Purchasing items like permanent stamps or transit fares is an investment. Taking away peoples’ ability to spend their TTC fares with little notice and without an option for exchange is unfair: Seniors feel like their savings are being stolen.
The Consumer Protection Act bans most retail business gift cards from having an expiry date. This means a gift card can be used to its full value no matter when you decide to use it. Why are transit fares being treated differently?
The TTC CEO’s report notes that “less than one percent of riders today pay their fare with tokens, youth/senior tickets or day passes.” If the TTC knows how many people continue to pay their fare with legacy media, the TTC should be able to provide a cost estimate of exchanging tokens and tickets for single-use PRESTO tickets.
The TTC’s CEO report claims that the TTC began informing transit users of this change in October, 2024. But the only advertising that we are aware of is the following webpage, which was published online in mid-October: https://www.ttc.ca/riding-the-ttc/Updates/TTC-to-retire-tokens-tickets-and-day-passes. A Tweet was shared for the first time on October 22, 2024: https://x.com/TTChelps/status/1848784157272346713
Posting a page to the TTC’s website is a completely inadequate method to inform transit users of a change happening on December 31, 2024, especially since many affected people are seniors, particularly immigrant seniors who speak English as an additional language.
Those transit users who are more likely to be impacted by this change use TTC infrequently, speak English as an additional language, and have lower digital literacy.
We, the undersigned, urge the TTC Board to allow transit users to exchange tokens and seniors’ tickets for single-use PRESTO tickets so that low-income seniors are treated fairly.
Daniella Leacock, Toronto Drop-In Network
Kutongwa Nemoyo, Black Women Aligned
Safia Parveen, Thorncliffe Wellness Cafe group
Rev. Maria Christina Conlon, Davenport Perth Community Ministry
Nasima Akter, Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services
Viji Pal, E-Heroes
Tanika Hewitt, Syme Woolner Neighbourhood and Family Centre
Dan Grummon, Rexdale Community Health Centre, Seniors Program
Shelagh Pizey-Allen, TTCriders
Comments from TTC users and non-profit service providers:
“As the Seniors Program Coordinator, we not only use senior TTC tickets for clients 65+ but also provide tokens for those 55-64. This change will really impact our services. We have a large amount of unused tickets/tokens still in our reserves to be used for this fiscal year (ending March 2025)”
“Yes [I have tokens], was purchased to help with travel for senior parents, but no travel during pandemic for 3 years, so a lot of tokens saved up, which would have been used up of course if travelling was normal, but this is a huge shock when system to accept cash is same as token and infrastructure already there. Devaluing this option with short notice is not fair.”
“Access to PRESTO Cards: Low-income individuals may find it difficult to afford the initial cost of a PRESTO card ($6) and the minimum balance required for online loading. Barriers to Digital Payment: Some transit users may not have credit cards or access to online banking, which can make reloading PRESTO cards challenging. Loss of Flexibility: Tokens and paper tickets allow users to purchase fares in small amounts, which suits people on tight budgets who may not be able to load large amounts onto a PRESTO card at once."
“If [the TTC] has to devalue tokens then it should be with sufficient notice at least one year… Streetcar, bus, ttc station all accept token and cash, and will continue with cash anyways so makes no additional cost to system to let users use token, they already made money from all the payment for tokens they got from us.”
“Why punish low income senior citizens? I paid for all my tokens, it was not charity. I work hard and invest so I have freedom to travel in my old age. This will take away my independence, and I will stop using TTC because you throw out my thousands of dollars investment, I cannot afford to give you anymore of my money now, I feel sick about this.”
“Please give us more time, 9 weeks notice is not enough, I use my tokens but over the years my elderly parents bought and saved them, and did not use them all, we were never given a way to return or exchange for credit, since the announcement of tokens being sold, it is not fair… We were never told that tokens had an expiry date, please give us more time or a fair way to exchange, please!”