City’s expanded discount for low-income TTC riders reined in by lack of funds

Due to the city’s financial woes, not as many people will be eligible for the expanded Fair Pass as council had once hoped.

Thestar.com
July 28, 2023
Lex Harvey

The city is expanding its Fair Pass TTC discount program to tens of thousands more low-income Torontonians -- but financial pressures mean the program won’t be as wide-reaching as intended.

First passed by city council in 2016, the Fair Pass program offers a 12-month discount on TTC rides loaded onto a Presto card for the city’s poorest residents. Under the program, which is the responsibility of the city and not the TTC, a single adult fare costs $2.10, as opposed to $3.35, and a monthly pass costs $123.25, as opposed to $156.

The program has been rolled out in phases over several years, with this phase being the most substantial. Residents receiving Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program, as well as residents who receive the child care fee subsidy and the rent-geared-to-income subsidy were already eligible.

As of Thursday, Toronto residents between 20 and 64 years old living in deep poverty, such as low-wage and part-time workers, newcomers and unemployed people receiving employment assistance, can apply for the Fair Pass, as well as residents on the wait-list for subsidized housing and child care. The city said the expansion will benefit roughly 50,000 people.

“Low-income residents rely more on public transit to move around the city and the cost of travel should not act as a barrier to accessing critical services and supports such as education, employment, social and health services and good jobs outside of their immediate community,” according to a city press release Thursday.

But due to the city’s financial woes, not as many people will be eligible for Fair Pass as council had once hoped. The city faces a pandemic-related budget hole of more than $1 billion.

To apply for Fair Pass, residents must make less than 75 per cent of the Low-Income Measure After-Tax (LIM-AT) -- equivalent to about $20,514 in after-tax income for a single person, or $41,028 for a family of four. Initially, the idea was that residents who made up to LIM-AT plus 15 per cent would be eligible.

“This is a really tiny expansion and it won’t even cover everyone living under the poverty line,” said Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of transit advocacy group TTCriders.

“Secondly, the discount has never gone deep enough. It’s not affordable.”

Coun. Chris Moise (Ward 13 Toronto Centre), who sits on the TTC board, said the expansion is a “happy medium” given the city’s financial constraints, though in a perfect world, he thinks transit should be free.

The city said the income threshold reduction, from LIM-AT plus 15 per cent to 75 per cent of LIM-AT, is meant to be temporary. Moise said he has been told that this will be reviewed as part of next year’s budget.

The Fair Pass program is cited as a “cornerstone initiative” in Toronto’s poverty reduction strategy, but it has faced some hurdles along the way. The program was quietly suspended during the pandemic and a lack of funding delayed the rollout of its most recent phase.

From January to June 2023, 46,527 Fair Pass clients used their discount on the TTC, amounting to more than 4 million rides, the city said.