TTC riders will face fees up to $425 for fare evasion again soon

The TTC is getting back on track with ticketing riders who refuse to pay their transit fare in the fall after a pandemic-driven hiatus.

This practice is widely known as fare evasion, which could result in a fine of up to $425, according to the agency website.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green told CTV News Toronto fare evasion is costing the agency tens of millions of dollars a year with the transit agency’s most recent auditor’s report stating at least $70 million of potential annual revenue had been lost to fare evasion.

Across the transit network, he said fare evasion accounts for three per cent of riders with a slightly higher occurrence of 5 per cent on streetcars.

However, at the moment, ridership is only at 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, though Green said a “significant uptick” is expected in the months ahead as people return to the office.

In the early days of the pandemic, transit fare inspectors were redeployed to hand out masks and safely direct riders through stations. Then, last spring, an independent review revealed Black and Indigenous residents were overrepresented in interactions with TTC fare enforcement officers and special constables, which prompted “reflective work” for the agency.

“Prior to the pandemic, fare enforcement was being done in a way that wasn't treating people fairly, based on their race or gender,” Green said.

“Over the last two years, we've been developing new fare inspection protocols for training, ticketing and cautions, ensuring the practice is equitable for all customers while allowing us to collect important demographic information.”

With that process now ready to rollout, Green said the agency is prepared to phase-in full inspection and ticketing.

To start, high-employment areas and streetcar routes will be a focal point, such as the downtown core.

“People that are coming out of work from a bank tower or the stock exchange or something like that and not tapping to get to home in Liberty Village,” Green said.

He added that the agency is also beginning to track their ridership capacity versus the number of people who have tapped their presto card to generate statistics on the amount of riders who have not paid for their fare.