TTC Board approves budget that includes fare increase as riders raise concerns about affordability, safety

The TTC Board approved a 10 cent fare hike Monday as part of its budget as members of the public voiced concern about accessibility, safety and proposed service cuts that could lead to longer wait times.

The $2.38 billion TTC budget released last week includes millions of dollars to hire new special constables to bolster safety, as well as money for service improvements on some routes serving Neighbourhood Improvement Areas. But it also includes a 10-cent fare hike for single cash and Presto rides, as well as changes that could increase maximum wait times, reduce some service, and increase crowding standards.

“The 2023 budget approved today gives us the ability to meet the needs of our customers,” TTC Chair Jon Burnside said in a statement following the meeting. “This budget balances our need to deliver safe service while managing lower revenues and increased operating costs associated with inflation and new transit lines. I want to thank the TTC staff for preparing this budget.”

Speaking at a special meeting of the TTC Board Monday, a number of deputants raised concerns about the budget.

Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of the transit users’ advocacy group TTCRiders, said that while the budget includes a provision to make fare passes cheaper for some of the poorest transit users through an expansion of the “Fair Pass” program, it does so by raising the cost of a ride for everyone else, including many people who are below the poverty line.

“Some people under the poverty line are being asked to pay more in a fare increase to pay for a small discount for other people under the poverty line is basically a shell game,” she said.

She argued that the “Fair Pass” program should be funded through other revenue tools, such as property taxes or parking levies at malls.

She said the extra revenue that will be raised by a fare increase is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars in the TTC deficit.

“No one is being fooled that a fare increase is actually needed,” Pizey-Allen said. “It's going to generate $16 million. What's the TTC deficit — $366 million. And there's another deficit from 2022. So you're going after the wrong people, the lowest income people in Toronto, and it's not going to generate enough revenue.”

Others who spoke at the meeting raised concerns about service cuts, that fares remain too high for seniors, that the TTC remains inaccessible for many and that the system has become more “faceless” since the implementation of the Presto fare system, which doesn’t require any interaction with a staff member.

One deputant called planned service cuts “cruel and unacceptable.”

“Transit riders will be faced with more crowded buses and trains while enduring longer wait times,” he said. “These cuts will steal people's times, especially Scarborough transit riders, where Line Three is shutting down next year for seven years.”

The TTC has also been grappling recently with a rash of violent incidents on its property and continues to struggle with the cost impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ridership plummeted during the pandemic, along with revenues, and TTC staff said Monday that it is taking much longer than expected to see a return to normal ridership levels.

Still, Mayor John Tory praised the TTC’s latest budget, and said it will address the key concerns on the system.

"The budget approved today will ensure that the TTC can continue delivering service over and above ridership levels and increase service to communities that need it,” Tory said in a statement. “This budget invests in safety across our transit system and works to keep fares affordable for seniors and our most vulnerable residents. I am confident that this budget will help to improve reliability, safety, and cleanliness of public transit for all Toronto transit riders.”

Unlike transit systems in many large cities in other parts of the world, the TTC receives most of its operating funds through revenues rather than higher levels of government. The city continues to rely on year-to-year commitments from the federal and provincial governments to make up the massive revenue shortfalls brought on by the pandemic, with no guarantees as to how long they will continue. .