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GO Transit riders face 25-cent hike

D

dan e 1980

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GO Transit riders face 25-cent hike
Mar. 9, 2006. 01:00 AM
KEVIN MCGRAN
TRANSPORTATION REPORTER

GO Transit users will be asked to pay the biggest fare hike in years if a 25-cent increase is approved for March 18.

The hike, which goes before the board of directors tomorrow, is needed to cover the rising cost of hydro, natural gas and diesel, says a report authored by Frances Chung, GO Transit's director of financial services.

GO uses a zonal fare system — setting prices based on distance travelled. The fare hike would apply to all tickets equally.

That means if the increase is approved, someone travelling from GO's Burlington station to Union Station in downtown Toronto would pay $7.65 for a single-ride ticket, while someone travelling from the Danforth GO station to Union would pay $3.70. Anyone with a March monthly pass or a 10-ride ticket will be able to use it after March 18 with no penalty.

"It's the biggest (increase) in the last few years," said Peter Smith, chair of GO Transit, although historically there have been greater increases.

Over the last several years, increases have been about 15 cents.

The board is also expected to raise student fares, but that will take effect on Aug. 19, 2006. The student discount rate and the 10-ride ticket will also be adjusted.

On a typical weekday, about 190,000 riders use GO Transit.

During last summer's gas price spike, GO directors discussed putting a temporary surcharge on tickets to cover fuel costs. It never went through.

But fuel prices are putting pressure on transit costs across the region.

"Most transit agencies in the GTA have responded to these increases in costs by raising fares approximately 25 cents," Chung wrote in the report.

After paying 54 cents a litre for fuel, the TTC has just signed a fuel contract at 86 cents a litre.

That's part of the reason the TTC is raising the price of a ticket or token by 10 cents beginning April 1. And last month Mississauga Transit raised fares 25 cents a ticket in response to higher operating costs.

News this week that Queen's Park is expected to announce funding in the March 23 budget to expand the TTC's Spadina subway line to York University has raised expectations that money will be available to help area transit systems grow.

The GO board is meeting to discuss the transit system's $280.1 million operating budget for 2006. GO expects to recover about $244.7 million of its operating budget through fares, leaving Queen's Park on the hook for a subsidy of $35.4 million.

GO expects its operating expenses to rise by $18.9 million over last year. Diesel fuel alone will cost $3.8 million extra, 20 per cent more than last year. GO's contracts with CN Rail and CP Rail to operate trains and maintain tracks will increase by $2.1 million. The cost of utilities is also up $1 million.

The GO board is also expected to approve two other budgets:

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A $280.1 million replacement and rehabilitation budget for such things as refurbishing rail cars and buses, upgrading stations and beginning to purchase new locomotives.

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A $348.2 million growth budget, to continue a program of building new stations and laying new track for long-term improvements.

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meh, it's still not a bad deal.
 
It's not a bad deal and I'm not complaining since I love using the GO Train. But just three and a half years ago when I first started using it, it was $4.65 from Pickering to Union and vice versa. Right now it's $5.10 for the same. Now in a few days it'll be $5.35. That's a $0.70 increase in less than 4 years. Am I the only one that finds that a bit steep?

Like I said, I'm not really complaining. Hopefully it can help with improvements to the system and not all go towards the increased costs of fuel.
 
I really feel bad for GO RIDERS when it comes to fares. They pay such high amounts to ride to and from work, etc.

$5.10 is so high for the 30min trip from Pickering to Union.

The thing I fear is the GO fares will keep going so high, that it will offer no advantage price wise over driving. And people will see no savings in taking transit.
 
I lived in Brampton where the fares were higher than other suburbs (Brampton to Union, a shorter trip than Aurora to Union by any measure cost more) for equivalent distances, service sucked, Bramalea Station train-meets were a nightmare, and we were ignored - and had to pay, for a student monthly pass, over $135.

Now I pay $90.50 for service that doesn't blow.

I'm a happy GO customer because I'm an ex-GO customer.
 
It's unfortunate that people don't rally against GO or regional transit fare increases like they do TTC fare increases. While it's true that your typical GO passenger probably has a higher income than a typical TTC passenger, there are still plenty of students and adults who use GO and might not be able to afford the substantially higher fares.
 
The TTC carries tons more people each day. Thats why you hear a stink when the TTC raises fares.
People also never complain when the 905 systems raise fares.
 
Also, unlike the TTC, people can expect that along with a fare increase GO transit will also make an effort to expand their service.
 
This is the second time in a row that they raised all fares by the same amount not rate, in keeping with their new policy of subsidizing exurban riders by gouging closer areas. This also helps with their arguments in saying that Torontonians do not use transit and so their stations should be scrapped. Plans are to extend to Clarington and Barrie etc, which is making developers happy. The third track will be very convenient for bypassing inner stations as is done as a rule in NY's system.

Let's just hope that the GTTA is not run in the same format as GO (GO board representation) or transit will become another tool for low-density auto-oriented development. Vancouver's GVRD is probably the most successful NA example of a proactive regional transportation agency, although the Province (BC) has been interfering of late.
 
The thing I fear is the GO fares will keep going so high, that it will offer no advantage price wise over driving. And people will see no savings in taking transit.
Mike, don't go there. There are quite a few transit fanatics here. :p
 
green, I agree with you on this one! How can they raise a student fare from $3 to $3.25 - a worse increase than the TTC - while at the same time raise other fares from $10 to $10.25. GO should pick a flat rate of increase, and apply it evenly across the board, rounding up or down to the nearest nickel.
 
This is ridiculous. GO Transit is operating with a 87% cost recovery, probably the highest in North America, and still the only thing they care about is efficiency. Transit systems here care too much about efficiency and not enough about providing some actual decent service (some more all-day train service perhaps?), which is why transit in the GTA is turning to shit instead of improving.
 
I agree, and I have said before that ideally all transit systems in the GTA should be operating at 50-60% efficiency max. That's what YRT is doing, and the result is innovative improvements like viva and 50 cent transfers to GO. Unfortunately, the province and the City of Toronto are being stingy and any attempts to improve service result in either fare increases or service cuts elsewhere.
 
A double whammy now, this coupled with the ttc price increase and i'm broke. I hope to see better then every hour service for this!
 

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