City
Record Increase in Public Transit Ridership
For many of us, we know the pains of morning rush hour on our two and a quarter subway lines. By 2020, there will be over a million more people living in the GTA. A big chunk of them will be using our already saturated highways, and public transit. Traffic congestion in the city affects us all, economically, socially and environmentally. To try to curb the rise of these problems, our governments have recently announced the expansion of Toronto's public transit system. But will these plans survive for instance a change in government?
The Canadian Urban Transit Association released some good news this week. Preliminary figures for 2006 showed a 3.21 per cent increase in ridership across Canada. Doing the math, ridership grew by 52.7 million trips year over year, equaling approximately the total trips made in a city the size of Edmonton. With all the buzz about climate change and energy conservation, there is no sign of this trend letting go anytime soon. This is all the more reason for the Federal Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon to stick to his commitment to develop a national transit strategy. Last year the association recommended $20.7 billion worth of upgrades for public transit infrastructure for 2006-2010. As long as there is an increase in demand, the full expansion of the transit system has a chance of becoming reality.
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Read and weep (all prices in US $)
New York: $2/$76
Philly: $2/$70
Chicago: $1.75/$75
Boston: $1.70/$59
Atlanta: $1.75/$53
SF: $1.50/$45
LA: $1.25/$52
Most US cities also allow you to put a transit pass on your payroll with pre-tax dollars, so the real cost is even less.
You are getting screwed Toronto, and you're just taking it.
Alas, I try not to be a pessimist, but I am 97% confident it will not see the light of day.
As for the pricing... if the TTC looked like the above map, I wouldn't mind paying our current prices. But I suppose to get the TTC to look like that we have to pay the current prices... so... yeah, we're probably being screwed.
Notably, Montreal has a much cheaper monthly pass ... only $65. Plus, if you're a student under 25, with proof, you pay a measly, measly $35. The TTC forces universities here to wrangle special deals for their students, and we STILL have to pay $87.75 for our passes, which isn't much of a discount.
Gloria, yes, of course the C$ makes a difference, but it has been above 80 cents for a while and that alone does not make up for the huge difference.
Some more figures:
Portland: $2/$74
DC: $1.35-$2.30/$88 (rail, noncommuter distances)
Seattle: $1.50/$54
Minneapolis: $1.50-$2/$76
Miami: $1.50/$75
Not much cheaper, but still:
Vancouver: $2.50-$4.50/$69-$130
Montreal: $2.75/$65
Ottawa: $2.25 / $73 (O-Train)
Dalton McGuinty has to do something quickly to undo the "revenue neutral" trickery of Harris & Co. particularly during an election year.