Tory puts brakes on cutting seniors’ transit discounts
They’ve ‘paid their dues’ and many are operating ‘on very fixed incomes,’ mayor says
Mayor John Tory won’t support eliminating seniors’ discounts on the TTC.
In a statement on Friday, Tory said that “seniors have paid their dues and a lot of them are operating on very fixed or low incomes.
“We’ve had TTC fares for seniors in place successfully for decades for people that have paid their dues and making changes to that is not something that I’m interested in,” he said.
The statement came a day after the Star published a story about whether seniors’ fares could be eliminated following council’s approval of the Fair Pass Program, which would give transit discounts to low-income adults of all ages.
“It’s good we’re looking at special arrangements for low-income people in Toronto with the Fair Pass, but I don’t want to touch seniors’ fares to any significant degree,” Tory said in the statement
“We should leave something that has worked well for years more or less alone.”
In a statement provided to the Star on Friday, TTC chair Josh Colle said that the transit agency “is not considering any changes to seniors’ fares and we have no plans to do so.”
The Fair Pass Program, which would give almost 200,000 low-income residents TTC discounts of up to 33 per cent, is expected to cost $48 million a year when it’s fully implemented.
The plan is to roll it out in phases between 2018 and 2022.
At a council meeting last week, Colle predicted the approval of the program would trigger a council discussion about existing fare discounts, which are primarily based on age, because it would be difficult to retain them while also paying for the Fair Pass program. He specifically mentioned seniors, but didn’t say he would support eliminating their discount.
In an interview with the Star last month, Tory said that to pay for the Fair Pass the city would likely have to review the TTC’s existing fare structure.
“I think you’d have to revisit that whole thing and say, ‘Well all right,’ and ask yourself some very serious questions which are not questions that are presently on the table, which is, should we be looking to have those concessions apply as they do now to every single person across the board regardless of their income or should we be focusing our efforts on people with lower incomes,” he said.
Tory didn’t single out any existing special fares that he would support eliminating.
TTC riders 65 and older currently receive a discount of 33 per cent on single fares, and 21 per cent on monthly Metropasses.
Students between 13 years old and 19 years old, as well as post-secondary students, also pay reduced rates, and children 12 and under ride free.
According to a recent city report, the seniors’ discount costs the city $23.3 million a year, and roughly 10 per cent of the city’s seniors, or fewer than 40,000 people, are living on a low income.