The estimated 70 per cent of U of T students who rely on the TTC for daily transit are facing yet another fare hike, the eighth in 11 years. University students who buy discount metropasses from the UTSU offi ce face a hike from $87 to $96, an increase of 10 per cent. Those buying metropasses at regular prices will pay $109, up from $99.75.
UTSU and student unions at York, George Brown College and Ryerson, and the Canadian Federation of Students— Ontario, jointly condemned the fare hike in a Sept. 13 statement. The statement urged city council to keep transit affordable and called on the provincial government to “pay its fair share.”
The University of Toronto Students Union sells up to 12,000 discounted metropasses per month as part of the TTC’s Volume Incentive Program, according to UTSU VP external Dave Scrivener. The hike is supposed to make up for a projected $100 million shortfall in the TTC’s 2008 operating budget. At U of T alone, the hike should generate between $432,000 and $1,296,000 annually.
“It makes a pretty big difference for a commuter student,” said Scrivener of the $9 hike.
Scrivener noted that the increased cost of discount metropasses could limit the number of passes UTSU can afford to buy on behalf of students. UTSU orders its VIP metropasses in bulk, paying the TTC and then making the money back by selling the passes to students at cost. Scrivener warned that the “seed” money UTSU uses to run the program will likely not buy enough passes to meet student demand.
Jiwoong Choi, a second-year commerce student who commutes to the downtown campus, hadn’t heard of the upcoming hike, and wasn’t worried.
“Nine dollars isn’t really a signifi – cant amount,” he initially said about the increase.
Choi, a user of UTSU’s discount metropass program, then remarked that the small discount was a factor in his fi nances.
“It always helps out,” he said of the VIP metropass price, which, after the hike, will be only a dollar less than the metropass’s current regular price.
Dev Saxena blamed the city’s, and the TTC’s, fi nancial woes on provincial mismanagement and competition between cities for funding. He said that even as transit becomes a less attractive option for him, it’s still the only choice.
“It’s inconvenient,” he said. “They’ve definitely got the monopoly on public transit. The alternative is taxis, which are substantially more expensive.”
Asked if student unions play an important role in the price of transit, the fourth-year Poli Sci and Economics major was blunt: “No.”
The TTC’s announcement came hot on the heels of news of service cuts city-wide, with community centres, libraries, public pools, and other services running on severely reduced hours to cope with a budget shortfall. Among these cuts was a $26.6 million reduction in TTC funding.
Toronto mayor David Miller said the cuts were necessary unless city council agrees to pass two proposed taxes at an Oct. 22 vote.
“City Council has an opportunity to put this city on a path to a sustainable future and we must seize it,” Mayor Miller said in a Sept. 13 statement.
The two taxes, on real estate sales and vehicle registration, are projected to make $350 million a year for the cash-strapped city. Some of the money raise by the vehicle registration tax was earmarked for transit.
Asked whether UTSU had a position on the Oct. 22 vote, Scrivener said that UTSU considers the city’s budget problems the result of provincial funding policies in place since Mike Harris’s Conservative government of 1995-2002. He added, however, that he had urged any city councillor he met with to approve the new taxes.
