TTC fares to increase for some riders in 2016

Nov 24, 2015 | News

By Evan Presement

Starting in January, some TTC riders will be paying more after a price hike was approved Monday.

Cash fare will increase by 25 cents, and tokens will rise by 10 cents after the Toronto Transit Commission held a meeting on Monday. The price of the monthly Metropass, as well as senior and student fares, however, will all remain the same.

As with any price increase, there are going to be angry customers.

One of them is TTCriders spokesperson Jessica Bell, who said the TTC simply hasn’t done enough to warrant the support of increased fares.

“Riders already pay way more than our fair share, and we’re being asked to pay more for the same inadequate TTC service,” Bell told Humber News on Tuesday.

“That’s not the way to build a great public transit system. We’re not getting a fair deal,” She said.

According to Bell, Torontonians pay a higher percentage of transit costs than residents of any other North American city. She also says that the TTC’s monthly Metropass is far and away the most expensive in Canada. Fares, across the board, are among the highest in North America.

“The TTC is overcrowded, we feel like sardines. Streetcars and buses don’t run as often as they should and the service is becoming increasingly unreliable,” Bell said.

“The system is falling apart under record ridership levels.”

The solution to better service, Bell said, is to receive the proper funding from the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government to “simply maintain a state of good repair and keep things running as they should.”

Transit blogger Steve Munro took a more sympathetic approach to the TTC.

“Well, basically, they need more money,” he said in an interview with Humber News reporter Ashly July.

“The TTC doesn’t run for free and they started out in about a $95-million hole,” he said, adding that they still need around $41-million from the city in additional subsidy.

“The Metropass is frozen for everybody as is the ticket and cash fares for students and seniors. A really large chunk of riders are getting a fare freeze,” he said, adding that over 70 per cent of riders will not be affected.

While this is true, Bell notes that there are already existing problems with the prices being offered.

“A lot of people, including myself. don’t buy [the Metropass] because you have to take so many trips just to make it worth your while,” she said.

An article published by the Toronto Star on Monday notes that TTC fares have increased by 42 per cent over the last decade, but according to Bell, that hasn’t helped to improve service.

“When you look at the subsidy per ride we received under mayor [David] Miller, we’re actually receiving less per ride than we did five years ago,” she said. “In terms of absolute numbers, the quality of the TTC has gone down in the past five years.”