You’ll have to pay more to ride the TTC starting Monday as fares increase amid service cutbacks and transit safety reckoning

Many Torontonians will have to shell out more for their daily commute as the TTC raised fares starting Monday.

The city’s transit agency is hiking the price of single cash and pay-as-you-go Presto fares for youth and adults by 10 cents.

An adult cash fare now costs $3.35, while an adult rider using Presto will have to pay $3.30. For teenagers between 13 and 19, a single cash ticket will now set them back $2.40, while youth Presto fares have increased to $2.35.

However, fares for seniors over 65, Fair Pass Transit Discount Program users and monthly pass customers remain unchanged.

The hike, which was approved as part of the TTC’s 2023 budget in January, comes just a week after the agency reduced service on multiple routes, increasing wait times for many riders, and as the city grapples with an increase in violent incidents across the transit system.

The agency justified the fare increases when the budget was approved in January, saying in a press release that the revenue generated for the price hike will ensure the system is “reliable, safe and accessible for all Torontonians.”

“This budget balances our need to deliver safe service while managing lower revenues and increased operating costs associated with inflation and new transit lines,” TTC chair and Toronto city Coun. Jon Burnside (Ward 16, Don Valley East) said at the time.

Some riders and advocates, however, have criticized the fare hike, arguing that, paired with the service reductions, it will disincentivize Torontonians from using public transit.

“These service cuts are very deep, and combined with fare increases, this budget will only drive more transit users away,” said Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of transit advocacy group TTCriders, when the budget was tabled in January.

“It will really wreck our chances of rebuilding ridership and meeting our climate goals.”

As with many other transit agencies, TTC ridership has struggled to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. In mid-January, weekday ridership was about 67 per cent of pre-COVID levels.

This year, the TTC anticipates the low ridership, along with other lingering pandemic impacts, will cost the agency $366.4 million.

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