The head of the TTC says the city needs to order 60 more streetcars just to keep up with the number of future riders over the next decade.

But in order to secure the new vehicles as part of the ongoing contract with Montreal manufacturer Bombardier, TTC CEO Andy Byford said the city needs to find $53 million — money that is not yet budgeted.

That request, heard by budget committee Wednesday, would put further pressure on the city’s number crunchers with $75 million already proposed in new TTC investments this year — largely reinstating services that were cut under Rob Ford’s administration. It also comes at a time when the city and province are finalizing details of a line of credit needed to fill an $86 million hole in the operating budget.

The additional cars “will be needed at the end of the existing order in order to match exponential growth in the streetcar network,” Byford told reporters Wednesday.

Byford said they are currently assuming $53 million would be needed to have the option of ordering 60 more streetcars at the current price and under the current terms with Bombardier. Those additional streetcars would cost an estimated $366 million over nine years. The TTC says the $53 million cost, which would be drawn from the city’s capital budget, could be put off to 2016.

The city currently has 204 new streetcars on order for $1.25 billion — the low-riding type that can be seen running on Spadina Ave. Though the light-rail vehicles are scheduled to all be delivered by 2019, delivery continues to be significantly delayed after a strike at Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant.

If a run-on order isn’t placed, it’s possible the TTC would need to renegotiate a higher price for the additional streetcars, which are currently ordered in bulk, Byford said.

As for delays on the existing order, the CEO said he is “pressing Bombardier very hard” to complete the current order on time. But it’s not clear when the bulk of the new streetcars will be on the tracks.

Ridership on the TTC has increased from 514 million rides in 2012 to a projected 545 million rides this year, Byford told the budget committee on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after presenting at committee, Byford said even with the proposed increases to funding, the city is still the least subsidized network in North America.

The current budget request, he said, would give the TTC “at least a fighting chance of keeping up with service growth and ever-rising customer numbers.”

Councillor Josh Colle, who chairs the TTC, said the focus should be on getting the streetcars we are already owed.

“It’s a non-starter,” Colle said, arguing any additional streetcars don’t have to be ordered now and the $53 million is not immediately required. “We in no way need that this year.”

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