Prepare for fare hike, TTC chair says

Public transit riders should brace themselves for another fare increase, TTC chair Karen Stintz said Friday night.

“We’ve tried to do everything we can to avoid it,” she said. “But we still have a gap, and unless something changes we’ll need to close the gap through a fare increase.”

In a letter to TTC customers, Stintz suggested a fee increase is on the way if the province doesn’t cover more of the $1.5 billion it costs to run the TTC.

“The current support from the province, while truly welcome, is not enough,” the letter said.

The TTC received $91 million from the province for operations in the 2010-11 fiscal year. That amounts to six per cent of costs, which Stintz said is “inadequate.”

Budget could squeeze TTC commutes

A proposal to alter the TTC’s crowding standards could put the squeeze on the commutes of the growing numbers of Torontonians who ride the transit system.

A report on Toronto’s core service review, released Monday by the city manager, also proposes charging a premium fare for Blue Night bus service and pushing more Wheel-Trans users onto the regular system.

According to transit workers union president Bob Kinnear, the recommendations amount to “a war on commuters, low-wage workers, the disabled and the environment.”

The TTC’s standard for what constitutes a crowded bus — based on the average number of people per hour riding a particular vehicle — was improved to 48 riders from 53 between 2004 and 2007. Regularly exceeding that number should trigger an increase in service on that route.

The move was part of a Ridership Growth Strategy designed to attract more riders, after a period in the 1990s when fares rose and service was cut, driving thousands off the system.

TTC proposes fare hike, job cuts and longer wait times

TTC officials will reveal a series of controversial budget proposals on Tuesday, the Star has learned.

According to a draft of their report, the proposals include reducing the frequency of transit vehicles; raising the price of tokens by 10 cents; eliminating 422 jobs and reviewing 500 others for possible outsourcing; delaying the arrival of dozens of new vehicles; and making dialysis patients without mobility devices ineligible to use Wheel-Trans.

The proposals are intended to address the city’s demand for a 10 per cent cut to the TTC’s $1.4 billion operating budget and to reduce a $1.5 billion long-term shortfall in its capital budget. They will be debated at a special Friday meeting of the TTC’s councillor commissioners.

“TTC management has worked very hard to respond to the fiscal challenges of the city,” said the TTC chair, Councillor Karen Stintz. “And we’ll have to make some difficult decisions on Friday.”