THUNDER BAY — The impact of COVID-19 on the Toronto Transit Commission's revenues may have implications for Bombardier Transportation's plant in Thunder Bay.
Bombardier wants to build more mass transit vehicles for Toronto, but a TTC spokesperson says the pandemic has affected its capital planning.
The normal ridership of 1.7 million trips a day has dropped by 85 per cent since Ontario's emergency orders went into affect, cutting TTC revenues by approximately $20 million a week.
"The pandemic has thrown a lot of our longer term capital planning for a loop," Stuart Green told Tbnewswatch.
Green said "It’s too soon to say where exactly things will land, but there’s an extensive capital project review underway."
Over the past year, representatives of Unifor – the union that represents most of Bombardier's Thunder Bay workers – have strenuously lobbied the TTC to expedite an order for 60 additional streetcars from the plant.
The TTC previously identified a need for at least 60 cars because of congestion building in the system, but financing is not fully in place.
In meetings with the TTC board, Unifor said delays in purchasing the cars could put the Thunder Bay plant at risk of being closed by 2021.
The TTC, in January, requested that staff prepare a business case analysis for the expedited procurement of 20 streetcars.
Commissioner Shelley Carroll supported the motion, telling the board it shouldn't wait to put an order in at the end of the year.
At the instigation of Deputy Toronto Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who's criticized Bombardier for missing some production deadlines in the past, the board also requested a business case analysis for procuring 60 streetcars.
Minnan-Wong said an order for only 20 cars would attract a bid from Bombardier but wouldn't be large enough to interest other manufacturers.
The staff reports on both options were originally scheduled to be delivered to the TTC board this month.
Green says the reports have now been pushed back for discussion at a board meeting in June.
The president of Unifor Local 1075, Dominic Pasqualino, said what happens in the coming months is beyond anyone's capacity to predict with any degree of certainty.
"The world that I was involved in in January and February has been completely changed. Am I concerned? Absolutely. Where it's going to go, your guess is as good as mine," he said.
Pasqualino believes, however, that once people go back to work and school "those crowds that we had in the subways" in the past "are completely unacceptable."
"We're going to have to get more streetcars and subway cars on the road. You just can't have 250 people in a car anymore," he said.
Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of TTCriders, a grassroots transit advocacy group, said it would be a mistake for the TTC to delay the expansion of its fleet.
"Transit is going to play a significant role in economic recovery...and manufacturing transit vehicles in Canada will help stimulate the economy," she said.
Pizey-Allen also described 60 streetcars as "the bare minimum" that Toronto needs to keep up with projected ridership in the coming years.
In response to an inquiry from Tbnewswatch, Bombardier issued a brief statement.
Sandra Buckler, senior director of external affairs, said "The TTC has been keeping us informed on the progress and we look forward to the opportunity to continue to demonstrate our capabilities for manufacturing world-class, safe, and reliable streetcars."
More than 500 Bombardier employees in Thunder Bay were laid off at the end of 2019.
About 450 workers returned in late April from a month-long COVID-related shutdown, while several dozen others have been called back to produce ventilators for the federal government.
