{"id":2293,"date":"2007-09-12T21:56:55","date_gmt":"2007-09-13T01:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=2293"},"modified":"2007-09-13T07:27:51","modified_gmt":"2007-09-13T11:27:51","slug":"ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nEarlier today, the Toronto Transit Commission held a special meeting to decide a course of action with regards to the recent budget directives.<\/p>\n

The 17,000 responses to the TTC’s simple survey (approved at the last special meeting in August) which was handed out and posted throughout the system showed that the ridership (at least those who bothered to respond) prefer paying more taxes than paying higher fares or service cuts to solve the TTC’s budgetary woes. Over half — 54 percent — support higher taxes, while 45 percent would accept a fare increase, and only 27 percent for service cuts.<\/p>\n

The Commission decided to do just that. A fare hike will commence November 4. While cash fares remain at $2.75, tokens and adult tickets will rise 15 cents to $2.25 each, senior\/student tickets up 10 cents to $1.50 each, and adult Metropasses will go up by a steep $9.25 to $109.00 ($100 if you opt for the annual Metropass plan). A full schedule of the new fares is available here<\/a> [PDF document]. The good news: there will be no service cuts, and hopefully, service improvements in the New Year to deal with overcrowding and to improve service standards.<\/p>\n

The TTC is banking on Council passing the deferred vehicle registration and land transfer taxes to make up the remaining gap and to allow it to implement the oft-delayed service improvements in February, including the opening of the new Mount Dennis Garage. With the opening of the new garage, buses will be re-assigned, more routes will be designated accessible for wheelchairs and more routes will get buses with bicycle racks. Eventually, all routes will be brought up to a basic standard — buses running a minimum of every 20 minutes, and on full service hours.<\/p>\n

This last part is essential; it shows that the TTC is already looking ahead to the near future and some of the optimism that was evident in the first half of 2007 (service improvements, Transit City, new streetcars, and the MoveOntario announcements) may soon return.<\/p>\n

Fare increases are very unfortunate, as they have been rising far<\/strike> faster than the rate of inflation<\/a> [PDF link] and hurt the working poor the most. The Metropass, for example, is one of the most expensive local transit passes in North America. It can be also be argued that service cuts hurt even more, particularly when buses are not running at certain times of day, or at all on certain routes. A lower fare means little if one can not even get on the bus.<\/p>\n

The TTC Commissioners made the best of a bad situation, and will soon be in a position to respond to overcrowding and poor service levels throughout the city. In the meantime, the ball is in Council’s court.<\/p>\n

As always, Steve Munro<\/a> offers more insight and analysis in two recent posts:<\/p>\n

TTC Decisions: The Sky Has Not Fallen (1)<\/a>
\nTTC Decisions: The Sky Has Not Fallen (2) <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier today, the Toronto Transit Commission held a special meeting to decide a course of action with regards to the recent budget directives. The 17,000 responses to the TTC’s simple survey (approved at the last special meeting in August) which was handed out and posted throughout the system showed that the ridership (at least thoseContinue reading “TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[1349,6727,6728,1278,1154,416,1187,1577,391],"class_list":["post-2293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-transit","tag-cent","tag-councils-court","tag-mount-dennis-garage","tag-new-years-day","tag-north-america","tag-pdf","tag-steve-munro","tag-toronto-transit-commission","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier today, the Toronto Transit Commission held a special meeting to decide a course of action with regards to the recent budget directives. The 17,000 responses to the TTC’s simple survey (approved at the last special meeting in August) which was handed out and posted throughout the system showed that the ridership (at least thoseContinue reading "TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-09-13T01:56:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2007-09-13T11:27:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sean Marshall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sean Marshall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/\",\"name\":\"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-09-13T01:56:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-09-13T11:27:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e\",\"name\":\"Sean Marshall\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sean Marshall\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/wire\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/sean\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Earlier today, the Toronto Transit Commission held a special meeting to decide a course of action with regards to the recent budget directives. The 17,000 responses to the TTC’s simple survey (approved at the last special meeting in August) which was handed out and posted throughout the system showed that the ridership (at least thoseContinue reading \"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2007-09-13T01:56:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2007-09-13T11:27:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Sean Marshall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sean Marshall","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/","name":"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg","datePublished":"2007-09-13T01:56:55+00:00","dateModified":"2007-09-13T11:27:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/images\/subway-0048.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2007\/09\/12\/ttc-decisions-higher-fares-no-cuts\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TTC decisions: higher fares, no cuts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/e30d299fd82dc8b9f811e5e7b3ec154e","name":"Sean Marshall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/44df24893f717b2112f5dd4ec16e001f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Sean Marshall"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\/wire"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/sean\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}