The Ontario government says it is eyeing a raft of transit changes that could include harmonized fare prices across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and improved services across municipal boundaries.
The changes are included as part of the wide-ranging Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, new legislation introduced at Queen’s Park on Monday.
The One Fare system was introduced back in 2024 to allow people to transfer between different municipal transit agencies within the GTHA without having to pay twice. According to the province, the program has saved Ontarians over $230 million so far.
Provincial officials said Monday the new legislation will advance a new vision, dubbed One Fare 2.0.
The updated program would require transit agencies across the GTHA to adopt a single unified fare structure.
“This would allow us to work with municipal and regional transit agencies towards a more unified fare structure, including common fares discounts and free transfers across the network in order to make transit faster, easier, more affordable for people across the GTHA,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said at a news conference.
Officials say there have been early discussions about what that might look like, including the possibility of a zoned system where riders might pay according to how far they travel as opposed to a single flat fare.
There have also been early preliminary discussions with Toronto and other municipalities about what harmonizing fares might look like.
At the moment, Toronto relies heavily on TTC fares to fund the transit system, with any changes to pricing having a noticeable impact on the city’s budget.
Sarkaria said that the province will be consulting with municipalities “every step of the way” on the changes.
“The principle and the concept of it is to drive more ridership, is to drive more individuals onto our transit systems, and as well, at the same time, bring forth a seamless transit system that works together collaboratively with all of our regional transit agencies,” he said.
“They will be a part of this every step of the way, and we will work with them on every one of the challenges that they outlined, from fares to timing to services to levels of service across the entire network, that would be our plan.”
Officials have said there has been a promise to the city to have deepened and regular engagement on the matter as soon as the legislation is introduced.
The province will also be cracking down on the roughly five per cent of riders who skip out on fares while using GO Transit, a problem that costs the province around $21 million a year.
The penalty for a first-time offence is set to jump from $35 to $200, Increasing to as much as $500 for a fourth offence. The maximum penalty at the moment is $200.
Other proposed transit changes include the harmonization of GO station designs, a New rideshare regulatory framework for communities along the corridor of the Northlander, and a previously announced plan to allow all users to use HOV lanes at certain times on provincial highways.
When it comes to housing, the province is also eyeing a whole raft of changes, including standardization of municipal plans, making it easier to issue minister’s zoning orders (MZOs) for minor or time-sensitive issues without consultation, eliminating the ability of municipalities to implement mandatory green standards above the building code, and establishing minimum lot sizes of around 1,884 square feet in urban serviced areas outside the Greenbelt.
The province also wants to look at making it mandatory to include a breakdown of development charges on agreements of purchase and sale for homes so that buyers can see the added costs.
