One-quarter of TTC
Riders Dissatisfied
Downtown
Relief Line Still Seen as Priority
Toronto, July 25th, 2018 – In a random sampling of public
opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 2521 Toronto voters, about 4 in 10 (37%)
say that the downtown relief line should be the TTC’s number priority, a
similar proportion as February (Feb 9: 41%). One-sixth (18%) say the priority
should be the Scarborough Subway Extension and Stacked Bus Garage, though
almost half (44%) of those live in Scarborough.
About 1 in 10 say the priority should be the Eglinton East LRT (9%),
while a similar proportion (8%) say it should be SmartTrack. Fewer than 1 in 10
(6%) say it should be the Waterfront Transit LRT Network, while about a quarter
(23%) do not know.
Respondents most likely to identify the relief line as the priority
include those aged 34 and younger (45%), males (39%), earning $60,000-$80,000
(41%) or the most wealthy (43%), with a college/university (42%) or
post-graduate degree (42%), and living in the former city of Toronto (51%).
Amongst those that identify themselves primarily as transit users, 4
in 10 (43%) say that the relief line should be the TTC’s priority.
One-quarter
dissatisfied with TTC, down slightly
One quarter (BTM3: 26%) of those who have taken the TTC in the past
month say they are dissatisfied with the TTC, while three-quarters (TOP3: 73%)
say they are satisfied, while almost no one (0%) said they did not know.
Dissatisfaction is down 7 points since February (Feb 9: BTM3: 34%),
while satisfaction is up by 7 points in the same time period (Feb 9: Top 3:
66%).
Almost
third say they don’t use the TTC because of inconvenient routes or long waiting
times
Amongst those that don’t commute to work or school using the TTC,
almost a third (29%) say they don’t do so because of inconvenient routes or
long commute times.
One-sixth (15%) say they prefer the privacy of a car, while about 1
in 10 (13%) attribute their aversion to the TTC to poor service, delays, or
long wait times.
1 in 10 (8%) say they walk or bike because it’s healthier, while
similar proportions (8%) say overcrowding, and (7%) say it’s too expensive and
it’s cheaper to walk or bike.
About 1 in 20 (6%) say they don’t commute using the TTC for another
reason.
Few (3%) say they walk or bike because it’s better for the
environment or to avoid negative encounters.
Three-quarters
say the TTC is not doing enough to accommodate future population growth
Only one quarter (25%) say that enough is being done to accommodate future
population growth, while three-quarters (75%) say enough is not being done.
“Dissatisfaction with the TTC is at one
quarter, which is down slightly from when we last looked into it,” said Dr.
Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research. “But what should greatly concern
the TTC is that Torontonians don’t think enough is being done to accommodate
future growth, and with the plurality saying the downtown relief line should be
the priority, clearly the TTC and residents are going in different directions
when it comes to ideas for building our transit network.”
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at
lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.
