There may be some new changes to Toronto’s transit system in the coming months. Earlier this week, John Tory put forward his budget proposal to City Council which featured expansions to transit service.
Last Monday, Tory and TTC Chair Josh Colle announced a $95 million investment that will aim to improve all areas of transport services. Some of the aims of the proposed investment include reducing wait times and crowding, as well as eliminating fare costs for children 12 and under.
However, there will be a fare increase of ten cents for riders. But this will not affect cash only fares such as the $3 dollar fare for adults. The price of metro passes will also increase to $141.50 per pass.
“The bottom line is our transit system is in crisis,” says Councillor James Pasternak, “It’s hard to expand our transit lines and people are now getting frustrated with the congested traffic so the only solution is to improve our public transport.”
The pay increase comes after the provincial government announced an $86 million funding withdrawal to the city.
According to the TTC’s website, the fare increase will see the city take in an additional $43 million in revenue. It will also allow for several new features for transit riders some of which will include adding more trains during rush hours, and the use of 50 new buses around the city.
Milly Bernal, a spokesperson for the TTC, said that with the release of its new 2015 Customer Charter, the TTC will hope to install several new features for riders such as: providing Wi-Fi on its buses, bike repair stations at subway stops, and generally improving service for all transit users.
“People are going to get value for their money,” says Pasternak, “We’re going to see a lot of new routes opening up and it’s going to help the city get moving again.”
All these proposals and indeed the rest of Mayor Tory’s budget is still subject to approval by City Council and will be reviewed and revised in the coming weeks.
