From a tax point of view, a taxi is a direct "expense", i.e. you take a taxi ride (for business-related purposes!), it costs x amount of dollars, it's a reimbursable expense. However, a transit pass is like being given a mileage allowance -- it's not directly related to a specific activity. So, if you're given $50/month for mileage on a car, you could take one trip or twenty. If you're given a metropass, you could ride the TTC once or hundreds of times. Reimbursed mileage for car travel is not a taxable benefit, but a set allowance is. I'm guessing that's CRA's rationale here for calling a metropass a taxable benefit but not a taxi ride. Parking is a little iffier since you could park once or 20 times.
However, the rationale for tax reasons isn't very helpful when it comes to encouraging these folks to leave their cars at home and use public transit. And they don't have to buy a metropass out of their personal funds (actually, if they did, they can claim it on their taxes), but if the city pays for it, it becomes a taxable benefit.
However, the rationale for tax reasons isn't very helpful when it comes to encouraging these folks to leave their cars at home and use public transit. And they don't have to buy a metropass out of their personal funds (actually, if they did, they can claim it on their taxes), but if the city pays for it, it becomes a taxable benefit.