TTC Votes To Increase Fares
Posted November 17, 2009 6:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The TTC has voted to increase fares.
Riders will now be paying $121 for a monthly pass.
However, the current student discount has been extended to college and university students.
The Better Way is facing a $100 million shortfall on its 2010 operating budget and TTC brass say a fare increase is the only viable option to clear up some of that red ink. The city and province can’t offer increased funding and the commission won’t consider service cuts.
The cost of a monthly student pass would go up to $101, and thanks to pressure from the Canadian Federation of Students, which launched its Fair Student Fares campaign last week, that price will be extended to post-secondary pupils, as well.
“That’s exactly the target group we want to get on transit, they’re young people, they’re going out and doing things, they’re paying full adult fares, yet they have much lower incomes,” TTC Chair Adam Giambrone said.
The transit chair announced the motion to include college and university students Monday.
“Students in Ontario pay the highest tuition fees in Canada and contend with record-high youth unemployment,” Hadia Akhtar, Vice-President, External for the University of Toronto Students’ Union, said. “As soon as the fare hike was announced, we started an email campaign and in less than one week, 800 emails were sent to Commission members.”
If the proposed fare hike is passed, it will go into effect January 3.
