Make TTC free for everyone to ride

Re TTC struggling to enforce fare rules, March 13

It is unfortunate that it took so long to realize there would be a shortfall in revenue due to the changes over the past few years.

Allowing those 12 years and under to ride for free is ridiculous. It cannot be enforced, since determining a child’s age upon boarding is subjective.

The all-door boarding relies on the honour system, just to save a few minutes boarding a vehicle. The Presto card also relies on the honour system.

All of these changes scream free ride. Why not just make transit free for all and let taxpayers foot the bill.

The bad apples have ruined what might have been progress but this is not progress, just lost revenue for transit and advantageous to abusers. Jeanne Robinson, Scarborough

With a fully tax-funded transit system, the TTC could abandon its troublesome fare-collection system, along with the costs of printing and minting tickets, tokens and passes, and dealing with fare evasion, counterfeiting and theft. Paul Collier, Toronto

Instead of policing people and spending millions on inspectors, Toronto’s transit agency should focus on assuring direct fare subsidies to lower-income workers and persons with disabilities or keeping discounted fares for certain populations. Inspectors will never catch all fare evaders. What the TTC should do is eliminate all fares, with a broad range of positive results economically and ecologically. This can be done by making driving more expensive or using development fees from the city’s condo boom. Yshmael Cabana, Toronto

There is a very efficient way to solve all of the TTC issues with fare evasion: tax-funded transit. It is time we considered public transit a basic necessity and fund it as such.

This would only be a tax hike for those who never use transit. But they will get more road space and parking. The only ones who could complain are cyclists. So a portion of the funds must go to developing and improving bike lanes. Imagine a city where you can jump on and off transit because you see a friend, notice a sale or have multiple errands to do. Heck, you could take a bus to wherever you parked your car. Janice Lindsay, Toronto