Originally published November 25, 2020
QUEEN’S PARK — In response to the Toronto Region Board of Trade report released today, the Ontario NDP Transit critic Jessica Bell (University—Rosedale) released the following statement:
“Thank you to the Toronto Region Board of Trade for sharing its plan for fare and service integration across the GTHA.
There is a lot to like about the Board of Trade’s plan, including respecting municipal control, setting up a cooperative coordinating body, investing provincial funding to reduce fares, and not forcing riders to pay more to ride the subway.
The NDP doesn’t support fare-by-distance policies on local transit systems, because they would force riders to pay even more for transit. Instead, we want to make transit more affordable and encourage riders to safely return to transit once we are through the pandemic.
The NDP is calling for the Ontario government to provide funding to transit agencies so that commuters travelling on two or more municipal transit systems in the GTHA pay only one flat fare for any trip up to two hours, and that service levels are increased to match changes in ridership.
Every local transit agency across the GTHA has already adopted this fare integration system, except for the TTC.”