TTC will no longer offer free parking at new Line 1 stations

Transit users will have to pay a daily rate of $7 at Highway 407, Finch West and Pioneer Village stations for parking starting Monday.

Thestar.com
April 18, 2018
By Jenna Moon

Free parking at the new Line 1 extension stations will be coming to an end Monday, the TTC says.

Six new subway stops opened on the Yonge-University line on Dec. 17, with parking lots at Highway 407, Finch West and Pioneer Village stations.

The transit service offered free parking "as a courtesy," they said in a news release Wednesday. The intention was to get commuters used to the new options.

Transit users will have to pay a daily rate of $7 at the three stations for parking starting April 23. The TTC says that customers parking after 3 p.m. will be charged $2.

arking will be free on weekends and statutory holidays. The TTC noted that these rates are in line with rates charged at other lots.

The parking lots will have approximately 2,800 spaces available for commuters. This includes 347 spaces at Finch West, 1,881 spaces at Pioneer Village, and 583 spaces at Highway 407.

In an email to the Star, TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said that the pricing is based on factors that allows the TTC to cover costs, while still providing the service.

"We have to lease the land, we have to pay Toronto Parking Authority to run the lots. We know these rates are lower than what is charged at both York University and Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, for instance," Green said.

Green noted that the $7 fee was chosen as a starting point.

"We do have flexibility to revisit these rates based on supply and demand," he said.

Green doesn't think that the fees will deter customers from taking the TTC.

"We know our customers will pay a rate that is reasonable and offers a convenient, cost-effective alternative to commuting into the city's core," Green said.