If transit is a national security issue, why then is the federal government approaching the funding of security for commuter rail, underground and surface transit systems in a piecemeal fashion by handing out cash to the largest commuter system in this country in such small doses?

In early September, just as we were wrapping up the story on the lack of federal funding for a new surveillance system at the Toronto Transit Commission, the Minister of Transport announced the third round of Transit-Secure funding, the $80 million program created to beef up security at the nation’s largest and most at risk rail and bus systems.

The first round of funding had provided just $1.46 million for the TTC of $37 million announced, right at the same time as the transit authority was getting ready to roll out a $14.8 million surveillance project on streetcars and buses. At the time, local politicians called it “spit in the eye.” The news for Toronto on Sept. 5 was somewhat brighter — it would be getting an additional $6.4 million for subway cameras. Good news, but what about the bus and streetcar project? One has to wonder if the Harper government is dragging out the funding announcements to get the greatest bang for its buck in terms of public relations with the taxpayer. If it has multiple announcements for security funding, perhaps voters will get the impression the federal government is adequately funding security in this country.

The TTC claims its project was delayed because of a Human Rights Commission decision requiring them to install a call stop system for visually impaired passengers. But why was the TTC put in the position where it was forced to delay its security system project due to a lack of funding? If the federal government had stepped up sooner the system might not have been delayed.

The other question is whether a proper national assessment has been done to determine what transit facilities really need to improve security to passengers? Are national security advisors involved in creating standards that must be followed by the municipal operators? Better still, are Canadian transit facilities installing systems that are truly state-of-the-art, or will the systems be considered sub-standard within a year?

As noted by a Chicago-based transportation expert in the story on the TTC in this issue, the video surveillance systems being installed in large urban transit systems in the U.S. feed real-time images from vehicles to transit operating centres and police can call up the images on computers in their cars while a crime is in progress. Wouldn’t that have been beneficial when a young girl was seriously injured last year riding on a TTC bus with her mother? A stray bullet hurt the girl after a fight broke out on the bus she was riding on. That case was never solved.

Systems like the TTC in the nation’s largest commuter city are already under financial pressure to continue to serve heavily-used routes need the support of government to make sure riders are safe and secure now, not over time.