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news

Fare Freeze? Yes Please.

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20081210ttcfaresfrozen.jpgAdam Giambrone’s Facebook status—a surprisingly good source for transit news—just changed, which makes it just about official: the TTC will not be raising fares in 2009, period. Mayor Miller, who pushed for the move because of the “growing economic crisis,” said today that in 2009 “many [TTC riders] will be people looking for work.” Why, that’s not disheartening at all!

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Comments

  • Vincent Clement

    Yes, because what a cash-strapped transit system needs is even less cash. Topping you continue to surprise me.

  • Mark Ostler

    Are we supposed to expect fare hikes every year? Is that why this is an important announcement?

  • David Topping

    @Vincent: a fare freeze doesn’t mean “less cash”—as Giambrone said in the CityNews article linked above, lowering gas prices have lowered the TTC’s budget. “It may mean that we’re not able to increase new services … but what is very clear is that there will be no cuts to service.” The budget approved yesterday allocates almost $800 million to transit. And both Giambrone and Miller want the federal government to pump more money into the TTC to take some of the burden for supporting it off of the riders.

  • Greg Smith

    @Mark Ostler: Barring deflation, a nominal annual fare increase is required to keep its value constant in real dollars. When fares are frozen, their value decreases slightly over time. At 2% annual inflation, just to pick a number out of the air, we might expect a $2.75 fare to rise by 5 or 6 cents just to stay “the same”.

  • Mark Ostler

    @Greg:
    But over the life of the TTC there haven’t always been annual increases to cover inflation. I wasn’t commenting on the actual dollars and cents so much as I was speaking to the message coming from Miller that he’s doing such a great thing by freezing increases for one year.

  • Greg Smith

    @ Mark: Do you not expect the goods and services you consume to rise each year? Why should the TTC be any different? A freeze, here, represents a conscious decision by the City to allow fare revenue per ride to decline slightly over the next year. This decision was made in the face of predictable criticism from proponents of increased user fees for public services so that only those who use a service pay for it as opposed to everyone in a jurisdiction (via taxes). I imagine that Vincent may feel this way, based on the general “tax is theft!” attitude evinced in his comments on other threads, but I could be wrong (in which case I welcome his correction).
    So no, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the Mayor to tout this as “a great thing” for which he is responsible. Fares ought to have increased slightly (either this year or combined with other years’ increases at some later date), but they did not.

  • Greg Smith

    Err, that should have been “…the COST of goods and services you consume to rise…”

  • Mark Ostler

    @Greg:
    I understand that the cost of everything rises consistently. But I don’t think it’s a monumental announcement. Fares won’t go up next year, but they will most certainly go up sometime in 2010 to make up for it, which is business as usual. There aren’t increases every single year. Sometimes there are gaps and larger increases at a later date. There was no increase this year, but there was in late 2007.

  • Gauldar

    @Mark:
    Although I agree with your opinion on TTC fares, David is running this blog so he can post whatever the heck he wants. Should he post a photograph of a tree trunk that somewhat resembled Goatse, it’s his right to. It doesn’t have to be newsworthy; it’s just his opinion of something he feels others might like to know.

  • Vincent Clement

    @David: What a silly game your a playing. How many capital projects have been deferred or reduced at the TTC? The TTC needs money. An increase in fares and a decrease in expenses (ie lower fuel prices) means even more money. That money could be used to expand service, accelerate/expand capital projects, or both.
    But why get the users pay, when you can run to a senior level of government to subsidize this and that?
    @Greg: I think my statement above confirms your statement about me. Someone has to be the voice of reason here ;)

  • rocketeer

    @Vincent:
    I hardly think a fare increase (say $0.25) will make a big difference for the amount of damage it does. Given the number of people who buy metropasses, bulk tokens or those who’ll just stop using the TTC when a round-trip costs $6/person the TTC can expect to make maybe a few tens of million (I’m sure they have the numbers) at the cost of yet another hit to their reputation/customer resentment.
    Besides, with lower fuel prices and a faltering economy (fingers crossed for some deflation) it seems unnecessary to STILL hike fares.
    Finally, I fail to see why it’s so ridiculous that the public government should fund public transportation. Why don’t they just let people buy cars and end up paying millions in road widenings and maintenance anyway?

  • DavidC

    Much as I like the idea of a TTC fare freeze I worry that the City will not increase their subsidy and as each rider costs the TTC $$ the result will be poorer service, more breakdowns and less maintenance. We will know when the City unveils the Operating Budget in February/March.

  • spacejack

    I just wish they’d fix the Dufferin bus bunching problem (i.e. a clump of 8 buses cruising the route all together while everyone waits 45 minutes.)
    I’ll go 30 minutes out of my way to avoid that route.