Tier 1 National Org

On February 14, 2017, Winnipeg Transit Bus Operator, Irvine "Jubal" Fraser, 58, was stabbed to death while on duty after an altercation with a passenger, Brian Kyle Thomas, 22, who refused to leave Fraser's bus when it reached its last stop at the University of Manitoba. Thomas was found guilty of 2nd-degree murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Since the loss our Brother, the ATU are strong advocates for safe transit for everybody. ATU continues to lobby Municipal, Provincial, and Federal Governments to deal with the growing number of disturbing incidents on buses and bus stops and to make transit safe for all.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 23, 2023

ONTARIO 2023 PROVINCIAL BUDGET LEAVES TRANSIT RIDERS STILL WAITING FOR THE BUS!

Don’t be fooled by what this Ontario Government is selling in this budget announcement.  It’s all smoke and mirrors.  What they announced may sound good to most people on the surface – but look a little closer you will understand that this budget does nothing for the people of Ontario who are struggling to survive and in need of some relief.  

This budget is all about building more business with private corporate partners. Transit ridership is down approximately 30% from pre-pandemic levels, and recent violence is keeping some riders from returning to transit. Lower ridership leads to service cuts, fare increases, and longer wait times – and less revenue leads to more service cuts – the death spiral. 

So the government announced a $70.5 BN investment in Transit over the next decade.  Sounds good right? People will believe the Government is saving Transit – guess again. Those funds will not eliminate service cuts, and won’t make service less expensive for struggling families.  The funds are to build shiny new infrastructure like the LRT which is already 11 years in the making with no end in sight.  The only ones who will benefit from this $70.5 BN are the private corporations – and we taxpayers will foot the bill. 

“The proposed increase of $ 70.5 billion to transit will not deliver safe, reliable, affordable and accessible transit, but rather help pay for the cost overruns of poor decisions on current failed LRT expansions in Ontario by this government,” said John Di Nino, ATU Canada President.

“With increasing fares, reduced service levels, and low ridership, the death spiral of transit will have an immanent fate of collapse,” concluded Di Nino.

-30-

Media Contact:

Rose Carusone
416-949-8641
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 23, 2023

ONTARIO 2023 PROVINCIAL BUDGET LEAVES TRANSIT RIDERS STILL WAITING FOR THE BUS!

Don’t be fooled by what this Ontario Government is selling in this budget announcement.  It’s all smoke and mirrors.  What they announced may sound good to most people on the surface – but look a little closer you will understand that this budget does nothing for the people of Ontario who are struggling to survive and in need of some relief.   

This budget is all about building more business with private corporate partners. Transit ridership is down approximately 30% from pre-pandemic levels, and recent violence is keeping some riders from returning to transit. Lower ridership leads to service cuts, fare increases, and longer wait times – and less revenue leads to more service cuts – the death spiral.  

So the government announced a $70.5 BN investment in Transit over the next decade.  Sounds good right? People will believe the Government is saving Transit – guess again. Those funds will not eliminate service cuts, and won’t make service less expensive for struggling families.  The funds are to build shiny new infrastructure like the LRT which is already 11 years in the making with no end in sight.  The only ones who will benefit from this $70.5 BN are the private corporations – and we taxpayers will foot the bill.  

“The proposed increase of $ 70.5 billion to transit will not deliver safe, reliable, affordable and accessible transit, but rather help pay for the cost overruns of poor decisions on current failed LRT expansions in Ontario by this government,” said John Di Nino, ATU Canada President.

“With increasing fares, reduced service levels, and low ridership, the death spiral of transit will have an immanent fate of collapse.” concluded Di Nino.

-30-

Media Contact:

Rose Carusone
416-949-8641
[email protected]

ATU 1593 Monthly Membership Meeting

For Immediate Release

March 21, 2023 

ATU Canada and Environmental Defence Call on Premiers, Minister Freeland to Save Public Transit in Upcoming Budgets

ATU Canada is the latest in a series of groups sounding the alarm bell on the public transit death spiral

Ottawa | Traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People – Today, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Canada joined forces with Environmental Defence to call on federal and provincial governments to work together and save public transit systems from a financial crisis caused by pandemic-related lower ridership and over-dependence on farebox revenues. They also called on federal and provincial governments to work together on long-term solutions to permanently increase operating funding for public transit. 

“Over the next two weeks, the Federal Government as well as the Government of Ontario will be unveiling their budgets. We need to see crucial operating funding for public transit to prevent drastic service cuts and fare increases that will push people into their cars, further reducing revenue, and lead to a transit death spiral. The federal government has worked with provinces to save public transit before, and they can do it again,” said John Di Nino, President of ATU Canada. “We’re calling on all Premiers and Minister Freeland to make funding for public transit operations a priority in their budgets.”

“As this week’s IPCC report highlighted, we have a limited window to prevent the catastrophic impacts of a heating climate and it requires deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, now. Canada is currently off track from meeting its 2030 transportation sector emissions reduction target by eight million tonnes. Allowing a public transit death spiral to occur is an unacceptable policy choice. Instead, we need the federal government and provincial governments to invest in improving public transit service, to bring back riders and tackle the climate emergency,” said Nate Wallace, Clean Transportation Program Manager at Environmental Defence. 

• The City of Toronto has budgeted $366 million in its 2023 budget in expected transit assistance from federal and provincial governments, and the TTC expects a further $350-$420 million sized hole in its budget in 2024. The City of Ottawa has a $39 million dollar hole in its transit operating budget this year. A January 2023 internal survey by the Ontario Public Transit Association has estimated an operational deficit of at least $510 million for Ontario’s entire public transit sector.
  
  
• In February, more than 100 academics in the Toronto region signed an open letter to the municipal, provincial and federal governments calling on them to intervene and prevent a death spiral caused by Toronto Transit Commission (TTC...