TTC to freeze fares, improve transit service as Olivia Chow unveils 2025 budget

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and the chair of the TTC board were at Wilson Station on Tuesday morning to discuss the transit budget.

The 2025 operating budget will include freezing fares for the second straight year, with Chow introducing a 5.8 per cent increase in service hours that addresses challenges such as transit congestion.

“Six-minute or better service, seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on three streetcar routes: Dundas, St. Clair and Bathurst. Imagine that? Faster, you don’t have to wait as long,” said Chow.

“On the subway, Line 1 and Line 2 off-peak periods will operate every five minutes or better. Six minutes or better [service] will be restored on Line 4.”

The TTC highlighted several key factors when developing the 2025 operating budget, including service and ridership experience, financial results, accessibility and equity considerations, key risks and challenges, affordability and funding availability.

According to the TTC, the recommended budget is $2.819 billion in gross expenditures and $1.432 billion in revenues, requiring $1.387 billion in net city funding or an $85.1 million (6.5 per cent) increase above the 2024 city funding level.

“We are making the TTC the better way; one step, one station, one bus stop at a time,” Chow said.

Other notable budget additions for 2025:

• Improving midday, evening, and weekend service on all modes, representing a 2.2 per cent increase in service hours that will be phased in the spring and fall of 2025.
• Opening Line 5 Eglinton and Line 6 Finch West and implementing changes to the bus network to connect customers to these lines, representing a 1.9 per cent increase in service hours when both lines are operational, subject to confirmation by Metrolinx.
• Increases Wheel-Trans service to deliver an estimated four million rides in 2025, accounting for a 12 percent increase in new registrants due to changing demographics.
• Establishing pilot programs to reduce bunching and gapping on 10 of the most problematic routes with enhanced on-street presence starting in the spring and to address station cleanliness in six key subway stations.
• Bolstering maintenance and asset management capacity for critical assets, such as TTC work cars, to support service reliability.
• Beginning the delivery of its resiliency program and expanding fare revenue protection through a Fare Compliance Program.

The announcement comes ahead of this week’s special TTC board meeting, where members will review the transit agency’s operating and capital budgets for the year. That meeting is set for Friday.

In November, the TTC announced funding from all three levels of government that will contribute $758 million each to the $2.3 billion purchase of 55 new subway trains for the Bloor-Danforth line. The federal contribution is part of the $1.2 billion Toronto will receive over the next decade as part of the Canada Public Transit Fund program.

Opened in 1966, the current fleet of 61 Line 2 trains operating from Kipling to Kennedy will be near the end of their useful life starting in 2026, while the current fixed-block signalling system has been in service for 58 years in some sections.

In other transit news, TTC special constables and fare inspectors started to wear body cameras as of Monday. The TTC has said that body-worn cameras enhance the ability to document more interactions than CCTV systems and capture audio, offering a more detailed record of events.

With files from John Marchesan of CityNews