Evidence-based and human rights approaches to fare loss

Evidence-based approaches

1. Streetcar Attendants: Pilot adding customer service staff at the back of TTC streetcars

• Based on data presented on February 22, 2024 about the positive impact of 130 new frontline staff in subway stations, customer service staff on streetcars are likely to have a positive impact on riders’ perception of safety.
• This staff person could collect qualitative data from riders about why they cannot pay.
• Examples of this model include the Edinburgh Tram, which has a non-enforcement Ticketing Service Assistant on every vehicle, and Vancouver’s SkyTrain attendants.
• This staff role will create a more welcoming experience and remind people to tap.

2. Expand frontline customer service staff in subway stations

• TTC staff have reported that the presence of 130 Customer Service Agents hired in Fall 2023 “assists in deterring fare evasion.”
• TTC staff have reported that the presence of 20 new Station Supervisors “reducing response times to subway emergencies and act as a deterrent to fare evasion.”

3. TTC data demonstrates that “Taps Over Tickets” is effective for revenue recovery

• According to TTC data, 50% of riders pay when asked to.
• TTC staff could incorporate surveys into their interactions with riders to understand why they did not initially tap or pay.

Information and service gaps

1. Has the TTC’s methodology to estimate fare loss been verified by a 3rd party?

• The estimated rate of non-payment on streetcars is highest, but riders who transfer from the subway, bus, or another streetcar may have already paid on a different mode.
  Streetcar overcrowding may also result in difficulty tapping.
• The 2023 fare evasion study estimates 94% child PRESTO card fraud based on appearance. This observation was made on the basis of whether or not a rider looked like they were 12 and under, so children who look older may be wrongly identified.

2. What evidence does the TTC have that an enforcement approach will result in revenue
recovery?

• When the TTC decided to resume ticketing in February 2023, staff estimated that this policy change would result in $5.7 million net revenue. What evidence has the TTC provided that this approach resulted in recovered revenue?
• The Seattle-area King County Auditor’s Office reported in 2018 that its transit system was not able to determine if fare enforcement was effective. In addition to spending on fare enforcement staff, the County spends $300,000 in annual court costs to process evasion fines, the vast majority of which go unpaid7
• The TTC has not reported out the following information:
  • How does the TTC estimate net revenue recovered from fare enforcement?
  • What percentage of TTC fines are paid?
  • How much does the City of Toronto spend on judicial processing of TTC fines?
  • How much does TTC spend in total on fare inspection and enforcement staff?
  • How much revenue has been collected using the “Taps Over Tickets” approach?
  • Does the TTC have data available about fare non-compliance on different
    routes or stations, and does this overlap with NIAs and low-income areas?

3. TTC staff have reported numerous times that there are gaps in the PRESTO resale
network in Scarborough and Northwest Toronto

• The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) wrote to the TTC and Metrolinx in April 2021 outlining their concerns that the use of the PRESTO electronic fare payment
  system “may present barriers to accessing Toronto’s public transit for some Human Rights Code-protected groups.”
• The OHRC noted that the PRESTO resale network at Shoppers Drug Marts does not provide “sufficient access to physical locations for purchasing PRESTO fares, with the most significant gaps occurring in areas where more residents are racialized or experience poverty, such as North-west Toronto and Scarborough. Physical fare sale locations are also particularly important for people who do not have access to credit cards or the internet and need to buy fares with cash. As well, needing to travel
  further distances to buy fares may present challenges for people with disabilities.”

4. Understanding why different groups of riders do not pay

• In a survey of transit riders in 10 cities, Monash University researchers found that “up to 40% of city residents evade the fare at least once a year – but most do so in “one
  off” incidents due to payment issues like no available ticket machine, a broken farecard, or someone choosing to run for the train without reloading their fare.” In some cities, between 20-40% of residents admit to not paying fares at some point.
• The TTC should investigate why various groups of riders do not or cannot pay.
• Solutions will vary based on different causes of fare non-payment, such as poverty, gaps in the PRESTO network, lack of staff, or feeling entitled to free rides because of
  late or unreliable service and feeling disrespected by the TTC.
• Partially-paid cash fares could indicate that riders are paying what they can.

Harms of fare enforcement

1. Impact on credit score and lost wages

• TTC fines range from $235 to $425.
• When a transit rider cannot afford to pay an expensive fine, their ticket goes to collections, which impacts their credit score.
• Credit scores affect peoples’ ability to secure rental housing and lines of credit.
• Hearings happen during weekdays, so people lose a day’s wages to contest a ticket.

2. Fueling mistrust and negative feelings about the TTC

• In an online survey of over 200 transit riders conducted by TTCriders in 2020, transit riders reported the following reasons for receiving a fine: broken PRESTO machines or readers, PRESTO card had not reloaded fast enough, inability to reload or purchase PRESTO in person, losing a transfer, and inability to pay due to poverty.
• Receiving a $235-$425 ticket for an error is unfair and will fuel negative feelings.
• In May 2023, Toronto City Council directed the City Manager to request the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission to consider taking immediate steps to reduce the ticket for non-payment of fares to a rate more in line with other City fines related to transportation.

3. Deportation and Toronto’s “Access Without Fear” policies

• In 2013, Toronto City Council reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring access to services without fear to immigrants without full status or without full status documents.

• The TTC’s “Transit Enforcement Department Policy 08-14 - Immigration Act Violations” published in December 2014 contradicts “CD29.11 - Access to City Services for
  Undocumented Torontonians.”

• Experts and immigration consultants report that racially-motivated profiling by fare enforcement staff has resulted in involvement from Canada Border Services Agency
  and deportation of Toronto residents without full status or full status documents (TTCriders has interviewed immigration consultants whose clients have been deported due to racially-motivated interactions with fare enforcement staff).

4. Discrimination against Black and Indigenous people

• Black and Indigenous people are grossly overrepresented in TTC enforcement activities, especially Black and Indigenous men.
• This overrepresentation remains strong across TTC locations, benchmarking techniques and enforcement activities.

Concerns about potential approaches

1. Force is not an acceptable response to losing $3.30

• Force is not acceptable when someone does not return a library book. Force is not acceptable when someone does not pay a parking ticket.

2. Using TTC fines as a source of revenue will result in profiling and discrimination

• Metrolinx implemented fine quotas in Fall 2023, asking officers to inspect 100,000 passengers and issue 5,000 fines in September 2023, and inspect 120,000 passengers
  and issue 6,000 fines in October 2023.

3. Phasing out cash discriminates against low-income residents

• The Ontario Human Rights Commission has written to the TTC and Metrolinx about the gaps in the PRESTO resale network, “with the most significant gaps occurring in areas where more residents are racialized or experience poverty, such as North-west Toronto and Scarborough.”

• Phasing out cash fares presents a barrier to using the TTC for users who do not have a PRESTO card or a mobile phone or bank card. This will disproportionately impact
  lower-income people and children, especially in racialized suburbs

Putting TTC fare loss in context

Estimated fare loss rates in other cities

The TTC is also losing a significant amount of revenue to ride-hailing platforms, losing an estimated $74 million in 2019 to ride-hailing platforms.

Approaches from other transit systems