GTHA Transit Fare Integration

[Northern Light]

It's funny that, despite many left-wing people being horrified at the Ford election win fearing he would gut transit funding, Torontonians have never had it so good as under Ford's governance.

Really? Now hold on a moment. Yes, there are ongoing capital investments.......but...

1) TTC service has been reduced to well less than pre-pandemic levels and there is heavy crowding on many routes.

2) TTC fares just rose again.

3) GO service has seen a considerable reduction since is pre-pandemic peak.

I'm not sure I'm prepared to declare Ford gov't deliverer of the transit panacea to Toronto just yet. That's neither a partisan nor ideological take, merely one that says, statements ought to have some support from evidence and I find the above just a bit of an overreach thus far.

 

[11th]

Really? Now hold on a moment. Yes, there are ongoing capital investments.......but...

1) TTC service has been reduced to well less than pre-pandemic levels and there is heavy crowding on many routes.

2) TTC fares just rose again.

3) GO service has seen a considerable reduction since is pre-pandemic peak.

I'm not sure I'm prepared to declare Ford gov't deliverer of the transit panacea to Toronto just yet. That's neither a partisan nor ideological take, merely one that says, statements ought to have some support from evidence and I find the above just a bit of an overreach thus far.

I agree the statement "Torontonians have never had it so good as under Ford's governance" is a hyperbole, but I would say the three points you have there would likely have happened regardless of which government we have at Queen's Park (as history has shown).

 

[Northern Light]

....but I would say the three points you have there would likely have happened regardless of which government we have at Queen's Park (as history has shown).

Perhaps. Though its difficult to assess alternate histories.

Team Red had many failings while in power, including on the transit file; but I can't recall a comparable reduction in TTC or GO service; though granted they didn't have a pandemic to deal with either.

 

[allengeorge]

Perhaps. Though its difficult to assess alternate histories.

Team Red had many failings while in power, including on the transit file; but I can't recall a comparable reduction in TTC or GO service; though granted they didn't have a pandemic to deal with either.

Well - at the very least it’s going to force Toronto City Council to wake up and try to deal with a situation they’ve ignored - in face of REPEATED warnings - for close to a decade or longer.

Knowing how a lot of Council and those who actually vote lean, brace yourself for a lot of service cuts.

 

[Deadpool X]

Really? Now hold on a moment. Yes, there are ongoing capital investments.......but...

1) TTC service has been reduced to well less than pre-pandemic levels and there is heavy crowding on many routes.

2) TTC fares just rose again.

3) GO service has seen a considerable reduction since is pre-pandemic peak.

I'm not sure I'm prepared to declare Ford gov't deliverer of the transit panacea to Toronto just yet. That's neither a partisan nor ideological take, merely one that says, statements ought to have some support from evidence and I find the above just a bit of an overreach thus far.

1) Likely would have happened in any case

2) Is not new. Has been happening since TTC came into existence

3) Isn't unavailability of crew the main reason for that?

 

[afransen]

We'll see what this means. It sounds like there won't be steps to encourage people to use GO rather than trundle along on buses that parallel GO lines and take 2-3x as long.

 

[11th]

We'll see what this means. It sounds like there won't be steps to encourage people to use GO rather than trundle along on buses that parallel GO lines and take 2-3x as long.

Stouffville line alone opens up a lot of trip possiblities if the last/first mile fares are waived.
Trips that cost $3.70: Kennedy to Milliken, Agincourt to Unionville, Milliken to Centennial, Milliken to Markham

On the Kitchener line, Bloor GO to Weston can replace Weston bus trips.
Bloor GO to Etobicoke North is also $3.70

 

[W. K. Lis]

If passengers treat GO as an "premium express" service within the City of Toronto, people could accept the higher cost of GO. In return, the passengers would get a faster ride. With integration of fares, the "last mile kilometre" on the TTC could draw more people on both the TTC & GO.

 

[afransen]

If passengers treat GO as an "premium express" service within the City of Toronto, people could accept the higher cost of GO. In return, the passengers would get a faster ride. With integration of fares, the "last mile kilometre" on the TTC could draw more people on both the TTC & GO.

Having someone ride a bus for 90 minutes to avoid the 'premium' GO service is foolish. The bus has higher operating cost. We are spending a great deal on GO--let's not discourage people from using it to punish them for being poor.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

We'll see what this means. It sounds like there won't be steps to encourage people to use GO rather than trundle along on buses that parallel GO lines and take 2-3x as long.

I suspect the rationale is pretty much the same - they are worried that intra 416 use of GO would eat up the capacity (or bump it up so much that will require GO to run extra service). As to this particular "integration" - let's not forget for one moment that the pilot TTC reduced far was actually ended by the same government pre-pandemic.

AoD

 

[anb]

Stouffville line alone opens up a lot of trip possiblities if the last/first mile fares are waived.
Trips that cost $3.70: Kennedy to Milliken, Agincourt to Unionville, Milliken to Centennial, Milliken to Markham

On the Kitchener line, Bloor GO to Weston can replace Weston bus trips.
Bloor GO to Etobicoke North is also $3.70

Its bus service, but its surprising to see Scarborough Centre to 407 Station only cost $3.70. Oddly enough if you get off at the stop before at RHC, they charge you $5.13.

 

[drum118]

TTC to be included in fare integration system with GO Transit by the end of 2023: ministry​

 

[afransen]

Our very own @Reecemartin appeared on TVO to discuss the government's fare integration plans. Congrats!

 

[Reecemartin]

Our very own @Reecemartin appeared on TVO to discuss the government's fare integration plans. Congrats!

Thanks!

I think the plans are certainly an improvement. A lot of people could benefit by taking TTC after arriving at Union whether to go to the Waterfront East or West, TMU or UofT, the AGO, the ROM, etc etc etc. and of course the same applies on the trip to the GO station! Maybe this will even make the idea of UPasses a bit more likely to get approved.

The main issue I see is that we are treating GO within Toronto as being different from Subway, thats now how we are planning our infrastructure and delivering GO capacity will be far less expensive than subway in the long term, we should not be discouraging it's use with a premium fare within the city.

 

[ssiguy2]

Seeing QP now only has about 6 months left before fare integration, is there any word on when exactly it will be implemented and more importantly, what exactly it's suppose to look like? 6 months isn't much time to update all of Presto, fare machines, and let the public know ahead of time what exactly is going to change and how it will impact their ride and wallet.