The TTC board has approved increases for several fares, including tokens and Metropasses, in an effort to address the transit agency’s $61 million shortfall in its 2017 budget.
The following prices are effective as of Jan. 1, 2017:
Adult fares
Cash – $3.25 (no change)
Token – $3 (up from $2.90)
PRESTO (single ride) – $3 (up from $2.90)
Monthly Metropass – $146.25 (up from $141.50)
Post-secondary Metropass – $116.75 (up from $112)
Weekly pass – $43.75 (up from $42.25)
Senior and student fares
Cash – $2.10 (up from $2)
Ticket – $2.05 (up from $1.95)
PRESTO (single ride) – $2.05 (up from $1.95)
Monthly Metropass – $116.75 (up from $112)
Weekly pass – $34.75 (up from $33)
Children 12 years of age and under would continue to ride for free. Day and family passes would increase 50 cents to $12.50.
WATCH: TTC fares set to rise again (Nov. 17)
Coun. Joe Mihevc, who sits on the TTC board, said before Monday’s meeting that fare increases have exceeded the rate of inflation and he wants to see more money from the province, or from the city, to help mitigate funding shortfalls.
“We need to, at some point say, ‘Stop the fare increases. Find another funding source for that deficit,’” he said, while noting TTC ridership hasn’t increased over the past year.
TTC CEO Andy Byford spoke with reporters before the meeting and said the TTC receives a lower funding subsidy compared to other North American transit agencies.
READ MORE: TTC fares set to rise for 6th year in a row amid budget shortfall, declining ridership
“We’re scraping the barrel. We’ve looked very carefully at containing our costs. We’ve cut out just about every aspect of discretionary spending before we even made a recommendation for a fare increase,” he said.
“It’s not something that we did lightly, but we only get two sources of revenue – subsidy and fares.”
Butterfly Gopaul, a representative for the group Jane Finch Action Against Poverty, said the increases would be difficult for her neighbourhood.
“The fare increase is ridiculous. We’re talking about a neighbourhood that’s already marginalized (and) the cost of food is high,” Gopaul said.
“This is a devastation to all our community members and the sad thing is a lot of residents don’t know that this is happening.”
Peter Kim contributed to this report