GO Transit to let kids ride free

Thestar.com
February 28, 2019
Ben Spurr

Kids will be able to ride free on GO Transit starting next month, the Star has learned.

Ontario Minister of Transportation Jeff Yurek and Metrolinx chief executive officer Phil Verster are set to make the announcement Thursday at Ripley’s Aquarium, the popular downtown children’s attraction around the corner from the GO hub at Union Station.

The provincial government is expected to announce Thursday a new policy allowing kids 12 and under to travel GO buses and trains without paying.

Neither the minister’s office nor Metrolinx would comment on the announcement Wednesday evening, but a source with knowledge of the event said the pair would unveil a policy allowing children 12 and under to ride GO Transit trains and buses without paying.

According to the source the introduction of the policy would coincide with March Break, which starts March 11.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much the policy will cost Metrolinx, the provincial agency that operates GO.

Current GO fares are based on distance travelled, and children between 6 and 12 years old pay half the price of adult fare. For instance, a child riding from Oakville to Union would be charged $4.45, while an adult would pay $8.90.

The existing rules state a single child between the ages of 1 and 5 can ride free with an accompanying adult, but any additional kids that age in the same group are charged the child fare.

The policy’s introduction follows Metrolinx testing out free rides for kids on its Barrie rail line. The agency launched the “Kids GO Free” pilot project last April and has deemed it a success. The pilot was initially supposed to end Oct. 31 but Metrolinx extended it until March 8.

According to a report that went to the Metrolinx board earlier this month, combining the kids-ride-free policy with increased service on the Barrie line has “proven a model for adult ridership growth and customer satisfaction.”

The pilot didn’t just attract kids, but helped boost adult ridership and contributed to 63,000 additional incremental boardings from May to August compared to the same period the year before, the report said.

The new GO policy will mirror a program the TTC enacted in 2015 that also allows children 12 and under to board without paying.

The TTC policy has raised concerns about fare evasion, with the agency reporting it’s difficult to ensure young people older than 12 don’t take advantage of it.

A city auditor general report released last week found adults abusing child Presto cards on the TTC was a significant source of fare fraud on Toronto’s transit network. However, children using GO won’t require Presto cards because riders don’t need to pass through fare gates to enter the GO system. The cards are required on the TTC in order to activate subway fare gates.

The Metrolinx board has called a special single-issue meeting Friday to discuss changes to the agency’s bylaws.

A Metrolinx spokesperson wouldn’t confirm whether the board would officially enact the kids-ride-free policy at the meeting. But according to provincial legislation, the board must hold a public meeting when considering bylaws that change fare prices.