Poverty activists say delays to transit initiative due to 'lack of political will'
A city report on low-income transit fares has been delayed at least three times.

thestar.com
By Ben Spurr
Oct. 26, 2016

Advocates for Toronto’s poor are criticizing the city for its lack of action on creating a discounted transit pass for low-income riders, saying that repeated delays to the project are undermining the anti-poverty plan championed by Mayor John Tory.

A city report on transit fares for low-income groups was supposed to be debated at Tory’s executive committee Wednesday, but it’s been delayed until December. That marks at least the third time the release of the report has been pushed back since council voted to study the idea in July 2014.

Dozens of advocates gathered at city hall on Wednesday to protest the delay, holding signs that said “Where’s our fair pass?”

The Fair Fare Coalition and TTCRiders groups say that low-income residents have been hit hard by successive TTC fare hikes that have seen the cost of an adult Metropass jump 30 per cent since 2009, from $109 to $141.50. The price of tokens has gone up about the same amount.

The groups are calling for transit to be free for people who receive social assistance, and for other low-income groups including seniors and students to be eligible for $50 monthly passes and $1 single fares.

Among the rally’s speakers was Michael Polanyi, a member of the advisory committee for the city’s anti-poverty strategy, which council approved in November, 2015.

Polanyi said that fare equity is “a key plank” of the plan and the delayed report “is another concerning indication that the poverty strategy is not receiving the priority that it did early in the mayor’s term.”

Mayor Tory denied that the city’s commitment to the anti-poverty strategy is flagging. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said he has already taken significant action on the issue by making the TTC free for children 12 and under. He described that policy, which costs $8.3 million annually, as “the single biggest thing that has been done to help people” struggling to pay for transit.

While the fare equity report may go to council in December, which would be in time to be included in the 2017 budget, Tory made clear that it’s unlikely any low-income fare policy will be implemented until late next year at the earliest. He said a new program couldn’t be rolled out until the Presto fare card system is “fully implemented” and “stable.”

The TTC plans to make Presto card readers available across the network by the end of this year, but won’t phase out all other forms of payment until sometime in late 2017.

A spokesperson for the transit agency agreed that it wouldn’t be practical to introduce a low-income pass before the switch to Presto is complete. “The mayor is correct. The best way to successfully implement a program like this is with Presto,” Brad Ross wrote in an email.

Jessica Bell of TTCRiders suggested the mayor and TTC were making excuses. “The only thing stopping Toronto from getting a low income pass is a lack of political will,” she said. “It's been delayed long enough.”

Karin Meinzer, co-chair of the Fair Fare Coalition, pointed out that other Canadian cities, including Calgary, Ottawa, and Mississauga, have either introduced steep discounts for low-income transit users or are planning to do so.

She said in Toronto, families on social assistance can “easily” spend 20 to 25 per cent of their income on transit if they have two or more children over 12, and as the cost of riding the TTC increases they are being forced to choose between buying groceries or tokens.

“Transit is a basic, it’s not a luxury,” she said. “And people can’t wait any longer.”