During last year’s mayoral campaign Mayor John Tory pledged to freeze TTC fares in 2015. But he announced yesterday TTC fares will be increased 10 cents.
“Politicians never follow their words,” said Kunle Olorundare, a TTC passenger who felt the fares are already expensive enough. “If you vote for what they say, their words will always change.”
Another passenger, Zamil Mohamed said,“That’s unfair to break the promise. I’m kind of disappointed by what [Tory] did.”
The hike is to take effect March 1 if a $95-million transit investment plan is approved by city council. According to the proposal, cash fares would remain at $3. However, the cost of a token will go up to $2.80 while the price of an adult Metropass will increase to $141.50 from $133.75. Meanwhile, children under age 12 will be able to ride TTC for free once the proposal is approved.
“It’s kind of what we expected from politicians — they’ll do and say everything to get voted in, once they got voted in, they just don’t care about the people anymore,” Troy Throne said before he got on the TTC bus. “The fares are increased about almost every five years…. I hope they have other solutions besides just increase the fares. And…the trains and buses are still slow….”
Some riders however do support the plan if most people can truly benefit from it.
“I think 10 cents is acceptable, passenger Eberson Asencio said. “People can afford to pay extra dollars if children can ride TTC for free. I’m not sure why John Tory changed his mind and made this decision, but if that’s good for most of the people, then it’s okay.”
Tory told a press conference yesterday that he has made the “difficult choice” to break his promise.
“I would not increase fares and not improve service, and I would not decrease service and increase fares, which is what my predecessor did,” Tory said.