TTC: Monthly Pass Prices: Metropasses vs. other North American Cities

A TTC Metropass costs $133.75 for a month of rides. That's equivalent to 49.53 tokens, meaning you have to ride on average 1.6 times per day in a month with 31 days, 1.7 times per day in a month with 30 days, and 1.8 times per day, every day, in Febraury, to make it worthwhile. Take out 8.6 weekend days per month if you're just commuting with your Metropass, and you'll need to ride a minimum of 2.2 rides every weekday on the TTC to make it worthwhile.

How does that compare with other cities?

Montreal charges $79.50 for theirs. That means as of the 27th ride, you're getting a break on the $3 fare, way less than here. Next year the pass goes up to $82, while single rides climb to $3.25. A pass will make your 26th ride and all following a bargain in Montreal.

Ottawa charges $124.50 for theirs if you want to ride the express buses (to the suburbs mostly), or just $100.75 if you're content with regular routes. Cash fares in Ottawa are a steep $3.45, $4.90 for express, so the passes are a bargain comparatively. Of course, Ottawa also has Presto, where fares are only charged at $2.77 per ride. The discount kicks in with the 30th ride on regular routes, 26th ride on express routes.

Calgary? $96. Single rides are $3 each. The break starts on your 33rd ride.

Edmonton is $89, or $3.20 for single rides. The break starts on your 28th ride.

Vancouver has a zone fare system that runs from $2.75 per ride in zone 1, to $4 for zones 1-2, and $5.50 for zones 1-3. That translates into passes that cost $91, $124, and $170. With all of Vancouver's passes, you're getting a discount on anything more than 33 monthly rides.

Shouldn't the Metropass be based on giving people a break—at minimum—starting after they've taken one ride beyond the two per weekday? Theoretically, the TTC should want to sell to every TTC commuter, so fares should be based on making the Metropass attractive to people doing the 2 per weekday or better. That would be the equivalent of 42 rides, not 49. 42 times $2.70 would be $113.40, about $20 less per month than it costs now.

If you want a break on your Metropass, then you can order it for every month of the year. That will cost you $122.50, taking off the equivalent of 4.16 rides per month, so even that doesn't get you down to 42 times per month.

Take any vacation days? Take national or provincial holidays off? You're still paying to ride on those days.

It's time to roll back the price of Metropasses to something less punitive, which is how it feels to me now, or hold the price on Metropasses from here on, and have the average number of rides need to make them make sense gradually decline.

So, is it just me, or are Metropasses obnoxiously priced?

42

They are.
Presto, on the few places they have on TTC is $2.70. Post-secondary pass is exactly 40 times that, $108.
A single day where I don't need to go, it's no longer worth it.

interchange42 said:

Shouldn't the Metropass be based on giving people a break—at minimum—starting after they've taken one ride beyond the two per weekday? Theoretically, the TTC should want to sell to every TTC commuter, so fares should be based on making the Metropass attractive to people doing the 2 per weekday or better. That would be the equivalent of 42 rides, not 49. 42 times $2.70 would be $113.40, about $20 less per month than it costs now.

42

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You're ignoring the tax credit. That's worth almost exactly $20 a month, getting the break-even rate down to where you want it.

Problem solved, you're welcome.

That's the minimum break-even rate that should be barely acceptable, and aren't tax credits available for monthly pass buyers of all transit systems? It's still inequitable for Torontonians.

42

annual purchase program also reduces costs, but yes, it is expensive.

The TTC jumped costs from 48 to 49 rides last year as well, and I think if you go back to 2010 it was at 46 or 47.


Thank Rob Ford for it, Low tax increases but fees go way up.

Right now people often buy Metropasses with the extra cost simply for the convenience of not having to deal with tokens, but PRESTO will change that. I expect Metropass adoption rates to drop significantly as PRESTO reaches full implementation.

It is no secret the metropass is a money grabber.

Chicago's monthly pass is $100, $50 for reduced fare. Equivalent to 40 trips (assuming a transfer is included $0.25).

TTC charges $134, and $108 for reduced fare. 50 trips.

Philadelphia's monthly pass is 50X token price too. but they token is only $1.8 per ride.

transit credit? How do you know other jurisdictions don't allow that? "problem solved?" You wish.

It's a significant monthly expense for someone of limited means. But it's not near the barrier that is housing affordability to getting by in Toronto for the working poor or those in insecure employment. So if a single person can be pushing an expense of near a thousand bucks a month to not live in unhealthy squalor, $133 for unlimited transportation doesn't seem disproportionate. The break-even point of twice a day use on weekdays seems logical to me. Someone who is only using their pass for the work commute is probably otherwise living a car-centric lifestyle, and also imposing the costs of supporting that on the public expense. The TTC needs cash, it needs expansion in areas, so users need to make their contribution to what is an expensive system. What can be shocking for me is to see costing that says my ride needs to be subsidized another three bucks after I pay my three. That's for a ride that can often be frustrating, uncomfortable, full of compromises that those that don't use public transportation would quickly find intolerable. I can make those compromises when it seems like it's for the better of all, but when the costs for an individual rider that already feel high need considerable public top-up and the system is still starving for investment, it makes one wonder if it's all worth it. You'd expect better economies of scale, efficiencies, when we're all crammed together in a vehicle.

Out here in the boonies:

Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge
Monthly: $76
Cash fare: $3
Tickets: $2.47
Break Even: 26 rides

Last time they were soliciting comments for fare increases, I told them to raise the price of the monthly pass! Instead, they raised ticket prices.

interchange42 said:

Shouldn't the Metropass be based on giving people a break—at minimum—starting after they've taken one ride beyond the two per weekday? Theoretically, the TTC should want to sell to every TTC commuter, so fares should be based on making the Metropass attractive to people doing the 2 per weekday or better. That would be the equivalent of 42 rides, not 49. 42 times $2.70 would be $113.40, about $20 less per month than it costs now.

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I think overcrowding plays into the TTC's pricing scheme too. Many routes are already overcrowded, and encouraging more people to use transit by lowering the price of a monthly pass means less money, and more crowding for the TTC. It's at the point where it would be counter productive to offer lower fares.

typezed said:

It's a significant monthly expense for someone of limited means. But it's not near the barrier that is housing affordability to getting by in Toronto for the working poor or those in insecure employment. So if a single person can be pushing an expense of near a thousand bucks a month to not live in unhealthy squalor, $133 for unlimited transportation doesn't seem disproportionate.

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In terms of rent, Toronto's housing cost is pretty affordable.
Vancouver, a much smaller city with lower salary, has similar rent. Cities such as Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago all have significantly higher rents, sometimes 50% higher. Toronto's rental market is not unaffordable at all. It is actually a great place to rent. A friend of mine rents a 1100sf two bedroom apartment near Don Mill station for $1200-1300 a month, and that's a very good price.

House prices are very high, but in no large urban centre and financial centre the "working poor" can afford buying a house or even a condo. That's a given. They should just rent.

Tuscani01 said:

I think overcrowding plays into the TTC's pricing scheme too. Many routes are already overcrowded, and encouraging more people to use transit by lowering the price of a monthly pass means less money, and more crowding for the TTC. It's at the point where it would be counter productive to offer lower fares.

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Overcrowding because there is essentially two ways of entering downtown by rapid transit. In cities like Chicago, 8 lines go to the loop, in Manhattan, more than 10..

The TTC has some of the lowest subsidies per rider of any transit system in North America.

We get about $.0.78 per rider for operating costs.

Montreal gets almost $2 per rider.

Is it any wonder their pass is so cheap?

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/12/12/open_the_purse_strings_ttc_tells_city_hall.html

robmausser said:

The TTC has some of the lowest subsidies per rider of any transit system in North America.

We get about $.0.78 per rider for operating costs.

Montreal gets almost $2 per rider.

Is it any wonder their pass is so cheap?

http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2013/12/12/open_the_purse_strings_ttc_tells_city_hall.html

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Bingo. Look no further.

If we want cheaper Metropasses, then we need to raise taxes.

The lack of any significant provincial funding for transit operation is the cause of this. No wonder that the only city I'm aware of with similar priced passes is the second largest transit agency in Ontario (Ottawa) (where the pass is more expensive than Toronto, if you buy on an annual basis!).

nfitz said:

Bingo. Look no further.

If we want cheaper Metropasses, then we need to raise taxes.

The lack of any significant provincial funding for transit operation is the cause of this. No wonder that the only city I'm aware of with similar priced passes is the second largest transit agency in Ontario (Ottawa) (where the pass is more expensive than Toronto, if you buy on an annual basis!).

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Other western democracies help their urban public transit agencies on the federal level. Not so in Canada. Both Queens Park and Ottawa should help with the TTC's capital and operational budgets.

nfitz said:

Bingo. Look no further.

If we want cheaper Metropasses, then we need to raise taxes.

The lack of any significant provincial funding for transit operation is the cause of this. No wonder that the only city I'm aware of with similar priced passes is the second largest transit agency in Ontario (Ottawa) (where the pass is more expensive than Toronto, if you buy on an annual basis!).

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Actually I'd say the TTC is still more expensive than Ottawa. To take a Downtown Express bus you need a sticker on your pass which adds $38.50 to the cost, totaling $172.25! The only silver lining here is if you take these routes everyday, it breaks even at 31.9 rides.

The current fare structure in Toronto is a joke, regardless of subsidy. The only way this gouging makes sense is with the lack of two hour transfers, so stopovers and short trips cost the same amount as a full trip (which means that it makes LOCAL transit less attractive). Not including the tax credit, it you buy 45-50 tokens at the start of the month, you are likely to come out ahead even if you make stopovers and short trips. You just lose the convenience of being able to flash a card, likely one of the reasons why the TTC has been so hesitant to put a smart card in place.

Assuming the TTC decides to expand its two hour transfer "pilot project" system wide next year, I think they should increase the cost of tokens so that the break even point is closer to 40 rides. They might lose money on people who make short trips or stopovers, but they will make it up from the people who commute to and from work or other destinations.