Re: Additional context about free transit for middle and high school students
Dear TTC Board members,
TTCriders is a membership-based transit advocacy organization. We are writing to share additional context about Agenda Item 6: A Step Towards Free Transit for Middle and High School Students.
The TDSB supports free transit for high school students
In 2021, the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) Program and School Services Committee passed a motion expressing support for an expansion of free transit to high school students. The motion notes that “students and teachers have reported a reduction in low-income students’ enrolment in specialized programs, after financial constraints resulted in the end of a TDSB program to provide free TTC tickets to Grade 9-12 students taking French Immersion, Extended French, and Gifted programs in 2019 and to elementary Grade 6-8 students taking Gifted and French Immersion programs in 2020.” High school students have shared that free TTC tickets enabled them to attend enriched programs that were not within walking distance.
Free transit for youth could generate new ridership revenue in future
The staff report states that “should any of the free fare scenarios be implemented, the TTC would not realize any revenue from new TTC youth rides.” Yet this does not account for the future ridership revenue that could be generated. A program in Kingston, Ontario to provide free transit passes to high school students, along with an on-bus orientation session to teach students how to ride the bus, has increased overall transit ridership by 73% since 2012. Using transit at a younger age can encourage life-long use of transit, influencing behavioural change for a more sustainable future. According to the calculations in Table 3, free transit for all middle and high school students at all times of day would generate 17 million new rides every year while requiring a significantly lower subsidy per new ride compared to free transit during field trips (a subsidy of $6.74 per new ride generated by free transit at all times of day, compared to $23.80 per new ride generated by free field trips).** Any step towards fare-free transit for more youth would be positive, but free transit at all times for all middle and high school students would have the largest impacts on equity, meeting our climate goals, and growing TTC ridership.
In meetings with youth, TTCriders has heard from youth that everyday trips to school, after-school programming, community centres, part-time jobs, or household errands represent most of their travel. Youth have shared that the cost of TTC fares creates barriers to accessing education, opportunities and other aspects of city life on a daily basis.
Do the TTC’s calculations account for continued field trip funding from TDSB/TCDSB?
It is not clear to what extent the TDSB or TCDSB were engaged in preparing the TTC staff report, or whether continued school board funding for field trips provided by the TTC was explored. Because Toronto school boards “do not keep a central database that tracks student field trips to provide any consolidated information,” the TTC report explains that annual bulk sales of youth PRESTO tickets were used as an approximation: “There are 1.7 million youth PRESTO tickets sold per annum. Of this, approximately 1.5 million youth PRESTO tickets are given to students for home-to-school travel. It is assumed that the remaining 0.2 million youth PRESTO tickets are used for field trips.”
This assumption is the basis for estimating existing annual field trip rides at 200,000 trips per year and an annual revenue loss of $470,000 for the TTC, if it were to provide free field trips. Yet the report does not consider whether Toronto school boards would be open to providing this funding for field trips to support a universal policy. The report does note however that Kingston’s program receives funding support from local school boards.
Before dismissing the idea of universal free transit for youth, we urge you to consider additional context and to seek out expertise from Toronto school boards, educators, and students, as well as municipalities that have implemented similar programs.
Sincerely,
TTCriders
** From Table 3 of Item 6 Report: Subsidy per rider = (Foregone Revenue + Incremental Operating Cost) / New TTC trips per annum. For free transit during field trips (Scenario 1), using the TTC’s high estimate: ($470,000 + $1,910,000) / 100,000 new trips = $23.80 per new ride. For free trips at all times for all middle/high school students (Scenario 3): ($71,060,000 + $43,470,000) / 17,000,000 new trips = $6.74 per new trip. $23.8 / $6.74 = 3.5 times more costly per trip for Scenario 1.