Riding the TTC is about to get more expensive.
A 10-cent fare hike was announced Monday afternoon by Mayor John Tory, TTC chair Josh Colle and TTC CEO Andy Byford. The change, which could be implemented in March pending approval from city council, is expected to raise around $38 million that Tory says will be used towards improving transit service.
Ryerson students have conflicting views on how the increase will affect them.
“It’s kind of ridiculous how there’s not much improvement in the system, but they increase (the fare) almost annually,” said Wallace Ej, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at Ryerson. “They just tell us how they’re going to make extra routes and stuff, but it keeps getting delayed.”
Other students accept the increase, as long as the improvements being promised come through.
“It makes sense that there is a hike in TTC prices,” said Janine Tascioglu, a first-year journalism student. “But hopefully we can get something out of it, like creating more streetcars and subway lines.”
And for some students, like first-year psychology student Michael Trejisan an additional 10 cent increase is no big deal.
“I don’t really worry about the 10 cents,” said Trejisan. “If they raised it (by) a dollar, I’d be pissed.”
The hike will affect all non-cash fares, and is expected to generate $43-million per year.
And while the hike will affect most riders, children are excluded. The current 75-cent fare for children under 12 will be removed, and they will now ride for free.
It was also announced that $95 million from the city is being invested into the TTC in an effort to reduce wait times and crowding. There will be two additional trains on the Yonge-University-Spadina and the Bloor-Danforth lines during rush hour, new express routes, and the re-instatement of bus and streetcar routes that were axed in 2011.
Melissa contributed to the Ryersonian in 2014-2015.