Wanna go for a hike?

I agree with you. I realize that they may not have received the funding they rely on, but there are other options rather than just hiking prices. Fundraising for example. Accountability is important - and so is some creativity on their part.
If they want people to keep using their services, they can't just keep squeezing more money out of their customers. This is a service that a lot of people need to use - and for many of them, every quarter counts.

Camille:

You've hit the nail on the head. The transit system in London does merchandising with aplomb.

Tourist buy 'Mind the Gap' t-shirts, and you can even buy underwear with a subway route-map on them. They even have a transit museum that actually makes money.

What does the TTC sell? Tickets.

Man, I would KILL for a pair of boxers with the Bloor-Danforth line on 'em. :)

Definitely, St. Dan ... the Spacing buttons being a prime example. The TTC sucks at marketing itself.

Who can I write angry emails to, in protest?

Clever ideas about selling TTC gear are only gonna work if we put them in front of someone who has the wherewithal to make it happen.

"let's see a published report on where the money went."

just about every single procurement the ttc makes is listed in the reports section. it may not be organized worth crap but the info is there.

TTC operating budget:
http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comrpt/documents/report/f2615/_conv.htm

TTC capital spending plan:
http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comrpt/documents/report/f2614/_conv.htm

TTC wheel trans budget:
http://www.ttc.ca/postings/gso-comrpt/documents/report/f2616/_conv.htm

"Let's see some actual statistics on ride times and reliability of service,"

This is a more interesting statement that needs greater specificity. Depends what you mean by ride times. Time to travel from station A to station B? From Point C to Point D? That's an infinite amount of data. (think of the permutations) More pertinent I think would be comparison of the WAIT times for service levels, i.e. actual versus the stated goals.

Might be interesting to contact the TTC and ask them what statistics they keep (and what they publish) on this...

gso@ttc.ca (general secretary's office)

i'd like to see some stats on how the fair hike affects the number of non-monthly-pass paying riders. When me and my gf are heading downtown, we'll often say it's only $4 ($2/token x 2) to get dowtown via public transit. Now it feels a lot more like $6, so we might just take a cab... I know the fair hike is only $0.25, but crossing that 2 1/2 dollar barrier feels like a lot more than it is, which is bad for ridership...

i would have liked to have seen a fair hike combined with a new transfer system that would allowed you to get on/off as many times as you like in 2 hours. I'd definitely pay an extra 25 cents for that, plus it would be great for the toronto economy. too often when i'm taking a street car home i see a restaurant i'd like to stop at, but i'm not willing to pay to get back on the streetcar after i pick up food... so i end up making food at home. ottawa has a system like this and it works great!

Come on now, this really only affects the people who pay cash. If someone pays cash the avg. 22 business days/month, they'll fork out $124 over the month. Tokens/tickets? $92. If however, you're a regular user of the TTC and are smart and buy a Metropass for $99, you have unlimited travel all month, no lineups to buy tokens or pay cash, plus that suckah's transferable.