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November 17, 2009 at 9:04:40 AM
Helen
In my opinion, the Seniors could use a break especially since the greater part of them in Toronto are in the low income. They are suffering enough and if they raise the price of the tickets, and many are with
Wheel Trans, that means many will not be able to afford to go out at all. This is not fair. The Senior Pension has not kept up with inflation and some are barely serviving. Many are forgoing their medications because they can't afford them. Students can go and get part time jobs but disabled Seniors can not. Fair is fair. We don't need an increase. Cut down on employees and City Councilors. Trim the useless leaches that couldn't care less except for their fat wallets.

November 17, 2009 at 9:29:15 AM
Marc
Students have more disposable income than the rest of us do. Why the discount? I guess the transit ride will be cheaper so they can spend more money on alcohol every night when they get to the nightclub. Give me a break.

November 17, 2009 at 10:10:17 AM
Sarah
If we are trying to solve our traffic problem by getting people to take the TTC then increasing the adult fare (the people who own the cars...) and scaring off 12.5 million rides a year is not very effective.

November 17, 2009 at 10:58:51 AM
Chris
I think the increase in fare is terrible. They keep raising the prices but the service is still the same. We as ttc riders still experience constant delays, they spent all this money on new buses that actually reduce the amount of space so less passengers can get on. Okay so lets say they do increase the fare, next year we are probably going to hear the ttc crying again that they are short and raise the fare to $3.25. This is an ongoing battle and poor spending habits on the ttc and we as riders are the ones suffering!

November 17, 2009 at 11:03:51 AM
Jack
You would have to clarify "student". Does that mean that some millionaire, retired school teacher who is taking pottery classes at night school would be considered a "student"? And what about people taking ESL classes - are they students?
Opening a can of worms here I think.

November 17, 2009 at 11:11:44 AM
Jess
Every year or more, It honestly feels like the TTC is increasing the amount on metro passes and tickets.

However I do like the fact that the chair of the TTC is looking foward to introduce a motion that would extend the high school student fare discount to all university and college students as well.

I believe that students who are enrolled in education such as university/college, should as well get a discount on metro passes and tickets just as HIGH SCHOOL students do!
These students pay for courses, school activities, fees once a year and many more. (Also if they live on campus, they would be paying for homes and food)

At the end, my question really is why would Adult cash fares on tickets would rise to $3.00 from $.2.75 (which is okay) HOWEVER why would the metro passes go up to $126 a month from the current price of $109 ?

My view that I see is that adult TTC ticket fare would go up 25 cents more and the metro pass would go up $17.00 dollars more. Now the adult metro pass seems way pricey. Why can't it increase 25 cents more just as the Adult fare tickets?

I think the $17.00 dollars should decrease on the adult metro passes. People should try and understand other individuals needs. And not increase So much on TTC adult fares.

November 17, 2009 at 11:30:29 AM
Mike
ya, 150,000 students but only a small portion use the TTC! The majority riders are people commuting to work and by posting it's for the students the TTC Chair is trying to just 'appear' good hearted. The rates are getting ridiculous.

November 17, 2009 at 11:37:04 AM
Kevin in Taxoronto
I guess Giambone supports reduced fares for university students because he is planning on going to university next year after finishing up at City Hall Secondary School....

November 17, 2009 at 11:55:34 AM
anon.
I would like to know if the HST is included in this far hike- if you add the HST, that brings the pass up to $157.07- way of out my price range.

November 17, 2009 at 12:09:45 PM
annoyed metropass discount plan user
I am appalled at the fact that TTC had to blame the 100 billion $ deficit on TTC pass users.

Now a huge 17$ fare hike is litterally throwing me off the edge.

Not to mention that other transit system(including Ottawa's Oc-Transpo)already have had discounted pass for post-secondary students for years.

I feel that TTC management is simply ungratefull to all who use their service daily. They obviously don't know how to make reasonable effective decision making.

November 17, 2009 at 12:14:17 PM
Ted
I think that it's high-time for the TTC to deliver accountable service to all of it's riders on all routes before they raise their fairs yet again. Also; how is it that they never have enough money. Perhaps we're paying too much to employees who should really be thankful that they have a job today, considering that there are sooo many people out work in this province.

November 17, 2009 at 12:15:09 PM
sherri palonen
HI IM ON FIX I COME AND I CANT AFFORD ANOTHER 25 CENTS AND THESE STUDENDS TAKE SEATS FOR THEM SELFS AND THERE BAGS AND THERE FEET AS I HAVE A BACK DICS FAUCET,LUMBER,SPINE AND STANDING REALLY HURT MY BACK SO WHY SHOULD I PAY MORE? IM NOT HAPPY CUSTOMER.I DONT DRIVE AND HAVE NO ONE TO HELP GET AROUND HOW FAIR IS THAT TOO PEOPLE WHO CANT AFFORD MORE BUS FARE AND PEOPLE WITH HEALTH ISSUES SHOULD HAVE FIRST RIGHT TO SEATS IF THEY WANT MORE MONEY I'D LIKE A PASS GIVING ME THE RIGHT TO A SEAT! THANK YOU

November 17, 2009 at 12:30:16 PM
DV
Yes, taking care of students are fine. But what about adults who have families to take care of? Increase fares for adult but giving discounts to students... whats the point of this hike then? It's unreasonable to increase fares when the service sucks. Either the TTC comes freakin early or freakin late. Once you get on the TTC, the bus drivers drive slower than a bicycle. Change the name from Red Rocket to Red Snail.

November 17, 2009 at 12:31:00 PM
abi yam
TTC gets to vote?!? what's the point? we can already predict the outcome. how about let the public vote on the fare hike?

November 17, 2009 at 12:56:43 PM
tim sirianni
I think it is time to revamp the whole TTC system like they did with G.M. First eliminate all management bonuses and cut from the top with severence packages in line with Minstry of Labour guidelines.All frontline workers retain their jobs with a union negotiated pay reduction.Finaly get a group in there that can run the system by making cost efficient decisions to make ridership cheaper and more efficient.The three levels of government have also got to pay more of their share to get people (the back bone of the economy ) to work.

November 17, 2009 at 5:55:24 PM
Alex (Toronto)
I'm so happy now that they are now extending the student discount fare to include post secondary school students including college/university students, this means I will have at least 2 more years with the student fare discount.

November 17, 2009 at 5:56:19 PM
Ravinder Gill
TTC= TAKE THE CAR

November 17, 2009 at 6:17:31 PM
little pioneer
Student discount eh? That seems a little ridiculous when most students live within walking distances of their campus anyways.

Maybe an increase in price should bring an increase in service too...but that'll never happen. There is still some delay problem between high park and keele station that I swear they'll never fix and the islington bus is a nothing more than a joke.

Hey TTC, show us some consistancy with your service before showing us your consistant fare increases and maybe more Torontonians will understand.

Whats next, individual passes for subway and bus routes? Give us a break.

November 17, 2009 at 6:17:31 PM
Anti-TTC
It's a great idea. TTC wants more riders, but they also want take more from their pocket. I am a car salesperson. TTC fare hike means more people can buy a car. They might spend less than $6 per day to go to work and back home. So TTC fare hike is a good news for car business.

November 17, 2009 at 6:21:47 PM
Bryan
How about the riders get to vote on the next pay increase? I think it's only right that we riders who pay the salaries should vote on the salary. Maybe that will smarten up some of the absurd spending habits this out of control organization keeps maintaining. Service is atrocious and not reliable, and now another fare hike. Really starting to live up to the "Take The Car" motto.

November 17, 2009 at 6:27:32 PM
Jennifer
I honestly think that the seniors should have got the discount more due to being on a fixed income. ALL passes should not be transferable but have picture identification like London, Windsor, Ottawa etc.

The TTC is losing money due to the fact that the ADULT passes ARE transferrable which means that TTC is losing money.

Another point is that the TTC have fareboxes like those in other transit systems where the passenger can NOT cheat the system, AND the passengers pay the proper fare when leaving Toronto not just the TTC fare which is lower than that of the GTA.

Get rid of tickets and tokens completely, keeping the day passes as they are, but make students in High School, College and University pay a student rate (higher than a Senior/Child rate) .. Having a child/senior rate of $1.50, $2 for Students, and $3 for Adults is acceptable, but drop the price of the adult pass to compare with those in the GTA.

I think many people would agree with this suggestion. Or do like other systems .. $3 for everyone and tickets with identification with the above discounted price.

November 17, 2009 at 6:28:36 PM
Jason
Let's this be known, this will not be the last time TTC will raise the transit fare. The entire transit system is poorly managed which is very similar to the City Hall that is calling all the shots. I guess what they say is true, garbage in and garbage out. Adam and his baby face has no experience in running a glee club so how can he runs a transit system like TTC. When is TTC looking at cutting cost(ticket booth people, monthly mail that sends out the metro pass and the cost to manufacture token and monitoring for counterfeit) and leverage off what everybody have, a bank card. They should leverage off the consumer bank's card and use that as a point of sale when ever they want to get on a transit system. Swipe and go. No more ticket booth, no more token or ticket means no more concern about counterfeit. Bank card has the consumer information such as age so depending on their age, each time they swipe, TTC will charge them the price based on their age. So adults, seniors and students will be charged accordingly.

November 17, 2009 at 6:39:00 PM
Lucy
Actually, the majority of university students are struggling with debts and live well below the poverty line. At the University of Toronto alone, hundreds line up every month to get a small discount from the student association, which is granted a small number of metropasses a month to sell for slightly less. 22$ a month discount for students living on a very tight budget in an expensive city is a welcome change. People who assume university students are living on some kind of endowment in the downtown core and have tons of disposable income have obviously not been a student in a long time.

November 17, 2009 at 6:50:27 PM
tbell
Student discount - I think they are doing that to 'neutralise' the grp of people who can (and do) a lot of online protests - aka facebook boycotts etc. Keep the students happy and a lot of them will be happy with the TTC.

Reducing Services: Adam G. keeps saying he does not want to do this. I think this is because he would have to cut TTC jobs if there were lesser services and we know the Union will not allow that.

November 17, 2009 at 6:53:32 PM
Kalli
Many students don't have much disposable income. I wish I could be one of those students this Marc speaks of... And part-time jobs don't pay enough to break-even with tuition payments and other expenses, and getting a reduction in our metropass costs is a god-send to post-secondary students... What's with the animosity against students?? Direct the anger towards the top few big shots whose wallets don't experience much pay cuts, not towards those, who are much like the skeptics, who utilize and deliver (transit operators) the transit services

November 17, 2009 at 6:56:26 PM
Keith K
Maybe if the TTC commissioner had more important aspirations than being on TV, we would see some actual service.

Unfortunately, it's clear that his own agenda is far more important than his silver spoon career.

November 17, 2009 at 7:06:50 PM
SG
I guess I'll be walking everywhere and not able to take my kids out farther than a couple blocks. I'll have to remove me eldest from his school. And no more youth programs because I can't afford to go there.

It is a sad day when the majority who depend on the TTC are the ones who can least afford to have the fares go up.

How very, very sad. Bring on the HST now...off to the poor house and streets I go!

November 17, 2009 at 7:11:05 PM
Mike
Do not use public transit folks, buy cars and let these greedy bastards go out of business.

November 17, 2009 at 7:44:47 PM
Erick
Whats up with all the hate for students? We all know university/college students are the ones who suffer the most financial problems. It also doesn't help that Ontario students pay more tuition then other provinces. Come on, some of you adults complaining about a $12 fair hike are starting to sound like immature students. Lets all start acting like adults and realize that not all students work full-time jobs and get paid $15.00 an hour. I mean, some of you were once students as well. Lets stop assuming and put each other in the perspective of students.

November 17, 2009 at 8:27:13 PM
Stefan
What do you expect from a province ruled by a liberal government? Toronto is most probably the only city in a world without public transportation between the Airport and downtown, the buses, TTC and street cars are old and in very bad shape and now $3... what else to add?

November 17, 2009 at 8:33:38 PM
Lin
I don't understand, it seems that every single year TTC fares increase yet the service remains the same. WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING?! IF WE PAY MORE BUT RECEIVE LESS. It's great that the student discount has been extended to university students, that will save me a lot of money in September, but it'll be my last year of university, and soon i'm going to have to pay adult fare. It's ridiculous how much they increase fares.

November 17, 2009 at 8:36:57 PM
hugo3
why do I have feeling that I should just move out of Toronto? at least i keep my nervers on something usefull. imagine, no stupid pointless taxes, no TTC, no Miller like Mayor. I think it has more advantages to move out. Hope one day Toronto will ask people to move in back

November 17, 2009 at 8:46:17 PM
Sean
Students are still going to have to pay extra fare until next september. So students are still barely going to afford metro passes and tokens. TTC needs to learn budget. Oh yeah most students do not live within walking distance of their campus.

November 17, 2009 at 8:56:18 PM
Daniel
I'd like for some of the adults making these comments to think clearly, instead of generalizing students as alcoholic money-burners. Attendence at victoria college at UofT taking a full course load, with service fees, adds to roughly $6,300, and I don't even live in residence! I work in a grocery store where my hours have been cut to 8.5 hours a week, forcing me to look for a new job. Commuting to university every week would cost me $96 if I paid for a discounted metropass today, but since I make so little expendable money, bills to pay, I end up flip-floping between paying adult fare and using student tickets, depsite the threat of being caught. I applaud the motion to allow university students to use student fare.

November 17, 2009 at 9:07:28 PM
WhenAllThePassengersHaveGone
The TTC will continue to lose passengers and will eventually go bankrupt if it does not receive at least 70 percent of its funding from the federal government. But, since the rest of the country hates Toronto it will continue to raise its rates. Of course, paying TTC employees outrageous wages isn't helping matters.But we're not supposed to talk about that.

November 17, 2009 at 9:18:50 PM
N Braganza
An ambitious plan to rake in $45m. Due to the financial meltdown and job losses there are lower numbers using the TTC; commercial establishments have probably cut back on advertising on the TTC. Revenue generation is probably at its lowest. Have the TTC increased their advertising tariffs upwards by the same percentage (or more?) as the commuters?

November 17, 2009 at 9:19:00 PM
Tara
This is absolutely ridiculous. Our family will now be spending more money on TTC fare than we would on gas. There are thousands of people who take the TTC everyday. How much more money could they possibly need?

November 17, 2009 at 9:27:22 PM
Ned Mar
Does this mean as a university student, I'll still have to pay the increased adult fare until September?! Why can't they just implement it now, I wouldnt mind paying $10 now for whatever ID they deem necessary to prove that I'm a student instead of paying $22 extra per month for the next 9 months(~$200 in total) from Januaray

November 17, 2009 at 9:43:22 PM
Emmay
Most students do not live within walking distance of their campuses. Ryerson alone has over 30,000 undergrad students and LESS than 900 residence spaces on campus. And it's located right downtown where rent is outrageous for any student budget.

Europe's post-secondary schooling is paid for by the different country's respective governments. And you're complaining about a small percentage of the TTC ridership getting a little break.

Also, if student ID is required to buy a student metropass, then it will say if you are Full-Time, Continuing Ed, or if you're just Part-Time. I'm assuming the TTC will only be honouring Full-Time undergraduate students. This narrows down the percentage of ridership even more so.

November 17, 2009 at 9:57:45 PM
Heather
If the service was good it would be an ok increase but service is getting worse. They did not increase bus service they rerouted it. The bus by my house use to run til 3 am now it runs til 1:30am. There is one bus driver who is late most days so that she ends up getting short turned so she can get back on schedule. Last Sunday there were 2 Victoria Park buses one right behind the other. I can see this happening during rush hour during the week but on a Sunday when the buses are every 15 min it is rediculous. During the week there are often 4- 5 in a row! Then you wait 20 min+ for a bus. One day I waited 25 min for a Vitoria 24 bus during rush hour! then 6 came in a row!
The King Street car is constantly being diverted at Parliment or short turned at Dundas. They do not tell you this til after you are on and paid your fare and past all transferable routes. At least 2x's a week I will have to wait for 2-3 street cars before I get one going to the station.

November 17, 2009 at 10:00:46 PM
Brian
Totally not pleased with this I make min. wage and cannot afford all these fare increases for crap service. Also I am appaled that TTC users cannot bring topics to the TTC meetings which I was told in a very rude way. Also, the service has been horrible with them being allowed to stop and eat donuts and drink coffee or a cigarette. The other issue I have is Transit constables are suppose to write people up for smoking and illegally entering TTC property ie. walking in bus lanes or jumping faregates instead somebody was smoking and they went into the store at Eglinton Station and bought a donut if they are not doing their job correctly they need to be fired like the rest of us. Finally, a lot of complaints are warranted and they don't do anything about them enough is enough time to provide better service or stop these unjust fare hikes

November 17, 2009 at 10:03:49 PM
Dennis
Well,I'm glad to see that the TTC is giving a discount to the post secondary students.Better late than never.Not to worry the middle class will make up the difference like they normally do.What I find amusing is the fact that CP24 finds that this is the only news story worthy enough for comments.With all that is going on in this province,no other story is worth hearing comments from the public.There seems to be a problem when it comes to priority news.But,hey that's just my comment.

November 17, 2009 at 10:09:43 PM
Eira
I disagree with people saying how we will spend it on drinks. Are you sure EVERY SINGLE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE STUDENT DOES THAT? It is ignorant to think that and it is unfair that the rest of us trying to save money to pay for the already huge amount of tuition have to pay the full fare just because there are people like MARC out there who are too dimwitted to realize not everyone is the same!

November 17, 2009 at 10:27:08 PM
Keith K
Anyone else notice that those ridiculously overpriced 'hybrid' buses that can't even operate in freezing temperatures, no longer have advertising along the ceilings inside? How much did that cost us to lose all that revenue.

BRILLIANT!

They also screwed all the windows shut (that no one can reach anyway) so they can burn more fuel using Air Conditioning.

BRILLIANT!

The incompetence never ends.

November 17, 2009 at 10:55:41 PM
Paul
The t.t.c says with metropass users it cost on average $1.80 per ride. Plus the metropass is transferable. this is a big reason why the ttc is loosing money. In my opinion scrap the metropass all together and lower the cash fare back down to $2 dollars. Wouldn't this break even with the t.t.c. ?

November 18, 2009 at 6:28:24 AM
kay
Is TTC increasing their fares because they know that in april 2010 the employees will be up for a new contract. its been three years since the last strike. How are poor people not only seniors to survive, some of us are already having a hard time paying rent or bills, this is wickedness.

November 18, 2009 at 7:29:11 AM
Gio - watching the streetcars crawl by....
Giambrone's show is called 'On the Rocket' ? Should be titled 'More in my pocket' ....
Miller's little grinning puppet pulls another fast one on Torontonians...

November 18, 2009 at 7:49:18 AM
DON
It's still cheaper then owning a car.Insurance, gas,parking. You do the math.

November 18, 2009 at 9:06:36 AM
Alan
Time to have the province take over the TTC since they the present management have proven it can't be run privately. Didn't Metro council especially Adam Giabrone say that they didn't want to make the TTC essential service since it would cost more...Well guess what it's still costing more and we WILL have another strike soon enough. This is great with the Pan-Am games coming in a few years the TTC will prove that the world class city that Toronto claims to be has a 3rd world public transit system. It just gets more and more pathetic.