(Toronto, ON) – Advocacy group TTCriders says that a transit discount expansion announced today by the City of Toronto will not benefit everyone under the poverty line and represents a small fraction of the Fair Pass program approved in December 2016 as part of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.
“Tiny” TTC discount expansion won’t cover everyone under the poverty line
(Toronto, ON) – Advocacy group TTCriders says that a transit discount expansion announced today by the City of Toronto will not benefit everyone under the poverty line and represents a small fraction of the Fair Pass program approved in December 2016 as part of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. TTCriders released the following statement:
“Toronto residents who earn minimum wage or less should already be receiving a low-income TTC discount. Former Mayor John Tory approved the Fair Pass TTC discount in 2016, but never fully funded it.
“Today’s small expansion will not cover everyone under the poverty line, and the discounted rate of $2.10 for single fares and $123.25 for monthly passes is still unaffordable. City staff have estimated that only 8,000 to 12,000 new people will access the expanded discount in 2023. 200,000 more Toronto residents would be eligible if the final phase was implemented.
“Instead of fully funding the Fair Pass program years ago, former Mayor Tory paid for today’s discount expansion through the 2023 TTC operating budget, which increased the cost of youth and adult single fares.
“Increasing costs for some low-income transit users to fund a tiny discount expansion for others is wrong and unfair. People who rely on transit the most and now pay higher fares are mostly shift workers, women, and low-income and racialized riders.
“Toronto has a plan to make transit fares free to meet climate goals. It’s time for Toronto City Council to start taking steps to expand free transit, starting with people who need it the most and on extreme weather alert days.”
Link to City of Toronto Fair Pass website: https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/employment-social-support/support-for-people-in-financial-need/assistance-through-ontario-works/transit-discount/
Quick facts about the Fair Pass program:
- The Fair Pass program discounts single fares to $2.10 and monthly passes to $123.25 for adults aged 20-64 who receive Ontario Works (OW), Emergency Assistance, Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), or Toronto Children’s Services Child Care Fee Subsidy.
- The Fair Pass is being extended to households making 75% or less of the Low-Income Measure (ie. an approximate annual net after-tax income of less than $20,514/single person household).
- The final phase of the Fair Pass, which was approved by City Council in 2016, is meant to expand the discount to all low-income residents with a family income below the Low-Income Measure plus 15% (ie. an approximate annual net after-tax income of less than $30,555/single person household, according to 2020 LIM figures).
- A 2023 Social Development, Finance and Administration briefing note estimates that only 8,000 to 12,000 households will access the expanded Fair Pass discount in 2023. 200,000 more Toronto residents would be eligible if the final phase was implemented.
- To date, the Fair Pass TTC discount program has been funded by the City of Toronto through the Social Development, Finance, and Administration department, not by rider fares through the TTC budget.
- Low income residents depend on transit the most. 65% of Fair Pass users continued to ride the TTC in 2020, compared to 35% of overall riders, according to the Poverty Reduction Strategy mid-term strategy report.
- Updated cost estimates of expanding the Fair Pass to all low-income residents including low-wage workers have not been released since 2021, but earlier estimates were between $20 million to $30 million per year.
- The Fair Pass was first approved in 2016. City Council voted in February 2022 to "proceed with the implementation of the next phase of the Fair Pass program as quickly as possible" but did not include funding in the 2023 City Budget.
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