The chair of the TTC is worried that the federal government’s plan to eliminate a tax credit on public transit passes could have the effect of discouraging some TTC riders from buying Metropasses.

The tax credit, which had allowed commuters to claim 15 per cent of the cost of their monthly transit passes, was eliminated in Wednesday’s federal budget.

The phasing out of the credit as of July 1 will save the government about $150 million a year.

“We are admittedly kind of scrambling to find out what the impact will be on us,” TTC chair Josh Colle told CP24 on Thursday. “We know that in terms of Metropasses it is $146 but with the credit it ends up being like $120 or $125 and that’s actually significant. It may make the difference between buying a pass or not buying a pass. If it discourages pass buying then we will have less money to operate our system and that’s the biggest concern.”

In justifying the decision to end the tax credit on public transit passes, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the program had not been effective in boosting public transit ridership.

Colle, however, told CP24 that the government should be using every tool at its disposal to encourage public transit use, especially considering the fact that it plans to invest $20.1 billion in public transit infrastructure over the next decade.

“It certainly seems to be a contradiction,” he said. “If we are building transit out I don’t know why we wouldn’t want to do everything possible to encourage transit use.”

The cost of an adult Metropass is currently $146.25, so for someone who buys one each month the credit would work out to a discount of $263.25 a year.

Colle told CP24 that TTC staff are working to determine how many riders took advantage of the credit.

The TTC has previously said that about half of its fare revenue comes from the sale of Metropasses.