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TTC cited in article on the concept of fare-free transit

Posted by Lily Dustbin / July 26, 2007

6 Comments

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With a TTC fare hike likely and possible route cuts on the way, I was intrigued to discover an article on the viability of a fare-free public transit system.

The article discusses the relationship between fare hikes and ridership (fare up = ridership down) and cites Toronto as an example:

Just one example is Toronto's transit system, which went into a 12-year downward spiral throughout the 1990s after a series of fare increases and resultant service cutbacks. The authoritative Transit Cooperative Research Program in Washington, D.C., has clearly documented how fare increases always result in lower ridership.

It's fairly safe to say that free transit is an eternity away for Torontonians but feel free to dream of a better way and read the full AlterNet article here: Fare-Free Public Transit Could Be Headed to a City Near You

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uSkyscraper / July 26, 2007 at 06:57 pm
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<p>Ah yes, the SEPTA death spiral has finally been renamed in honour of the TTC.&nbsp; How nice.&nbsp; </p><p>I&#39;ve been a fan of fare-free zones ever since I rode around downtown Seattle a couple years ago on their bizarro bus-tunnel thingys (since replaced with light rail).&nbsp; It really is something to think about when you are familiar with transit systems like Toronto and New York and comare the pros and cons of fixed-fare rate structures with, say, DC or London.&nbsp; What brings the greater good for a city, subsidizing long distance rush-hour commuters or making short transit trips cheap for those who actually live downtown where transit is a real alternative?&nbsp; But in any case high fares do suck, and Toronto is already THE MOST EXPENSIVE TRANSIT SYSTEM IN NORTH AMERICA.&nbsp; Voters really need to deal with this and get some senior government help. </p>
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Alexandra / July 26, 2007 at 08:35 pm
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<p>Our fares are simply outrageous. It doesn&#39;t need to be free but it needs to be affordable. Right now, there&#39;s little incentive for people to buy a monthly pass. You&#39;d need to take public transit twice a day, 6 days a week, to pay for the card. In Montreal, if you ride twice a day for a little over two weeks, it pays for it. And in Barcelona, where I lived this past year and where trams are a reality, you could either get a monthly pass for 42 euros or, if you only went to and from work, you could get a T-50, which allowed for 50 trips in a 30-day period for 26 euros. Ten trips cost 6 euros... And don&#39;t tell me Barcelona has more money than Toronto...&nbsp; </p>
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Sameer Vasta / July 26, 2007 at 11:45 pm
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<p>Dave Olsen&#39;s written quite a bit about free transit.&nbsp; Here&#39;s a link to some of his stuff: http://thetyee.ca/Series/2007/07/05/NoFares/<;br /> </p>
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Xian / July 27, 2007 at 08:04 am
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<p>CAW Economist Jim Stafford also proposes a way to pay for it in a 2005 piece</p><p><a href="http://www.caw.ca/news/factsfromthefringe/issue105.asp";>http://www.caw.ca/news/factsfromthefringe/issue105.asp<;/a></p>
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Zach / July 28, 2007 at 09:35 am
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When I first moved to Toronto back in 2005, I like everyone else paid $2.50. I am NOT pleased at the prospect of having to pay $3.00 if not more for less servive. Something is very very wrong here in this city. What are we going to do about it?
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socialscientist / November 28, 2007 at 01:43 pm
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free transit is NOT a pipe dream.... see:

http://www.freepublictransit.org/index.php?pr=Success_Stories
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