City
What do you think of the TTC's 5 cent fare hike?
Earlier this afternoon the TTC made official what has long been expected - fares are going up. Tokens will now cost $2.65 and a monthly Metropass will now ring in at $128.50. Those paying out of pocket will be happy to now that cash fares will be held steady at an even $3. The price hikes, or course, are expected to help the TTC get control of its budget and bring in an additional $18 million in revenue in 2013 alone. The new fares take effect January 1st.
What do you think of the fare hike? Share your thoughts in the poll and comment thread below.
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Why?
Because I use TTC at a bare minimum, as a last resort or only when I know it really is too dangerous for drunk me to get home any other way.
Thanks TTC! My feet and bicycle really are the better way.
You don't travel much, do you? But we agree that Toronto's transit is a class below where it should be: a second-class city with a third-rate transit system.
- Can't use credit card to purchase tokens (not even for a roll of 50)
- Why does the system use tokens?
- Token "collectors" - how much do they get paid?
- The subway stations are disgusting, and look more like public restrooms - they are an embarrassment.
THANKS ALOT OBAMACARE
perpetuating the new standard of public service in toronto,
if you don't believe that just take a look at our glorious mayor.
gimme some more of that gravy.
-PLEASE don't be bringing up up bullshit about how tokens are shit-many people use them, and get across town quite well with them, in comparison to you and all of the other whiners here at Blog TO.
-PLEASE don't bring up how you can't use credit cards for buying tokens-you buy Metropasses with them well enough, and you can use an ATM to take out the money to buy what tokens you need in bulk, so that's a nonstarter.
-PLEASE stop with all of the TTC employee bashing and the the transit union bashing; at least the TTC employees have balls/guts to have a union and to believe in the union to help them when they need to fight for their rights, unlike most of you lazy fools who think that they don't need one due to years of anti-union propaganda by the mainstream media convincing you that you don't (and look where you are now without one!)
-PLEASE stop complaining about how TTC stations look-odds are that you're one of the stupid sheeple who complained about all of the designs that went into the new stations being built on the expansion to Vaughn, and of how much the cost-heck, I'll even be betting that you're complaining about the renovations to Union Station right now.
-PLEASE stop comparing the TTC to MTR (Hong Kong), NYCTA (New York) Transport For London (London) RATP (Paris) and other transit authorities/companies-they have their problems, too and their detractors, and sometimes things don't move as fast as the citizens of the cities want them to. The old saying 'The grass is always greener' applies here.
-PLEASE stop bitching about how we don't have a RFID farecard system while other cities do; PRESTO's probably overrated anyway, and the way its being implemented is actually probably going to be borne by the TTC in the form of higher costs which will have to be paid for by increasing fares or a sales tax-irony of ironies!
And finally:
-PLEASE be grateful that you are living in a First World country where you can get decent things like transit that works; many new Canadians from poorer parts of the planet could (and can) tell you how shitty things are where they came from, transit included! You may not have everything you want in the TTC, but at least, you have functioning public transit. TRY and be grateful for that.
just saying.
The ONLY subway system that's 24/365 is New York's and that system is intermittent in the 1 AM to 2 6AM hours, with trains not coming quite as fast as people want. Most subways shut down for the night (even Madrid's) and those that have to get someplace in most cities either walk home or call a cab. I myself would not want to be on a subway car with people on it causing trouble as in New York, or have to put up with mentally ill people screaming in my ear about some nonsense bugging them (besides, the Blue Night Network covers Toronto quite well.) This MIGHT and COULD work, but the whole system would have to be automated for it to be feasible, probably.
Seriously, smash the union and watch the operating costs drop.
Try applying that logic to any COMPETITIVE business and you'll come up dry.
"Don't complain that the meal you ordered came to you late, cold, and dirty, you should be grateful that cook was kind enough to make it for you!"
Again, if we PAY for service both with our taxes and per ride we have the right to critique it when it isn't run effectively.
Also, what makes you think that a highly trained TTC worker is anything like the people that serve you food at a restaurant?
As for the complaining; it would be one thing if you and people like you had good complaints, but half of the bitching on Blog To about the TTC is just complaining for complaining`s sake, and nothing more than that. Perhaps if you voted properly (not for neocon lite twits like Dalton McGuinty and Stephan Harper, but people tat care about public transit and the people who take it), you wouldn`t be needing to feel bad about the TTC, because it would be properly funded to do what it has to do. But, of course, I`m guessing that you don`t do that.
Seriously assuming my morning habits and voting regularities? (for the record I plan my trips by the TTC time estimate and then add +15 minutes which doesn't always work, and this morning I left 45 minutes early).
Personally a lot of my complaints have to do with the fact that I have barely seen improvements despite paying extra money. And a lot of what I have wrong with the TTC is when drivers are unsafe or unfair, which does happen a lot. Just yesterday I was on a streetcar where the driver was 1) late because he was chatting with a coworker and had 6 streetcars line up behind him during rush hour and the driver behind him yelled at him for ruining the schedule, 2) Sped to make up time, 3) didn't check passes, 4) stopped the car to yell at a driver he saw was on their cellphone at a light even though it is wrong it had no effect on his route whatsoever he just felt like being self righteous.
But hey I guess you have points for all of that, and that you're going to make some more leftie-pinko-commie assumptions toward me, and continue to make ignorant uneducated "opinion as fact" comments.
I GUESS YOU'RE JUST A BETTER PERSON THAN ME. PLEASE TEACH ME TO BE SMART LIKE YOU.
Again why don't you actually read and take in the context of what I'm saying?
Enjoy being satisfied with mediocrity and paying for it.
Tool.
Oh, and one more thing, sweetums; the TTC or any other public transit system is NOT a business, but a public utility. Please stop believing neocon propaganda that says government services should be run like that of a corporation that has to make a profit. They don`t.
Oh, and one other thing; if you and al lot of other people want subways so bad, you`re going to have to buck up and cough up money to keep it going in the form of sales and property taxes as well as any fare increase that`s needed-that`s how most municipalities in North America and elsewhere do it, and that`s how it will have to be done here too (even with the shitty funding the TTC gets from Queen`s Park.)
Buy cars they can't afford? Bike using the many bike lanes, especially along those 8 lane highways they call suburban streets? Just not show up to work alltogether and only take cabs to stock up on canned goods?
You're a bloody joke, go away.
And it is a BUSINESS in the sense that I PAY for a SERVICE and get POOR SERVICE.
And don't call me sweetums you ignorant chauvinistic moron.
To the idiots clamouring for privatization, that's one way to guarantee even shittier service and lax safety. Private companies will do whatever it takes to save money including cutting corners, skipping on training, neglecting infrastructure and paying employees less. All of which will come back to bite us in the ass.
Demand funding for the TTC and free and accessible transit for all! We need to stop aiming for the lowest common denominator and trying to sell off public services.
As for $100,000 dollar ticket-takers: yes, these are patronage appointments, but there's more to it than that. Often they are injured or are recovering mentally from subway suicide jumpers. It ain't a fun mind-space to be in, and having them interact with the public certainly isn't a great idea... but it keeps the TTC from have having to hire real, full-time ticket-takers. Either they use people who normally would be on disability and are willing to work extra shifts (hence the $100,000 payouts), or hire multiple new employees or technologies who would end up costing even more.
It's not a perfect system, but it chugs along for a reason and any major changes surely will introduce their own new problems - just look at YRT's Viva (3 month strike, most expensive fare in GTA, highest subsidy in all of North America, killing ridership with construction, etc...).
The TTC is charging another nickel per trip for passholders. Passholders are commuters and frequent travellers. That demographic of TTC riders likes to have beverages or snacks (sure, there you are with your Cinnabon) while they are zooming around the city.
If you elect to have just one coffee less, once a month, the impact on your pocket change will spread across your TTC trips dozens of times. Let's say that your a TImmy's kind of coffee customer and call a medium coffee $2.00. That's 40 trips. Already you are pushing your nickel cash forward by a couple of weeks into next month! And if you are a coffee high-roller, then save one SB coffee at about $3 and you can move your nickels forward right into the end of the next month.
If you like the TTC, your nickels will go to a good place. If you don't like the TTC, then not taking transit will save you one more nickel per trip. And everyone can still happily steam and gripe about another "urgent" Toronto issue.
As a tourist who hasn't been here for that long, it's the fact that the price keeps going up while the service keeps going down and it shows no signs of stopping.
And keep in mind there are a lot of people who aren't middle class where a few cents really is a lot and TTC is the only transportation they have access to.
Linda, I am actually one of "the poor" and I can find another nickel in my pocket for transit when I want or have to use it. I'm pretty certain that the people who buy passes, who are directly affected (being students and so their fares are discounted or working commuters whose transit cost is part of the cost of working) can also find a few extra dollars to spend on the service that they need. In the long run, the service is more than good, and it costs a lot less than paying for vehicle. You need a lot of nickels to do anything with a car, and "service" can be take-it or leave-it. My point stands that you either use it and like it or don't use it. If the TTC was planned and managed by Disney (the happiest place on earth), people in privileged Toronto would still wring their hands and complain.
On another note, I hope you enjoy your visit and all the great aspects of Toronto.
Inflation is about 1% or 2% right now I believe, and 0.05 is about 1.9%. So they are actually just raising it to inflation, which is pretty unavoidable. Unless of course the city had not frozen the operating subsidy to the TTC, which they shouldn't have done because you need to account for inflation. The same inflation that should be bringing more money into the city every year in taxes. So this is basically another service cut by the city, since they have the money, they are just spending it elsewhere.
No joke.
Anyway, the best way to resolve the mess of public transportation is to abolish the City Bylaw that makes the TTC monopoly provider of "public" transportation.
This would be reasonable, except that some people (such as public workers) have salaries frozen at increasing 0% a year. Then inflation feels perilous.