On January 19, 2015, Mayor John Tory, TTC Chair Josh Colle and TTC CEO Andy Byford held a press conference to announce major changes for TTC riders in 2015.
- Adult fares will rise by 10 cents (from $2.70 to $2.80, or 3.7%) with proportionate increases for passes, senior and student fares.
- Children under 12 will ride free (the current fare is $0.75 cash or a ticket for $0.60).
- The cash fare will remain at $3.00.
- All day, every day services that were cut in 2011 will be restored.
- A network of key bus and streetcar routes will have 10 minute service except overnight (after 1:00 am).
- Crowding and wait times off peak will be reduced by modifying the loading standards.
- Proof-of-payment and all-door loading will be extended throughout the streetcar network.
- Twelve new Blue Night routes will be added to the 22 now in operation.
- Fifty new buses will be acquired for service improvements.
- Crowding and wait times during the peak periods for 21 busy routes will be improved.
- Four new express bus routes will be added.
- The pool of buses available for maintenance will be increased.
- Temporary storage will be obtained to house the buses pending new garage construction.
- Trains on the YUS and BD subways that are now held on standby for emergencies will be scheduled into the regular service.
- Route management will be improved for streetcar routes to provide more reliable service and better utilize the capacity of vehicles in service.
- The reliability of signals, track and communication systems will be improved with more resources for maintenance.
Updated Jan. 19, 2015 at 4:00 pm: One sour note in the announcement is the fact that the Metropass multiple will go up from 49 to 50 giving a new price of $141.50 vs the existing $133.75, an increase of 5.8%. In the midst of an otherwise upbeat, positive set of recommendations, it was a poor choice not to mention that frequent users would pay a higher increase for TTC fares. This continues TTC management’s desire to bump the pass pricing up on the basis that frequent users are getting too high a subsidy. If that’s the official position of the Mayor and TTC Chair, they should have said so in the press release.
Much of this program arose from the August 2014 “Opportunities” report from TTC management.
At the time, then-candidate Tory argued against these proposals on the grounds that they were unfunded, and behind the scenes, the Tory camp complained that the TTC was supporting another candidate’s platform. To his credit, now-Mayor Tory recognizes the importance of better transit service that can be delivered in the short term, and he has embraced advice from Andy Byford wholeheartedly. Among the lessons he learned was that TTC’s off-peak ridership is higher and growing faster then peak demand, and that investments in off-peak service will benefit a very large number of riders throughout the city. This is an important change from a focus just on peak period, core-oriented capacity.
Tory has reluctantly dropped his proposed fare freeze saying that Toronto cannot do this and get on with improving transit. He now argues that fares will go up a bit more, but that riders will get a lot more service.
During the press conference, the Mayor made pointed, repeated references to “my predecessor” and “the previous administration” saying that the policy of service cuts and subsidy freezes was wrong. One can be gleeful seeing the Ford era openly criticized by the new Mayor, but that’s not the important point. Simply by making the statement, Tory puts allies inherited from the ancien régime on notice. Better TTC funding is not simply a predictable request from the usual activists and left-wing Councillors, but part of the Mayor’s program.
The financial proposal is that the TTC’s budgeted subsidy from Toronto will rise from $440.1-million in 2014 to nearly $479m in 2015. The fare increase plus added ridership (projected at 545m in 2015, up 10m from 2014) will bring in $43m more, net of the elimination of children’s fares ($7m). (The subsidy includes approximately $90m in provincial gas tax revenue which is paid to the City. This amount has not changed in many years.)
Further details will be revealed in the City Budget Launch on January 20, and at the TTC Board’s own budget meeting on February 2. Implementation of this plan is contingent on Council approval, although the new fares (which can be approved by the TTC itself) will take effect March 1. Service changes require lead time for planning, staffing, and in the case of the new buses, acquisition of vehicles and a storage yard. In practice, the changes will likely roll out beginning later this spring with the majority of service improvements coming in September or later. This will also limit the cost of new services to a smaller part of the year, although full-year costs will have to be absorbed in 2016.
The maps in the Opportunties report (linked above) show the range of routes that will likely be affected by the various proposals. I checked with TTC officials at the press conference, and although there may be minor changes, these maps give substantially a good idea of where the improvements will be.
Of the many opportunities proposed in August, the one which is notable by its absence is the two-hour fare. There is only so much money to spend on a new fare structure, and rebuilding service takes priority this year. However, the need for a simpler “transfer” mechanism on the TTC will be forced by the Presto implementation which Andy Byford is pressing Metrolinx to complete by the end of 2016. This will more-or-less force the question as part of next year’s budget planning.
During the scrum, the inevitable question to Mayor Tory was “how will you pay for all of this”. Tory demurred saying all would be revealed at the Budget Launch. An important point, however, is that he plans to keep tax increases to inflation, but the Scarborough Subway tax will be outside of that “inflationary” envelope.
This is a very good start for the Tory/Colle era of TTC policy-making. Rather than cherry-picking a handful of improvements that might benefit only a small segment of Toronto, they have opted for a variety of changes addressing many submarkets within the TTC’s ridership. If this continues in future years, by the time the TTC and Metrolinx open new rapid transit lines, Toronto will have a much improved surface network linking riders to new and improved trunk routes.
Steve Munro 
Metropass now up to $141.50? Why do MP users take the biggest hit? Cash fare should break the barrier and go up at least to $3.25 Also how on earth do they recognize 12 yr olds? I can see small children free but hard to tell an 11 yr old from a 13 or 14 yr old. Do they require IDs of some sort or is it going to be up to the individual operators?
Steve: Once again the TTC has brought in a stealth increase in the Metropass multiple while claiming that increases are “proportionate” across the board. I have asked Brad Ross for a full table of the new fares so that I can update the article with a commentary on this.
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the Presto implementation which Andy Byford is pressing Metrolinx to complete by the end of 2016
Does complete include surface transit as well, or simply stations? That seems absurdly optimistic for buses.
That Tory was able to swallow and announce a fare hike despite the unpopularity gives me hope that he may yet see reason on the Eglinton corridor, as well as pushing forward on the Sheppard and Finch LRTs.
Steve: Byford wants the whole system completed by the end of 2016.
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I like the changes that he announced and I hope this same enlightenment shows in Smart track planning.
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Media is reporting that Metropass prices increase 5.8% from $133.75 to $141.50.
This after last year’s 4.1% increase from $128.50 to $133.75.
It’s a very poor visual after 5 years of freezing the $3 cash fare and eliminating child fares.
TTC concluded years ago that multiplier for passes versus tokens had to decrease, in order to increase ridership. This goes the reverse direction.
In the last 4 years, the cost of a Metropass has gone up $246 a year. Meanwhile car owners had their $60 a year vehicle tax cancelled.
This attack by John Tory on the pocketbook of transit users, while do nothing to car users, and keeping taxpayers increases at inflation, is unacceptable.
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Steve, do you think that, if the plan was to lump in all the service improvements they could have tried harder to get support from the province and also introduce the 2 hour passes/time based transfers with their foregone revenue of $20 million?
Compared against the forgone revenue ($7.1 million less costs iirc) of children’s fares $20 million isn’t a terribly high number and it makes the transit system more accessible to more people by giving them flexibility in how they choose to make their trips rather than who they can bring along with them.
Cheers, Moaz
Steve: I think that the 2-hour fare would have been a lot to bite off at the same time as Mayor Tory had to walk back his proposed fare freeze. This change is best defended in the context of more service. Also, two-hour fares are much easier to implement once the Presto rollout is substantially complete.
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Will it though? In the hundreds of pages of the Master Agreement between TTC and Metrolinx is a requirement for Presto to support the existing TTC transfer system, including the frequent update of transfer tables.
Steve: I believe that everyone is hoping this won’t have to be implemented, but is protecting for it just in case.
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The free rides, in my opinion, should have gone to seniors. Hamilton offers free rides to people once they turn 80.
I can understand the frustration with the Metropass. But look at the cash fare for a second, the more it rises, the more difficult it will be for people to have ‘exact change.’ A nice round number works. But certainly, at the same time I wonder who uses the Metropass the most? Commuters? I think we need to look at who is buying a Metropass and how often they use it. It could still work out to less than $3.00 per ride.
Steve: The model of “commuter” belies a mindset that ignores frequent users for off-peak trips. Even at the higher multiple for a Senior’s pass, I am ahead of the game versus ticket fares, and have the convenience of an “all you can eat” pass with the riding freedom it brings, and the ability to use any TTC entrance. Similarly, student riders make many trips beyond a twice-a-day commute.
Definitely the cost is below $3.00 a ride.
My problem with the unannounced increase in the fare multiple is this: full disclosure and avoiding questions about the so-called “proportionate” increase stated in the press release would have avoided the obvious question of why this item, in the midst of an otherwise positive event, was not mentioned.
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You state the proposed fare increase as if it has already been approved. Rob will lead council to a rebellion. The people of this city are fed up with another tax grab (a.k.a. fare increase) by John when he promised no increase in taxes as part of his election campaign.
Steve: And Rob will get one vote.
The fare increase can be approved by the TTC without going to Council. It is the change in subsidy that requires Council support as part of the overall budget package.
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Just wondering what the plan for bus storage will be, I see that Pan Am is asking for increased funding to pave a lot at the base of parliament (by the silo’s) for bus storage during the games…wonder if this will be used by TTC post games – for express busses it probably makes sense since most of them are ending up downtown anyways…
Steve: The TTC is negotiating for use of a property and expects to announce the details as part of their budget presentation on February 2.
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Is there any clear picture yet of what the new blue night network will look like?
I can’t imagine that the TTC is happy to have to throw more of streetcars on any of the possible downtown routes – knowing that they already have a tough time operating during the day (especially if it’s cold).
Steve: See the map in the Opportunities report. It includes King and Spadina which do not have all night service now. This is a very small addition to the vehicle requirement considering that service only stops on both routes for a few hours. Moreover, the problem with streetcars arises (a) from the old, less reliable fleet and (b) extreme cold when cars sit in yards.
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That may be true. However, surely if Presto is unable to fulfill the contractual requirements, forcing TTC to change their transfer system, then TTC would have the right to seek payment from Metrolinx to cover the operational cost of switching from the current transfer system, to a 2-hour transfer.
Steve: Except that the TTC wants to move to the 2-hour transfer. They proposed it last August.
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Steve, will you be able to acquire some information on what are these 4 new express routes?
Steve: Nope. Wait until February 2, or if the TTC pre-announces the details. There is no indication of which these might be in the Opportunities report.
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Steve I hope to god that Council does not approve any of this. This is complete hogwash, total bu*****t that looks good on the surface but reeks when you starting digging around.
The routes that are being proposed for the blue night route are somewhat pointless. As I said on TransitToronto’s yahoo list the 504 is redundant given its proximity to the 303, 313 and 306 while the 510 runs through a mainly commercial area close to the 310 night service. The 509, 21 and 102 even the 17 would have better choices since the east end is lacking a useful night route. Trying to get to and from Harbourfront without the 509 or 510 is almost impossible.
As for the fare increase $141.50 is steep and hard to stomach when you factor in they just eliminated fares for people under 12. I am willing to pay for better services as long as the fares are increased across the board and not eliminated for some people. Between this and his brilliant idea to have a 60 dollar sticker giving unlimited travel between 3 rather useless points on GO transit I am starting to wonder what John Tory has been drinking recently but it seems like he did not think this through entirely. Who in their right mind for example would pay 60 dollars a month for a sticker as part of this pilot project PLUS buy a metropass for $141.50?
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Richard White writes: Who in their right mind for example would pay 60 dollars a month for a sticker as part of this pilot project PLUS buy a metropass for $141.50?
$201.50? Someone already paying GO $181 to ride from Danforth, $20 for unlimited TTC usage for someone living near Main Station sounds like a sweet deal – even if only for weekends and evenings. Pays for itself in about 7 rides.
I can understand that not many would benefit. I don’t understand claims that none would benefit.
Steve: The point is that this is being touted as potential subway relief (i.e. substantial take-up) as an alternate route from the east to downtown. Of course some will benefit as would be the case with almost any fare system one might concoct. Whether it will achieve its claimed purpose is quite another matter.
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Wow, senior tickets up 5.4% to $1.95 but senior passes only up 3.7%.
A very odd move. Especially as a 3.7% increase to $1.85 gives you $1.919 … someone decided to round up to $1.95, even though $1.90 was closer.
I wouldn’t be surprised if next year they raise seniors tickets to $2.05 but leave the cash fare at $2. 🙂
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Guess this means ten to twelve year olds will have to carry sort of id to use the TTC. There are some small teenagers who could pass as a younger kid. Do elementary school kids have some sort of id card these days? Wouldn’t want them to having to carry their birth certificate with them, but something more easily replaceable.
I can see, back to the future, seeing a fare inspector asking some eleven year old for their Sugary Drink Control Board of Ontario Identification Card, or bicycle driver’s license.
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This is undoubtedly true but I understand that the PRESTO contract requires PRESTO to be able to cope with the current Byzantine system. I assume there are teams of programmers working on it ‘as we speak’ – maybe! It would seem cheaper to say right now that we are moving to timed transfers – even if we only do so when PRESTO is implemented.
Steve: The problem is that until Toronto officially says “we’re going to a two-hour fare”, Presto has to provide for the current system. To do otherwise would build in an assumption, not to mention the implication that the TTC was “forced” to change even though their management is advocating this option. Don’t forget that the Presto contract, like so much else in TTC/Metrolinx relations, is the product of a different era.
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Mayor Tory is making decisions based on evidence. Does that mean there’s a chance the Scarborough subway extension can reinvestigated? 🙂
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This is heartening, overall. That said, there is ongoing large subsidy to cars that should be cut in order to equalize costs to users. One older estimate of the avoided annual cost of a car was $2700 each year – a large amount of “car-avy”. So it’s time to get the Vehicle Registration Tax back into play – tweaked to be funding transit, or capital of transit, or reflecting the weight of the vehicle etc., For more details on avoided car costs check Victoria Transport Policy Institute @ vtpi.org
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He may not have additional taxes to announce, however, he may well come back with other increases, like increased rates at city parking lots. Who knows what else he may have up his sleeve. I would wait to see his budget before I got too excited.
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I doubt it. A similar issue has existed for years, with 12-year-olds paying 60 cents and 13-year-olds paying $1.85. But no one has felt it necessary to go for photo IDs. Similarly 2-year-olds are 60 cents and 1-year-olds, but no proof was ever asked.
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Children free needs to require “when accompanied by an adult” Otherwise you will have kids filling up seats that paying adults need including the blue seats. You will have groups of kids riding everywhere for free just for the fun of it. How do you get them off? “Fare disputes” are an old problem of service delay. This is just asking for trouble.
Also, why $1.95 for senior/student tickets? Who will bother just to save 5 cents? Drop in a Toonie and that is it. Save cost of printing and distributing tickets.
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My count has 24 Blue Night routes – 22 bus and 2 streetcar.
Steve: The counts I used are straight out of the press release.
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I saw some comments on twitter about raising the TPA fees as well … so did some research, this 10 cent TTC fare increase will bring in about the same amount in extra money that the entire TPA brings in … in 2013 TPA net’d 45m$ on 150m$ of revenue … with ~21500 spots plus another ~15000 in commuter lots … about 10500 of those spots are downtown.
Ignoring on-street parking which makes about $50 million a year, off-street makes a 70/5 m$ split of cash vs monthly parking.
Here’s where it gets tricky – each lot charges different rates on weekends and holidays and has different maximums etc. – but we can assume that for each dollar an hour charged across the system they make ~12 million$ a year (365*35,000 spots). So assuming we are charging 1$ an hour, we should get 288M$ (12*24hours) a year if every spot was full … with those numbers the utilization is less than 25% (288/75) according to what they actually get … however at a lot of the places they are charging way more than 1$ an hour (some even $4 and above).
Even if we assume that all the lots are empty for 12 hours a day we still only get 50% utilization … so, clearly the maximums are being hit, or monthly pass use is accounting for a lot of the spots being taken up and not able to earn their full potential.
This gives a good perspective on how much parking there actually is owned by the city (less than some streetcar routes), and how it is being used (not well) … it seems a lot of it is day parking (people using the maximum limit) and monthly passes … interestingly, monthly parking fees are higher than the Metropass in a lot of locations, but by freeing up spots for short-term users (those who don’t go over the maximum, who buy more and are the reason we have parking supposedly), they would make the TPA more money if the long term user took transit instead.
Where lots are full for a large percentage of the day, they should remove the maximum, or even change it to an increasing price – 2$ for each of the first 3 hours, 3$ for each of the next 3 and 5$ after that. Monthly TPA spots should be removed if possible or the rates raised to what would be made if the spot was being used for a larger part of the day (3 hour maximums should all be changed to 7/8 hour maximums).
Where lots are empty, we should be rezoning and selling them and mandating parking in the new building.
The goal should be to increase revenue from TPA lots by increasing the turn-over, and using that money to then improve transit as well. It’s a win-win because by discouraging long-term parking we can increase revenue and increase transit usage.
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This is simply my opinion. It is wonderful that children’s fares are eliminated. I heard it first on the radio, but it didn’t register, it was too unreal.
First of all, it is good for parents. I know a single mother of an 11-year old, making minimum wage; this puts cash into her budget.
As well, this removes any barriers to children getting home, whether from school, or choir practice, or a soccer game, etc. Any kid who doesn’t have the cash to get home, well no more problem.
If I were a streetcar operator, I would not ID kids who look like they might be 13 to 16 yo either.
Congratulations to Mayor John Tory, TTC Chair Josh Colle and TTC CEO Andy Byford.
Regarding the increase to the Metropass, do not forget that it is deductible from your income tax, line 364, Public Transit Amount.
Steve: Two points about the pass. First off, it is only deductible for people who have taxable income. Second, the credit rate is 15%, meaning that of the $2.80 in added cost, $0.42 will be a tax deduction. Don’t spend it all at once.
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Why? It seems simple enough to me: change the printing and the rules about how to cut transfers for surface routes to match what’s done now on St. Clair, and perhaps change the clocks on subway-station transfer machines to read two hours ahead.
I don’t say Presto doesn’t make it easier yet, I just don’t see why the difference is significant.
Steve: I didn’t say the two hour fare couldn’t be done today — Vancouver was issuing transfers cut with an expiry time decades ago. The subway is more of a challenge because one can get a “fresh” transfer anywhere.
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Yes, because we all know how much “fun” it is riding a jam packed bus! It’ll be just like all those thrill-seeking Metropass users that you see out there riding in loops just for kicks.
Seriously, not many kids under 12 ever travel especially far by themselves. Most of them will ride a few stops within their own neighbourhoods. Their worlds are small – most kids live within walking distance of their elementary schools (or the TDSB already provides a bus) and thus also live within walking distance of most of their friends. There’s a reason why the existing TTC revenue from this demographic was so low.
Where you might see a difference is families, particularly those with limited incomes, for whom the cost of a caregiver travelling with kids on a weekend or during summer or March break is now no higher than it is while they’re in school.
The benefit is that by the time they have to pay again, hopefully many more of these kids will understand how the TTC works and be comfortable riding it. What this will do is contribute to building another generation of people who are bred to be public transit users, increasing its use and taking more cars off the road.
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Presumably the same way they currently do… child fare (75c) is for ages 2-12.
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Raising rates for all day users to encourage more turn-over, also likely means that users are coming in later in the day and/or leaving earlier, so they are less likely to be driving at peak. I would also note, that to the degree that the city provides parking, it influences the rates for the lots nearby. Raising the price at TPA lots will likely also raise the price to some degree at private lots. If the city wants to discourage driving, it should raise the rates to maximize revenue, which would likely mean that there would always be a little more space available in the TPA lots.
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Now Bill, there is evidence and then there is EVIDENCE. To paraphrase Orwell; “Not all evidence is created equal.”
The one problem I have is that 50 buses is only about 2.5% increase unless they are artics. This is not a great increase and will probably be barely enough, if that, to compensate for the reductions created by Ford. While it is better than before there really has to be a commitment to a new garage and a lot more surface vehicles.
At least he can admit he made a mistake, or was he planning to do this all along but promised no increase to get more votes?
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The additions of Keele and King to the night routes are very welcomed by me. The Keele route fills in a very lacking major hole in the grid that was never handled well by the bizarre routing of the Jane night bus. The King route will help provide some redundancy for the Jane bus on Roncesvalles which is needed because the Jane night bus is NOT frequent enough. If one bus goes out of service then it leaves at least an hour gap which I have witnessed numerous times. Some folks need to understand that even in summer it can be so cold at night that the lack of frequency can be very uncomfortable and in winter extremely dangerous. The Queen night route is badly in need of some relief because it is quite often crush-loaded worse than in the daytime. King should help with this also.
Anyone criticizing the night additions should actually try getting around the city in the middle of the night without freezing to death while a 30-40 minute day trip quadruples in length. Even if you wanted or could afford to shell-out for a cab, most of them will only pick you up if you are going in the direction of their home (which more often then not has proven to be Scarborough) because most are ending their shift. I was once rejected by TEN in a row in one night before I found one that was willing to go west from Spadina.
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Wow, tax-and-spend John Tory-Miller, Property tax hike: 2.75% Garbage levy hike: 2.25% Water hike: 6% (I guess renters will not see any increase for a while) add another 5+% Metropass hike, wonder what tomorrow will bring? Steve, regarding Oliver Moore’s budget graphs for major operating spending 2014 and 2015.(Globe) He shows last year TTC got 17+% of the pie, while this year, with all the hikes, TTC will get less, only 15+% of pie. Not a budget guy but how does this make sense?
Steve: The total in the pie chart for 2015 includes the rate supported budgets (water and solid waste management) as they are going through approval at the same time because of the election. Normally they are separate, and they were not included in the pie chart for 2014.
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Steve,
Two brief points.
1. The move to give free rides to children will certainly be convenient for those of us with young kids, but I wonder why they couldn’t have just reduced both children’s fares and seniors’ fares at the same time, rather than eliminating one and raising the other. Presumably any policy goals related to financial strain / vulnerable populations would have been better advanced by distributing the discount more fairly.
2. Another important difference between the token / cash and Metropass fare structures is that one gets a tax credit for purchasing the Metropass, and that tax credit works out to about 7.5 tokens’ worth of travel. Yes, it takes time to “get the money back”, but it still changes the break-even economics.
Steve: Yes, but as I said in reply to another comment, of the $2.80 additional cost of the pass, the tax credit amounts to $0.42, and that presumes you have taxable income against which a credit can be applied.
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Put down the rake before you hurt yourself.
Personally, I see the elimination of the child fare as having two benefits. The first is that the Presto rollout has now become slightly simpler since it only needs to deal with two fare classes since seniors and students are the same and you could use a single card for both. The second is that it helps to stop the thought that the car is the only answer from taking root by making it easy to expose kids to transit rather than making them dependent on their parents’ car to go everywhere.
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Out of curiosity, has there been any discussions about moving to a standardized fare? I’m kind of interested in what your opinions might be on such a fare system.
Steve: What to you mean by “standardized”? Elimination of all concession fares, passes, ???
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George Bell suggests changing the TPA fees to discourage longer-term parking and thus free-up more (valuable) short-term spots; in theory I like this idea (note: I do not own a car). The problem surely is that if long-term parking fees increase a lot these people may well be encouraged to use transit but they could probably not be accommodated as rush-hour transit is already grossly over-crowded. As they did in London when they moved to the congestion charge, one really needs to improve transit first BEFORE trying to ‘encourage’ former long-term parkers to take it.
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What annoys me is not the fare increase, but why children are getting a free ride when their cash fare is only 75 cents (cash fares for Mississauga Transit are $3.25 regardless of age), so I wonder where the $7.1 million is coming from, that is a lot of 75 cent trips! If you are going to give free rides, give them to seniors – the people who already contributed much to the city – Hamilton gives free rides to those over 80 and England gives out free bus passes to seniors as well.
Steve: Actually, the additional cost of the Metropass from the multiple going up by 1 trip is almost exactly equal to the cost of the free rides for children. That’s where the money is coming from.
PRESTO is a computer based system – all they need to do is have an option to turn on or off an option. I still don’t really understand how PRESTO in Toronto is different than PRESTO for GO when my same PRESTO card works on both systems. It should not be much harder than logging into the system software an enabling an option, or slightly changing the programming. Nothing too big.
Steve: The transfer rules are extremely complex and have no equivalent anywhere in the existing Presto network. This is not a “simple change” in programming.
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The Day/Family pass may have to change. Currently, the conditions are:
Since those under 12 will ride free now, maybe change it to 5 or 4 youths 12 to 19 and/or seniors over 65?
Steve: The new rules for Day Passes have not yet been sorted out by the TTC.
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While I am all in favour of further discounting seniors’ fares, it should be noted that seniors’ fares to begin with are much higher, and while I don’t have the ridership numbers, I would bet that it would cost a heck of a lot more than 7.1 million to make their rides free. While you could maybe discount seniors’ fares or offer free rides to seniors over 75 or 80, I don’t think anyone can make a definitive case that either group is “more” deserving than the other, and that definitely doesn’t make for quite as sexy of an announcement. Not saying that’s the right way to make policy decisions, just that I can understand why they would go this way.
There’s also a couple of ancillary benefits of choosing children. As an earlier commenter mentioned, this means the no child is ever stranded in Toronto. No more concerns for parents over whether they lose their ticket, or a bully takes their 75 cents, or they accidentally spend too much money and don’t have enough left for bus fare. That’s not nothing.
Also, we’re now breeding a new generation of transit riders who, by the time they grow up and it costs money, will already be comfortable using the TTC. As one half of a childless couple who, as an adult MDP user, has the highest fare hike, I don’t mind paying for that.
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Sorry that I wasn’t clear about standardized fares; yes the elimination of concession cash fares ($3 for all for example) but retaining concession discounts for bulk ride purchases (eg.10-rides, passes..etc.).
Steve: I suspect that this will be the arrangement once the migration to Presto and other electronic payment formats is completed. If you want a discount, you have to use a card, and the amount of the discount can be tiered depending on usage patterns.
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