There’s no map to show how a provincial decision to claw back more than $1 billion earmarked for transit will affect TTC riders, but city officials are warning the Ford government’s cancellation of a promised increase from gas tax revenues will set Toronto’s network on a path toward more crowded and less reliable service.In their first budget since taking power last June, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives revealed two weeks ago they wouldn’t honour the former Liberal government’s pledge to increase the proceeds of provincial gas tax revenue transferred to municipalities, despite Premier Doug Ford’s party promising to do so during the 2018 campaign. The news came one day after Ford unveiled the blueprint for his new $28.5-billion transit plan, which he said would deliver big benefits for the city’s riders.Toronto received about $185 million last year from the gas tax, and uses much of the yearly proceeds to pay for TTC improvements — not for building new lines but for day-to-day maintenance and upgrades to the existing system.The province’s clawback will cost the TTC $1.1 billion over the next decade, a big hit for an agency that was already facing a $33.5-billion backlog of capital work over 15 years, roughly two thirds of which is unfunded. Some $585 million of the expected increase had already been allocated to transit work. Finance Minister Vic Fedeli defended the gas tax rollback on April 12, telling CBC Radio it would be more than offset by the government’s planned “historic investment” of $11.2 billion towards new lines in the GTA, and suggesting the city could find “efficiencies” in its budget to make up for the lost funding.On Wednesday, council rejected that argument and voted unanimously to ask the province to reverse its decision. Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 10, Spadina-Fort York), said there was irony in the province cutting off gas tax funding even as it moves to ...
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