TTC agrees to 10-cent fare hike
Council will have to address budget shortfall of $61 million
The TTC board has approved a 10-cent fare increase, but has declined to endorse more drastic measures to balance its books.
The decision means that the transit agency’s budget will head to the city’s budget committee with a significant deficit, which councillors will have to decide how to fill.
At a special meeting of the board on Monday to consider the transit agency’s 2017 budget, commissioners voted in favour of the10-cent fare hike, which will be the sixth time in as many years that the cost of riding the TTC has gone up.
TTC chair Josh Colle told reporters after the vote that the decision to raise fares “really sucks,” but was unavoidable due to the financial pressure facing the transit agency.
“A fare increase that nobody really wanted was necessary,” he said.
In order to “soften the blow” however, Colle successfully moved a motion asking the board to “endorse” a fare freeze in 2018. The motion isn’t binding, but Colle said it would ensure that transit agency staff will draft an initial 2018 budget that doesn’t raise fares.
More than a dozen members of the public signed up to speak at the meeting and oppose the rising cost of transit. They included 76-year-old Patricia Reid, who said she could only afford15 TTC tickets a month and was “devastated” at the prospect of another price hike.
“I actually walked here from Queen and Lansdowne because I didn’t have the tickets,” she said. “I’m thinking actually if you raise the fares, I’ll probably have to hitchhike ’cause I can’t do anything more.”
The increase is expected to raise $27 million next year, and will go into effect Jan. 1.
Despite the increased revenue, the TTC is still facing a shortfall of at least $61 million in its operating budget.
“I’m thinking if you actually raise the fares, I’ll probably have to hitchhike ‘cause I can’t do anything more.” PATRICIA REID TTC RIDER
That figure could be closer to $100 million if the agency isn’t allowed to use a controversial accounting manoeuvre that has already been rejected by the city manager.
The TTC staff report that went before the board included a long list of potential divisive ways to bridge the remaining gap, including raising fares by as much as 50 cents, cutting bus and streetcar service, and eliminating fare discounts for seniors, students, and even the blind.
Asked what message the board was sending by submitting a budget that wasn’t balanced, board member Councillor Shelly Carroll said the TTC has “found all of the nonservice cuts that we can.”
Carroll argued that to bridge the shortfall, council should increase its subsidy to the TTC, which last year was about $611 million for the TTC’s conventional service and WheelTrans.
In July, council voted to direct all city departments to find ways to cut their budgets by 2.6 per cent. That target created a shortfall for the TTC that was originally estimated at $231 million.
The TTC has found about $170 million to fill the gap, including that the fare increase. Council is expected to vote in February on the budget for all city agencies and departments, including the TTC subsidy.
The fare increase next year will see a token’s cost rise from $2.90 to $3, while a regular Metropass will sell for $146.25, up from $141.50. Adult cash fare stays at $3.25, and children 12 and under will still ride for free.