TTC Price Rises - Down with our governments!

[puckrobin]

After praising some recent films, I think I've earned the right to make my blog snarky and political today.

It was just announced that a monthly Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) MetroPass will cost $109. It's jumping over that $100 psychological barrier, which means that it will lose ridership. Tickets, tokens and single-fares are all going up too.

So, I decided to see how these prices stack up against other North American transit systems.

In New York City, you can get an unlimited 30-pass to cover buses and subways for only $76 (US). And they have a much larger transit system than Toronto.

So too does Chicago, which charges $75 (US) for their 30-day unlimited pass.

And then there's Boston with a monthly pass of $59 (US) for the bus and subway. And if you add in some extra commuter rail services and local harbour ferries, you can get a weekly pass for only $15.

The fault lies with our governments - municipal, provincial and federal - all of which refuse to adequately fund transportation systems in the major Canadian cities. The Americans figured out that investing in public transit is something you just have to do. When are our governments going to come to the same realization?

Of course, the TTC and its commuters are just pawns in the pissing contests between the levels of government. Choking off a city's economy is just one way that higher levels of government can prove they are tough. After all, politicians have claimed that city residents - which make up about 80% of Canada's population - are "special interest groups".

Allen

Comments

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

I can understand the TTC deciding to raise fares (though personally I think it should be covered in taxes if the federal and provincial government won't pony up), but that big a price hike is insane. I don't even want to know what I'm going to have to pay for a weekly GTA pass. *shudder* Well, I guess this is what it's like to be in a "special interest group". Yay, us.