TTC board approves 2025 budget with no fare hike, more service

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) board approved the agency's recommended operating budget for the year, requesting a 6.5 per cent increase in city funding from 2024 and promising to freeze fares at 2023 rates and boost service across the network.

If approved by city council in February, the 2025 operational budget would be at about $2.82 billion, an $85.1 million increase compared to last year's budget. TTC Chair Jamaal Myers told reporters on Friday that this year's budget focuses on customer experience and safety.

"To put it simply, this budget is about ensuring that parents feel confident that their kids can ride the subway safely and that the bus comes when it's supposed to come," Myers said.

Part of the budget promises to pave the way in providing nearly six per cent more hours of service, according to documents released earlier this week, to accommodate congestion and improve reliability across the TTC.

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The goal would be to provide commuters with more frequent trips in waiting six minutes or less for streetcars on Dundas, St. Clair and Bathurst during peak hours starting in the fall, seven days a week, or five minutes or less along lines 1 and 2, or six minutes or less along Line 4.

Other planned improvements include a pilot program to fix bus bunching and gapping on 11 routes, so they come at a more constant pace rather than all at once.

It would also work to address the 12 per cent increase in Wheel-Trans service, providing an estimated four million rides in 2025.

"There shouldn't be an expectation that you go on the subway and something goes wrong," Myers said. "We're trying to get away from that."

Another aspect of the budget would be to freeze TTC fares at the same price that it has been for the last two years: $3.30 for single adults, $2.25 for seniors, and $2.35 for youths.

"We know that many of you are struggling with the rising costs of everything from groceries to rent and we want to make sure that the price of a TTC ride is not one more thing you have to worry about," Myers said.

The operating budget will also allow to pilot a "station manager" at six stations, including Scarborough Town Centre, Kennedy, Dundas, Finch, Spadina and Lansdowne.

The board also approved the TTC's 2025-2034 capital budget plan, requesting more than $5 billion in additional funds than the previous 10-year plan. This is mainly due to partnerships with over levels of government, like the $2.3 billion for 55 new subway trains along Line 2.

"If you look at the TTC as a such an important economic driver, I think that anybody is looking at the well-being of the economy across the political spectrum is going to value this," Coun. Alejandra Bravo told reporters after the board meeting. "It's a household economy question, it's how to deal with congestion, which is a really important, I think, a shared value and it's a crucial way to meet our climate goal."

Should the budget be approved, Myers says it will give the TTC its "groove back" – something city councillor and TTC board member Josh Matlow says is too soon to say.

"The chair is right to be optimistic about this budget, because I think it's a solid budget for the limited financial means that we have," Matlow said, before pointing to what he has been hearing from his constituents.

"If you talk to the average TTC rider, they're not satisfied with the TTC yet. Most people who take the subway in the morning are telling me they don't know if they can rely on the TTC to get to school and work on time."