TTC Commission says no to moving quickly forward with $1 seniors fares

On Wednesday April 29, TTCriders, the Ontario Chinese Seniors Association, the Toronto Chinese Seniors Association, the Toronto Seniors Forum, and PTP Adult Learning and Employment Programs came out in big numbers at the last minute to support Councillor Crisanti's motion to do a quick feasibility study to assess the cost of providing seniors with $1 fares.  Thank you Councillor Cristanti.

Thank you also to the 250+ of you that stepped up in the 48 hours before the vote and sent a message to your elected official, and the 90+ of you that trekked out to City Hall on Wednesday.  You're amazing!

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The motion, however, was not supported by the TTC Commission.  Instead, the Commission voted to approve a briefing note, which means the TTC will do the research to identify the cost of the motion but no further action is required.  This amounts to a no.

The meeting was frustrating for us because it demonstrated that councillors were not yet willing to prioritize affordable fares and vote and lobby their peers to secure more funding for the TTC.   The TTC Commission consists of very experienced councillors who span the political spectrum; we believe if these councillors decided to prioritize this issue and lobby their peers they would be able to get it approved and identify new money to pay for it.   We do hope to see City Hall move on the important issue of affordable fares in the near future.

We support Crisanti's motion to offer $1 fares to seniors because many seniors struggle to make ends meet, and encouraging public transit use is good for the environment and reducing congestion.

That said, TTCriders is calling for City Hall to prioritize:

  • offering $1 fares to people earning less than $22,000.  Torontonians who live below $22,000 are below the Low Income Cut Off rate, and are very likely to be struggling to make ends meet.  If implemented, this would cover seniors in need.
  • allowing people receiving Ontario Disability and Ontario Works payments to ride the TTC for free.  This is because people living on these small payments simply cannot afford to meet their basic needs, like paying for food, medicine, and housing.
  • allowing all riders who get discount fares to travel during peak and off peak times. This is because riders often have to travel during peak hours to go work, pick up children, go to medical appointments and more.
  • not cutting service to pay for affordable fares. Instead, bring in new money so service can be improved and fares reduced.
The good news is that on Wednesday we sent a strong message that fares must be more affordable.  We will continue our call for lower fares, especially for those in need, and better service in the months to come.  The 'long time coming' study into providing discount fares for low income TTC riders will be coming back to City Hall later this year.  The TTC staff person in charge of this effort is Sarah Rix.   Call 311 to reach her.

[caption id="attachment_4750" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]20150429_151932 TTC riders took up every available seat. Thanks Suhail for the photos.[/caption]

 

 

 

 

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