Toronto is making the TTC more affordable for 50,000 more low-income residents, but a local transit advocacy group says that’s just not enough.
On Thursday, the city announced that residents who are between 20 and 64 years old and living in “deep poverty” qualify for the TTC’s Fair Pass Transit Discount Program. This latest expansion also includes those on the waitlist for subsidized housing and child care.
Any Toronto resident who is a single individual with an after-tax income below $20,514 or a family of four with an income below $41,028 is eligible.
Prior to today, only those on OW and ODSP, along with those receiving the Toronto Children’s Services’ child care fee and the rent-geared-to-income subsidies, were eligible for this benefit.
The final phase of the program, which has yet to be implemented, will evenually be offered to all low-income residents with a family income below the Low-Income Measure threshold plus 15 per cent.
Transit advocacy group TTCriders, however, said despite this latest news, many under the poverty line continue to be shut out. They said today's expansion only applies to a "small fraction” of those who are eligible for it.
“Toronto residents who earn minimum wage or less should already be receiving a low-income TTC discount,” TTCriders said in a statement, pointing to an estimate by city staff in a report that only 8,000 to 12,000 new people would access the expanded discount this year.
“200,000 more Toronto residents would be eligible if the final phase was implemented.”
Toronto’s discount TTC pass program, which was launched in 2018 and is now in its third phase, offers participants a year-long rebate on all TTC travel, including Wheel-Trans.
Participants receive a 36 per cent discount on single adult fares, which cost $2.10, and a 21 per cent discount on monthly passes, which cost $123.25. A regular adult single fare for an adult is $3.35, while a 12-month month pass is $143 a month for adults.
TTCriders said this rebate is “still unaffordable.”
August Pantitlán Puranauth of TTCriders said the TTC’s fare discount program “does not go far enough,” adding the group would ideally like to see more work done to offer free transit to those in the city who need it the most.
“We are in a cost-of-living crisis and transit is a big part of the pie for people,” Puranauth said, adding the cost of the TTC’s discounted monthly pass is actually what regular transit users in other cities pay.
“That is not affordable for many people. Not a lot of people have $123 to spend every month on transit,” they said.
“That is the affordable pass. In other cities, that's just the regular transit pass so evidence is this is just not and we need to expect more from the city.”
Denise Andrea Campbell, the City of Toronto’s executive director for social development, finance and administration, told CP24 on Thursday that this program is one of many ways that the City of Toronto assists low-income residents.
“I think that given the compounded issues of affordability right now for many Torontonians, this is one step that will help make people's transit needs more affordable,” she said.
“But it's a difficult time and I think many people are struggling and all of these opportunities I think certainly helps Torontonians with their core needs.”
First approved by City Council in 2016, the Fair Pass Transit Discount Program is a “cornerstone initiative” of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, the city said in a release.
Up until this year, the program, which costs roughly $25 million to operate annually, was funded by the city through the Social Development, Finance, and Administration department, however funds for its latest expansion were not included in the 2023 city budget. Money from the TTC’s 2023 operating budget is now being directed to pay for this benefit.
TTCriders noted that shortfalls in the TTC budget have resulted in an increase in the cost of youth and adult single fares.
“Increasing costs for some low-income transit users to fund a tiny discount expansion for others is wrong and unfair. People who rely on transit the most and now pay higher fares are mostly shift workers, women, and low-income and racialized riders,” the group said.
“Toronto has a plan to make transit fares free to meet climate goals. It’s time for Toronto City Council to start taking steps to expand free transit, starting with people who need it the most and on extreme weather alert days.”
