TORONTO, March 9, 2023 – Today, the Toronto Region Board of Trade renewed its call for seamless fare integration across the Toronto region. A new report, titled Erasing the Lines, provides an updated and detailed but clear outline for how fare integration can maximize the region’s mobility network, renew ridership levels, and have a positive impact on the Region’s business competitiveness.
The report calls for zone-based fares and highlights that for decades riders have voiced their frustrations with the current system - the burden of paying double fares when crossing municipal boundaries, the high cost of GO transit trips within the City, and the fact that the fastest route is often not the cheapest one. This creates unnecessary barriers for people of all kinds who need to travel across the region, including a key business constituency: workers that employers want to hire.
“Virtually everyone agrees that fare integration needs to happen,” said Jan De Silva, President & CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade. “But for over a decade we have seen a lot of talk with little action and no region-wide solutions. We are calling on the Province to commit to change that will help bring riders back to transit. The time for fare integration is now.”
With post-Pandemic weekday transit ridership down by nearly a third and road congestion among the worst in North America, there is an especially pressing need for a true commitment to a provincially supported, region-wide fare structure that will bring riders back to transit.
The report outlines a simple, unified fare structure that would apply across the region. Riders would pay based on where they begin and end their journey, with fares based on the number of zones a rider travels through. Zone-based systems have been successfully implemented in cities around the world including Berlin and Vancouver.
This proposal would result in:
- Transit fares that are the same or lower than today
- Trips within the city of Toronto remaining at a single flat fare
- An easy to use and understand system, based on municipal boundaries
- The elimination of double fares for short, cross-boundary trips
- Opportunities to shorten commute times for thousands of riders each day
Read the report here.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade is one of the largest and most influential business chambers in North America and is a catalyst for the region’s economic agenda. We pursue policy change to drive the growth and competitiveness of the Toronto region and facilitate market opportunities with programs, partnerships and connections to help our members succeed – domestically and internationally.
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