Keep the GO-TTC discount!

 

 

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TAKE ACTION: 

Use the form above to send a message to your MPP in one click. 

Join the February 27th day of action or use the tools below to take action! Please contact [email protected] if you want to get your organization or community involved in this issue. 

Call your MPP.

Find your MPP's phone number here, and ask them to keep funding the GO-TTC discount. A phone call only takes two minutes, but makes a big difference. It shows your MPP that your community cares a lot about the issue. 

Poster & flyers.

Help inform other riders about the change to GO-TTC co-fares. Download the poster and flyers (colour flyers or black & white flyers). If you put up a poster at your GO station, tag us (@ttcriders) or email it to us ([email protected]) so we can post on social media! 

Petition.

Download the paper petition (PDF file) so you can collect signatures in your community. Please connect with [email protected] to send us completed petition sheets! We will be submitting petitions to the Ontario Legislature before March 25, 2020.

Donate.

Chip in $5 here to support this campaign! Your donation will support printing flyers and more online tools.

Template Letter.

Download our Template Letter so your organization can easily send a letter to your MPP about this issue. 

Background info. 

Personalize your letter by adding your story or some of this background information.

The Province needs to pay its fair share

The TTC is the least-subsidized major transit system in North America. Facing $1.1 billion in provincial funding cuts over the next ten years, the TTC cannot take over from the province to subsidize the co-fare for GO-TTC trips. The provincial government used to contribute 50% of the TTC’s operating subsidy. The Province needs to reverse the GO-TTC cuts, and should go further by funding 50% of transit operating subsidies across Ontario.

York University double-whammy

In January 2019, GO Buses stopped coming to the York University Keele Campus and now terminate at the 407 Station. York staff and students now have longer commutes and a double fare. The GO-TTC co-fare is an important discount for these transit riders that must continue. Read more at yuride.ca

About the co-fare discount 

The discount double fare was introduced in January 2018. It provides a $1.50 discount to riders transferring between GO and TTC who use Presto cards. The subsidy program costs the provincial government $22.4-million a year. Between 2017 and 2018, GO-TTC transfers increased by 27%.

Fair fare integration

The province should continue funding the TTC-GO co-fare, and go even further. If the province contributed more funding, transit users in Toronto could ride GO, TTC, and the Union Pearson Express for one single fare. 

A good first step towards fare integration would be provincial funding of 2-hour fares between the TTC and 905 transit agencies. Other transit agencies in the GTA already honour 2-hour fare transfers between transit agencies.  

$1.1 billion in TTC cuts over the next 10 years

In April 2019, the province rolled back its promise to double transit funding to more than 100 municipalities across Ontario. The TTC would have seen an additional $1.1 over a ten-year period.

The TTC had already allocated $525 million of the promised funding towards important system maintenance. The TTC needs $21 billion over the next 15 years to complete maintenance work and to purchase enough buses and streetcars to keep up current service levels. 

Sources:

https://urbantoronto.ca/news/2019/07/ontario-government-halting-subsidized-transit-co-fares

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/government-stop-funding-subsidy-discounted-toronto-transit-fares-1.5205707

https://seanmarshall.ca/2019/07/12/disappearing-go-ttc-fare-discount-a-major-blow-to-regional-transit-in-toronto/

http://www.ttcriders.ca/provincial-funding-cuts-jeopardize-ttc-accessibility/

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/05/31/nearly-a-third-of-ttc-bus-and-streetcar-routes-experience-overcrowding-report-says.html

Latest posts

How are your Don Valley West candidates promising to improve public transit?

We’ve asked candidates whether they’ll invest in more TTC service, protect door-to-door Wheel-Trans service, expand TTC’s low-income discount, approve fare capping and more. View candidates’ detailed answers to our survey, information about their transit platforms, and more.

Letter & Survey: TTC must exchange expired tokens and tickets

Do you still have TTC tokens or paper senior/student tickets or day passes? The TTC has announced that they will stop accepting TTC tokens and paper tickets after December 31, 2024. But the TTC will not be issuing exchanges. This is unfair to people who have saved up tokens and tickets, especially low-income seniors. Gift cards and permanent stamps never expire --  why are transit fares any different?

“Rally to Fix the TTC” calls for investment in repairing subway slow zones during National Transit Week

(Toronto, ON) – Transit advocacy organization TTCriders will hold a rally today at 5:00pm outside Bathurst Subway Station to call on federal Members of Parliament to invest in TTC repairs and new subway trains on Line 2 by accelerating implementation of the Canada Public Transit Fund. The rally is part of a national “Transit Action Week” being organized in 5 Canadian cities. (Cantonese, Mandarin, French spokespeople available.)

Take action

Add your name for Fare Capping!
Tell Your MP: Sign the Transit Pledge
Bus lanes now
Protect Wheel-Trans Service
Keep and Expand Free TTC Wi-Fi!

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