Toronto’s transit agency plans to freeze fares and increase service this year, looking for higher funding from city hall to keep the struggling service afloat.
The TTC’s budget includes $3 billion in operating spending and $1.5 billion in revenue, meaning the City of Toronto will have to cough up roughly $1.5 billion to plug the gap left to keep trains and buses running.
The ask is a 6.5 per cent increase on the amount the TTC asked for last year.
The agency’s annual blueprint will see the station cleaning pilot extended across more parts of the subway and a new approach to reduce bus bunching rolled out to the city’s 10 most problematic routes.
Station wayfinding will be updated, including at exits.
Over the next year, the TTC also wants to spend $1.6 billion on its capital budget, with more than $16 billion earmarked over the next decade. Two-thirds of the capital budget is being dedicated to state-of-good-repair.
“This isn’t flashy work, but this is the work that continuously reduces slow zones and increases service reliability,” TTC Chair Jamaal Myers said on Wednesday.
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Fares will remain frozen for the third consecutive year, while a new cap will be introduced next September. Partway through 2026, the TTC will stop charging fares on cards used 47 times in a month.
Advocacy group TTCriders welcomed the budget plan.
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“These are real, tangible wins for transit riders,” said Andrew Pulsifer, executive director of TTCriders. “A fare freeze and fare capping mean riders will save money, have more predictable costs, and won’t be punished for needing to take transit frequently.”
The budget was approved by the TTC board on Wednesday, but will still need to be greenlit by city councillors during broader financial planning this month.
It comes after Toronto’s transit agency wrapped up a tough year.
Instead of increasing this year, ridership on the TTC has fallen well short of its budget expectations, even dropping below the numbers for 2024.
A recent report from the TTC’s CEO found that, as of October, rides were six per cent lower than the budget had predicted and 2.4 per cent lower than the year before. They stood at 78 per cent of pre-pandemic figures.
That update included a slew of poor performance measures for the system. While subways were 91 per cent on time, streetcars performed at just 61 per cent on time and buses at 74 per cent.
Boardings were down six per cent for buses, up four per cent for subways and steady for streetcars.
Customer satisfaction sat at 66 per cent overall, a five per cent drop on the year before. It dropped 10 per cent for streetcars in 2025 compared with 2024.
To maintain its service levels as ridership stutters, the TTC will withdraw $35 million from its rainy day fund to “help offset reduced passenger revenues and maintain fare affordability.”
The launch of the Finch West LRT in early December was also beset by problems and complaints about its speed.
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