We're misfiring at the TTC

Should living in Etobicoke, Scarborough, Rexdale, Malvern or North York increase your TTC metropass to $231 a month? Apparently the TTC thinks so. Don’t be upset. It’s not their fault.

While I'm not new to the suburbs, I have never lived in the suburbs as an adult making adult decisions. These include thinking about the distance to the nearest subway that would take me to work, locating the nearest grocery store (because downtown there’s a 24hr Metro everywhere) or finding a restaurant that doesn’t close before 10 p.m.

Last week was my first official week in suburbia, and I decided to tackle the issue of commuting time to work.

I expected there to be a complex route that included, bus, streetcar, bus, then train.

Fortunately, I learned that six blocks from my house, a TTC express bus drives directly into the downtown core (Queen Station).

To confirm this information, I called the TTC's info line at 416-393-INFO. Not only did the woman on the other end of the line confirm that the bus existed, but she pleasantly informed me that I can take it for an extra $2.50 each way at one of the three scheduled times.

I felt the left side of my body go numb and the right side tried to join it.

I did the math in my head, and was in disbelief. So I pulled out my calculator. Both numbers turned out to be the same; $121 for my metropass plus $110 to take the express bus every work day for a month equals $231. My numbness soon turned into a wave of indignation directed squarely at the TTC.

I thought, where does Toronto get the nerve to call itself a great, livable city if it costs me $230 a month to take the TTC to work? And then it dawned on me. It’s not entirely the TTC’s fault. City council is to blame too.

TTC isn’t just the issue of the Mayor or the TTC chair. It’s an issue for all of us, which means we need to make our elected officials speak up. After all, TTC ridership is up to 473 million rides annually, breaking the previous record of 466 million. Ridership is steadily increasing. Doesn’t that count for something? I’d hope so.

Let’s put the issue in front of our city councillors. We want them to know that we’re concerned, angry, irritated by the service of an underfunded system. It's time that they take our concerns and insert themselves into a transit subsidy strategy.

As for the future mayor, I have one question: As our city continues to grow, what strategies (creative or otherwise) will you employ to address the issue of subsidizing our transit system with the appropriate levels of government?

About Tonika Morgan

Comments

[Doina Oncel]

Tonika, I commute from Etobicoke on a daily basis and I am greatful to be able to say that I am lucky to have my car to drive to daycare and work and then back. Not only do I get to sleep in a little more but also cost wise is better for me as well. The amount that you pay to take the transit downtown I pay for insurance and gas to commute to work and daycare too. Transit is definately not the better way in regards to convienince and cost.

[Derp]

I personally don't understand the current model they use to price the metropass in general. $2.50 x 10 x 4, should be $100 and anything over that use should be "saved" because you've purchased a "monthly membership" on the TTC. For students, even cheaper because for most of them (it should be anyways), school is their full-time job. Currently, I can cycle to work (with global warming, soon probably all year around) for 8-10 months of the year. A single roll of tokens will last the other months, which this winter worked out to $125 for the last 4 months (and I still have 10 of the 50, also having given & sold about 10). If the metropass was $100 or even $80, I might consider actually buying them and using the TTC more, but at the current $120+ I'd have to invent ways of using the TTC while not spending any money to actually get my monies worth.

[Derp]

You're able to take regular fare TTC routes, but would probably run around a 2 hour commute? I don't see how you're able to argue with that, an extra $2.50 for a direct drive downtown to save an hour and a half.

[Derp]

in regards to my last two comment, would you be happy to pay $250 for a metropass that entitles you to Express Route Services? Because their line of thinking is that if you use it 10 times a week to get to work and then back, they need to charge you also for weekends and an extra trip each day?

[Erkin]

Having lived in other major cities (Seoul, Washington DC, Montreal) I can say that Toronto's general lack of a fare-by-distance system is something that is a double-edged sword in this city. On the one hand it provides a level of equity for those who have to travel great distances to get to work. On the other hand, it enables people with means to live in a suburban area but travel downtown relatively in-expensively. Is it the City and taxpayer's responsibility to subsidize transit even though people decide to live in a low-density neighbourhood? Shouldn't the trade off of cheaper housing away from the downtown have to be compensated through some other expense like transportation?

[Dan Mackenzie]

Geez Monika,

Why don't you educate yourself about transit funding issues before you write your blog. Stop getting mad at City Councillors and ask the Liberals and Tories who run our provincial and federal governments why they aren't properly subsidizing transit. Maybe you are oblivious to the fact that Toronto has limited ways of generating revenue or that Mike Harris downloaded the costs of services, previously picked up by the provicial government, on the city and Dalton McGuinty and his government have done precious little to really resolve the problem.

[Sebastian Ip]

Umm how much could a car cost you payment, insurance and parking wise? Why move so far away?

[MJT, Etobicoke]

Maybe more express buses from the suburs to major employment areas in the city would help, especially if one can decrease one's travel time without the crowding that exists on our subway lines. At least an express bus capacity has the potential of removinge an equal number of vehicles from the expressways that couold improve the traffic flow.

[Luther Smith]

its $231. If you want to commute around freely , pay the price and stop complaining. Get another job,save some more money, get rid of bad habits, plain and simple. Everyone in Toronto loves bitching about the TTC always saying we lack this and that. This is the way it is and live with it. You really think a couple hundred posts will change the TTC council's ways of doing business. You must be new to the country. My dad came here with $50 in his pocket and now we live a comfortable upper-middle class life. Get a better paying job, dedicate yourself and stop being soo lazy.

[lukeventura]

WAKE UP TONIKA! It's not going to cost you $231.

You buy your Metropass for $111 (if you are on the monthly discount program), then you pay $35 for a special sticker, you put this sticker on your Metropass, and then you can ride all the Express routes without a $2.50 supplement.

That means you only have to pay $146 per month.

Then, when you file your tax return, be sure to include your receipts, and you will get $20 back for every metropass a tax credit.

So you effectively pay only $126 per month, not $231!!!

I just saved you over $1200 this year. You're welcome :)

[Doina Oncel]

Mr. Luther Smith, I would like to tell you this as I know Tonika very well, she is the hardest working woman I know. Not only that she works hard but the work that she does is important as well. My dad, your dad, my next door neighbour's dad had come to Canada with limited funds in their pocket, unfortunatelly because of the systemic barriers many people were not able to achieve as much as you did, must it be because you are of a privilege population?

Yes, I am glad that Tonika had the opportunity and courage to post this because many people just swallow the hardship and go with the flow. TTC is the worst in customer service, cost and time tables and no I will NOT take it as it is because my hard earned money deserve better, and as for commuting from the suburbs, everyone should be able to live wherever they want to save money and that doesn't mean that we have to pay much more because we travel more. And @Derp, the whole purpose of buying a Metropass is to get a discount and be able to travel as many times as you want with it and not be counted for the amount of imes you travel.

Thank You Tonika for posting this.

[Tonika]

Funny enough, everyone missed the point. However, this raises an interesting question: how much is too much when it comes to commuting to and from the downtown core.

Thanks folks!

[Jason]

How much is too much? What we pay for public transit is fair, sure the TTC is a mess, but when you look the alternative of owning a car its better to pay $230 a month than all the costs associated with a car.