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GTHA Transit Fare Integration

The Province is really half-assing “integration” aren’t they.
Yes. This isn't fare integration. This is leaving all the stupidity of the current fare model in place, and hiding it from the consumer.

You get on the bus to go just over 4km from Sheppard to Steeles on the TTC = $3.30 from customer, $3.30 to TTC (transfer stupidly at Finch to a different TTC bus to take you from Finch to Steeles it is still $3.30)
You get on the bus to go just over 4km from Finch to Centre St taking a Steeles TTC bus to Steeles, and a YRT bus to Centre = $3.30 from customer, $3.30 to TTC, and $3.88 to YRT (i.e. transit agencies paid $6.23)
You get on the bus to go just over 4km from Steeles to Highway 7 on the YRT = $3.88.

How is travelling 4km costing $3.30 or $3.88, and subsidy between $0 and $3.88 on top of that fare integration?? Fare integration is being able to say "2 zones on bus is $3.30" and when figuring out who gets the funding deciding that based on real metrics (total boardings, total passengers, etc), not some metric tied to a cross boarder transfer.
 
The Report on Fare Integration is headed to next week's TTC meeting:


We know the gist; but the TTC Report has multiple examples of how it will work. Its a little wonky.

The rules for GO will be as they are now w/GO Co-pay in the burbs, you pay the GO Fare, but not the local fare.

But for the trips between local transit authorities, the rule will be that you pay the full fare of your first tap, but none for the second or third if within the 2-hour transfer window.

What this means is that you will pay a higher fare going one way and a lower one the other in many cases where local fares are not aligned.

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There are several more examples in the report.
This makes sense to me...it works exactly how it currently works for 905 transit agencies today, which was probably the easiest way to implement it.
 
Yes. This isn't fare integration. This is leaving all the stupidity of the current fare model in place, and hiding it from the consumer.

You get on the bus to go just over 4km from Sheppard to Steeles on the TTC = $3.30 from customer, $3.30 to TTC (transfer stupidly at Finch to a different TTC bus to take you from Finch to Steeles it is still $3.30)
You get on the bus to go just over 4km from Finch to Centre St taking a Steeles TTC bus to Steeles, and a YRT bus to Centre = $3.30 from customer, $3.30 to TTC, and $3.88 to YRT (i.e. transit agencies paid $6.23)
You get on the bus to go just over 4km from Steeles to Highway 7 on the YRT = $3.88.

How is travelling 4km costing $3.30 or $3.88, and subsidy between $0 and $3.88 on top of that fare integration?? Fare integration is being able to say "2 zones on bus is $3.30" and when figuring out who gets the funding deciding that based on real metrics (total boardings, total passengers, etc), not some metric tied to a cross boarder transfer.
Unless you want fare integration to be delayed to 2026, funding it as-proposed and making improvements later on will produce better results. I agree that your scenarios should, in a perfect world, get the same subsidy. But we have our municipal borders (fiefdom boundaries?) and I don't think any agency or government will be happy with getting half the fare from what they consider to be someone who should pay a full fare. That's not to mention the Presto system, which seems to be the cause of delay behind the existing proposal.

The important thing is that the fares will be integrated from a passenger perspective, which drives ridership. Back-end stuff can be hammered out over time.

Actually, the province should just properly fund transit operation costs. That's a different debate.
 
Not sure I'm getting this right but.............essentially this means that whatever the fare is between 2 destinations you pay the first fare but it's good for all the system transfers and if you use GO the most you pay if the GO regardless of how many boundaries you cross. Is that right? Assuming it is, then it's a damn good start but it won't really increase accessibility for Torontonians using GO. More affordable certainly but for many transit dependent riders the extra $2-3-4 will still be too big a barrier in terms of using GO. To many Torontonians who just travel within the city, GO will in many ways simply remain a 905 commuter service.
 
Not sure if there's the capacity on GO? We can talk about reducing GO fares and integrating that after GO expansion and capacity improvements?

Also, trips shorter than 10km are $3.70 on GO.
 
Not sure I'm getting this right but.............essentially this means that whatever the fare is between 2 destinations you pay the first fare but it's good for all the system transfers and if you use GO the most you pay if the GO regardless of how many boundaries you cross. Is that right? Assuming it is, then it's a damn good start but it won't really increase accessibility for Torontonians using GO. More affordable certainly but for many transit dependent riders the extra $2-3-4 will still be too big a barrier in terms of using GO. To many Torontonians who just travel within the city, GO will in many ways simply remain a 905 commuter service.
All it would take is GO lowering fares within Toronto to equal the TTC fare to enable this. Not a huge leap once the first phase of fare integration is in place.
 
^^^ I looked it up and it said $4.40 so is that the Presto discount? I think they should increase that to 20 km in the city so that it is enough of a fair to go across the city and not just to Union. Also, it would be a hell of a lot easier to explain and understand if they dropped the Presto price to $3.30 from $3.70 in line with the TTC.
 

Not exactly anything new.

Over 40 years ago the first agreement was signed to give GO riders discounts on transfers to and from some local transit providers.
A major milestone was reached on March 14, 2022, when the Ontario government made most local transit fares free for passengers connecting to and from GO Transit outside of Toronto.
Since March 2022, customers have transferred for free over 10,855,950 times.
With the inclusion of the TTC into Ontario’s One-Fare program, the region will be one step closer to a true transit network that will move riders seamlessly across municipal boundaries.
Stay tuned for more exciting news as this work progresses.
 
So we had the promise - but have they announced when this fare integration with TTC finally starts?
March 14.



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