Effect of ride-sharing on TTC under study

Transit board also told agency to look into changing rider concerns

The TTC will study the impact ride-hailing services like Uber are having on public transit as ridership continues to be major issue during the pandemic.

The transit services board voted Wednesday afternoon to have the TTC, in partnership with the city, conduct that study, looking at the amount of rides lost annually since 2014 and future loss projections, including the amount of associated fare revenue loss.

The board also instructed the TTC to look at “changing rider concerns during and after the pandemic.”

“There will be a struggle back and so we have to take a new look at our fare strategy,” said commissioner Coun. Shelley Carroll, who originally moved the motion to be an independent, third-party study. Staff raised concerns of data privacy.

At the same meeting, TTC CEO Rick Leary presented a plan to provide information about bus crowding through third-party mobile apps Rocketman and Transit to “help them better plan their trips” as the pandemic continues. The additional information will be available as of Friday, Leary said.

The board also signed off on staff moving forward with a procurement plan to purchase 300 long-range, battery-electric buses through up to two contracts after staff presented their review of several models currently available.

The board was also briefed on a review that found Black and Indigenous riders were overrepresented in interactions with transit officers and asked staff to report back regularly on the progress implementing recommendations from the study’s authors.