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GTHA Transit Fare Integration

complete fare integration with GO RER within the city of Toronto would add 113.7 km of rapid transit.

Lakeshore East: 28.5 km
Lakeshore West: 15.6 km
Kitchener: 21.6 km
Barrie: 20.5 km
Stouffville: 27.5 km
___________________________
Total: 113.7 km

Milton/Midtown: 45.4 km
Richmond Hill: 24.3 km

eventually adding Milton/Midtown + Richmond Hill would bring it to 183.4 km total.
It's even more than that if you count the portions outside the city, which I would argue we should. Proper fare integration will make municipal/agency boundaries all but irrelevant. So the RER sections go well outside the city to Oshawa, Aurora, etc. If fare integration is done properly, GO expansion will the biggest game changer for transit since the subway.
 
It's even more than that if you count the portions outside the city, which I would argue we should. Proper fare integration will make municipal/agency boundaries all but irrelevant. So the RER sections go well outside the city to Oshawa, Aurora, etc. If fare integration is done properly, GO expansion will the biggest game changer for transit since the subway.
This is true… no city has a system like this in North America. The regional divides will effectively disappear if the “rapid transit” network is region-wide.

While I think some GO Lines are a tad redundant for intra-416 travel (Barrie is just an express Line 1 in the west) others are going to become just as if not more useful than parts of the subway. The Kitchener-Stouffville line especially follows density, bus ridership, and breaks the grid for travel (in the west) that will always beat parallel routes- even for driving.
 
This is true… no city has a system like this in North America. The regional divides will effectively disappear if the “rapid transit” network is region-wide.
New York City has a lot of frequent (and lot of not so frequent) commuter trains - many run by the same agency that runs the buses and subway.
 
New York City has a lot of frequent (and lot of not so frequent) commuter trains - many run by the same agency that runs the buses and subway.

But even there, they operate in silos, without any planning or fare integration. MTA Metro-North couldn’t work with MTA Long Island Rail Road to use the existing empty platforms at Grand Central Terminal, creating a more expensive and less convenient connection there.

Transport for London is a much better model.
 
New York City has a lot of frequent (and lot of not so frequent) commuter trains - many run by the same agency that runs the buses and subway.
There is no fare integration between Metro North, LIRR and the MTA.

Also, plenty of shenanigans in how the suburban-serving transit systems are funded while the core systems in the city are starved. And on that front, the State Assembly just ok’d a payroll tax to help the MTA - but only on businesses in the city; those in suburbs are exempt, but the MTA still has to (over)spend on maintaining Metro North and LIRR. NY is great on multiple fronts, but evidence-based, equitable transit funding is not one of them.
 
But even there, they operate in silos, without any planning or fare integration. MTA Metro-North couldn’t work with MTA Long Island Rail Road to use the existing empty platforms at Grand Central Terminal, creating a more expensive and less convenient connection there.

Transport for London is a much better model.
MTA is too siloed. But Transport for London? It's very siloed even from Thameslink, let alone other National Rail (commuter) services, other than Crossrail. It took 7 years go roll out Oyster to the main London commuter lines - and 16 years to get it running on Heathrow Express. And even then, they never designed Oyster to handle all the existing fare London-area zones outside TFL - so you can only use Oyster Debit/Credit for some stations - including on the Elizabeth Line.

Also remember there's no free transfer from TFL buses to the Underground, Overground, DLR, or National Rail; not sure about Trams - I haven't used those.

There is no fare integration between Metro North, LIRR and the MTA.
That is true, I didn't fully interpreted the comment correctly.

BTW, not related to this, there seems to be a lot of confusion here between fare integration and free transfers and identical pricing. Paying an extra amount to transfer from GO to TTC, but not a full fare is fare integration. Having equal fares for travelling on both GO and TTC is a different animal.
 
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MTA is too siloed. But Transport for London? It's very siloed even from Thameslink, let alone other National Rail (commuter) services, other than Crossrail. It took 7 years go roll out Oyster to the main London commuter lines - and 16 years to get it running on Heathrow Express. And even then, they never designed Oyster to handle all the existing fare London-area zones outside TFL - so you can only use Oyster Debit/Credit for some stations - including on the Elizabeth Line.

Also remember there's no free transfer from TFL buses to the Underground, Overground, DLR, or National Rail; not sure about Trams - I haven't used those.

That is true, I didn't fully interpreted the comment correctly.

BTW, not related to this, there seems to be a lot of confusion here between fare integration and free transfers and identical pricing. Paying an extra amount to transfer from GO to TTC, but not a full fare is fare integration. Having equal fares for travelling on both GO and TTC is a different animal.
Your choice of comparison for TFL is completely Apples to Oranges, ThamesLink and National Rail aren't part of TFL at all. This would be like complaining that the MTA doesn't get along well with NJT or Amtrak. The point that was made was that everything under the TFL umbrella is fully interconnected and managed. The fare you pay on the Underground is fully integrated with the DLR, Overground, TFL Rail, etc. and all different organizations within TFL can communicate with each other, meanwhile with MTA, whilst they're all part of the same corporation, they might as well be completely separate entities. Even then, at least with London the Oyster Zone still fully applies to non-TFL services, only requiring you to pay a small surcharge if you're say transferring from Thameslink to the Bakerloo. This is more than what could be said about the MTA onto itself.
 
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Your choice of comparison for TFL is completely Apples to Oranges, ThamesLink and National Rail aren't part of TFL at all.
That was my point. They aren't part of TFL, just like GO Transit and the Hamilton Street Railway aren't part of TTC. I was pointing out to the other person that it's a poor comparison.
 
It's even more than that if you count the portions outside the city, which I would argue we should. Proper fare integration will make municipal/agency boundaries all but irrelevant. So the RER sections go well outside the city to Oshawa, Aurora, etc. If fare integration is done properly, GO expansion will the biggest game changer for transit since the subway.
it was just a thought experiment if one could in theory hop onto GO for the same fare as the TTC with full integration implemented.

I get that the network extends far beyond Toronto's municipal boundaries, but I don't expect transit riders to be able to hop on in Hamilton or Kitchener etc... for $3.35, although that is in itself another interesting thought experiment.
 
it was just a thought experiment if one could in theory hop onto GO for the same fare as the TTC with full integration implemented.

I get that the network extends far beyond Toronto's municipal boundaries, but I don't expect transit riders to be able to hop on in Hamilton or Kitchener etc... for $3.35, although that is in itself another interesting thought experiment.
Integrating fares doesn't mean applying the current TTC fare to trips from Kitchener.
 
Integrating fares doesn't mean applying the current TTC fare to trips from Kitchener.
haha again i understand.

what i'm talking about is the same cost (fare) to use GO transit within the city of Toronto + integrated fare (i.e. the ability to switch from GO to TTC seamlessly). it shouldn't be more expensive to use GO than TTC in Toronto. I couldn't care less about how much it would cost outside of the city.
 
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what i'm talking about is the same cost (fare) to use GO transit within the city of Toronto + integrated fare (i.e. the ability to switch from GO to TTC seamlessly). it shouldn't be more expensive to use GO than TTC in Toronto. I couldn't care less about how much it would cost outside of the city.
I'm fine with the GO fares remaining a few cents more expensive.

I simply want free (or a lot cheaper) transfers to/from TTC.

Also, for some trips now GO is cheaper. I often take (say) a 6:55 train from Danforth to Exhibition to watch a game, for $3.70. The game ends at 9:30, and if I tap in at 9:45 pm at Exhibition, I get a free trip back to Danforth (3-hour transfer). Total price is $3.70 compared to $6.60 on the slower TTC. Though a combined TTC/GO trip is $7.00.
 
Though a combined TTC/GO trip is $7.00.

How does that work?

TTC is $3.30 + $3.70 for GO; TTC's window is only 2 hours, so that's a second TTC fare on the way home; $10.30

****

Right now, if I go downtown, for however long, but need to pay new fares on the way home that GO/TTC combo of $7 offends for the Union-Danforth trip + a bus ride.

Throw the bus ride in for free and the $3.70 doesn't really bother me.
 
How does that work?

TTC is $3.30 + $3.70 for GO; TTC's window is only 2 hours, so that's a second TTC fare on the way home; $10.30

****

Right now, if I go downtown, for however long, but need to pay new fares on the way home that GO/TTC combo of $7 offends for the Union-Danforth trip + a bus ride.

Throw the bus ride in for free and the $3.70 doesn't really bother me.

GO has a longer fare window: I think it’s 4 hours – plenty of reasonable trips can take that long, especially if there are delays.
 

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