TTC expands fee deduction to 50,000 lower-income residents; advocacy group says it’s not enough

Toronto is making TTC more affordable for 50,000 lower-income residents, but a local transit advocacy group says that’s simply not enough.

On Thursday, the city announced that residents who are between 20 and 64 years old and live in “deep poverty” qualify for the TTC’s Fair Pass transit discount program. This latest expansion also includes those on the waiting list for subsidized housing and childcare.

Any Toronto resident who is a single individual with an after-tax income below $ 20,514 or a family of four with an income below $ 41,028 is eligible.

Prior to Today, Only those at OFLIX and ODSP, along with those who received the Toronto Children’s services childcare fee and income rent subsidies, were eligible for this benefit.

The final phase of the program, which has not yet been implemented, will also be offered to all low-income residents with household incomes below the threshold of the low-income measure plus 15 percent.

Transit advocacy group ttcriders, however, said that despite this latest news, many below the poverty line continue to close. They said today’s expansion only applies to a “small fraction” of those eligible for it.

“Toronto residents earning minimum wage or less should already receive a low-income TTC deduction,” TTCriders said in a statement, pointing to an estimate by city staff in a report that only 8,000 to 12,000 new people would have access to the expanded deduction this year.

“Another 200,000 Toronto residents would be eligible if the final phase was implemented.”

Toronto’s TTC pass discount program, which was launched in 2018 and is now in its third phase, offers participants a one-year discount on all TTC trips, including.

Participants receive a 36 percent discount on adult fees, which cost $ 2.10, and a 21 percent discount on monthly cards, which cost $ 123.25. A regular single fee for an adult is $ 3.35, while a 12-month pass is $ 143 per month for adults.

TTCriders said this discount is ” still unaffordable.”

TTCriders ‘August Pantitlflix Puranauth said the TTC’s fare discount program” doesn’t go far enough, ” adding that the group would ideally like to see more work done to offer free transit to those in the city who need it most.

“We are in a cost-of-living crisis and transit is a big part of the pie for people,” Puranauth said, adding that the cost of TTC’s discounted monthly pass is actually what regular transit users in other cities pay.

“It’s not affordable for a lot of people. Not many people have $ 123 to spend each month on transit,” they said.

“This is the Affordable passage. In other cities, this is just regular transit transit, so the evidence is that this is simply not and we should expect more from the city.”

Denise Andrea Campbell, the city of Toronto’s executive director of Social Development, Finance and administration, told CP24 on Thursday that this program is one of the many ways the city of Toronto helps low-income residents.

“I think that given the complicated affordability issues right now for many Turin, this is a step that will help make people’s transit needs more affordable,” she said.

“But it’s a difficult time and I think a lot of people are struggling and all these opportunities I think certainly help the Toronese with their essential needs.”

First approved by the city council in 2016, the Fair transit discount program is a “cornerstone initiative” of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, the city said in a release.

Until this year, the program, which costs approximately $ 25 million to operate annually, was funded by the city through the Department of Social Development, Finance and administration, however funds for its latest expansion were not included in the city’s 2023 budget. The money from the TTC 2023 operating budget is now being directed to pay for this benefit.

TTCriders noted that shortcomings in the TTC budget have resulted in an increase in the cost of single youth and adult fees.

“Increasing costs for some low-income transit users to fund a small discount expansion for others is wrong and unfair. “The people who rely most on transit and now pay higher fares are mainly tour workers, women and low-income and race riders,” the group said.

“Toronto has a plan to make transit fares free to meet climate goals. It’s time for the Toronto city council to start taking steps to expand free transit, starting with the people who need it most and on extreme weather alert days.”