The TTC is debating several price structure changes, including whether to charge users higher fares for rush hour trips.
The transit board met Wednesday to discuss a report put forward by Arthur Borkwood, head of the TTC's customer development strategy and experience group.
The move is meant to reduce congestion by encouraging those who do not have to travel during rush hours to use transit during off-peak times.
The report also suggested reduced fares outside of rush hours, but said "very few transit agencies have success at implementing off-peak discounts."
The increase in customers riding during off-peak hours is rarely enough to counteract the revenue lost from discounts, it said.
"With peak and off-peak pricing there is also the risk that peak congestion will simply shift, instead of leveling out," the report's author cautioned.
In addition to the possibility of peak-hour pricing, the report included several other possible changes:
- Switching the TTC's Metropass for the provincial PRESTO card
- A single cash fare by 2017, which would eliminate student and senior discounts
- Requiring proof of payment on all vehicles, not just streetcars
- No longer accepting cash on buses, to reduce costs associated with handling money
- Changing the transfer system to let customers travel anywhere within two hours, instead of only being permitted to travel one way
More information on each possibility is available in the report, posted online.
