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Is the TTC (still) the most expensive transit system in North America?

Johnny Au said:
I meant to say that Mississauga's system is significantly underserved (in regards to its population) and with appropriate funding, MiWay would have the ridership levels of both the MBTA and the MARTA.
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The ridership of Mississauga Transit is very close to both MBTA and MARTA already.

MT had a 2011 service area population of around 713,433, vs 2010 population of 5,078,204 for MBTA and 1,612,474 for MARTA.

MT's total ridership in 2011 was 49.3 million boardings compared with 389.8 million for MBTA and 138.8 million for MARTA.

Ridership per capita , 2011 (boardings)
MiWay the New Mississauga Transit - 69
Massoftwoshits Bay Transit Authority - 77
Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority - 86

Note the ridership per capita of both MBTA and MARTA here are likely inflated since the population figure used to calculate them is older, so the ridership of Mississauga Transit is even closer than indicated here.
 
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nfitz said:
Good answer.

Though it's amusing that they ignore the higher fares on the BART than on TTC, likely because it's outside San Francisco itself ... but then also ignore that the City of Toronto is geographically much bigger than most US cities. Even for Vancouver they take the Zone 1 fares, even though you'd payer higher fares for shorter trips in Vancouver crossing into Zone 2, than many TTC trips. And no mention of those relatively short $4 Vancouver Skytrain fares to Burnaby. That new Evergreen Skytrain line will cost $5.50 a trip to and from downtown for those heading to work!
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whether Toronto is more expensive than Vancouver is not important.
It is pretty clear the TTC is more pricey than both Chicago (by a lot!) and New York (which has much extensive coverage). This is a fact. Chicago is of similar size and NYC is larger.
 
Another thing with MBTA is that its ridership includes commuter rail, which is obviously excluded from Mississauga's numbers. If you exclude MBTA's commuter rail (36.4 million annually), and just compare the local transit ridership, then the per capita ridership is more like this:

MT - 69.1
MBTA - 69.6

So it is clear that Massachussets Bay Transit Authority and Mississauga Transit are on the same level pretty much, especially if you consider that the population used for MBTA is lower than it should be (and therefore its per capita ridership is inflated by these calculations).
 
You can bet if Hudak gets his way and they upload the subway / LRT leaving the TTC with buses only the cost will only go up.

Can the province even do that ?
 
YRT has the most expensive fares in North America with a $4 cash fare plus an extra $1.00 for multi-zone equating to potentially $5 ride. Monthly passes are $133 or $177 for multi-zone.
 
Yes, the article (at the bottom) makes specific note of YRT as probably the most expensive suburban transit system and links to those exact fares. But the author makes a point that this is about big cities with CBD's and rail lines and fully integrated transit, not suburban systems. Still, it's bad news for Toronto and the GTA that transit is more expensive here than possibly any other region.
 
The fact that the TTC is trying to discourage people from buying transit passes is especially stupid. The TTC probably reasons that people with transit passes will put a burden on the system because they will take many more trips than they would if they had to pay out of pocket every time. I look at it the other way: people who are discouraged from buying a pass and end up buying tokens take transit far less than they would if they had a pre-paid pass, and end up using cars for more trips than they normally would have. This puts a burden on the TTC in other ways: through added congestion and reductions in service reliability.

Just thinking about myself, I don't know how many times my girlfriend and I would just end up driving within downtown to go out for dinner, because the cost of on-street parking was always lower (usually free after 9, anyway) than two people taking the TTC back and forth. The observation is anecdotal, but I'm sure I'm not alone on this.
 
It did, until 2013. But every system would have its unique fare structures. The point, I think, is to use the example fares cited to point out the overall trend, which is that the TTC is really expensive. So when people like Ford deny new revenue streams or demand the riders pay more (Ford Nation loves that one) they need to realize that the farebox well is dry.
 
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If you consider the cost of passes and the lack of time-based transfers, TTC is arguably the most expensive in the GTA. At least for short trips, and for people who are regular transit users.

People who take long trips are a strain on TTC, so I don't understand the logic in discouraging short trips. And a lot of those extra trips using passes, are they during peak hours or off-peak? Are during busy times are when buses are empty to begin with? I don't see why treat these people as a burden on the system. And of course trying to discourage people from using transit a lot is pretty much opposite of what any city should be doing in the first place.

If TTC wants to limit their ridership, I don't understand why they ban the 905 system from providing service in the city. Why not integrate fares on Burnhamthorpe and Bloor and let Mississauga provide some of that service? Wouldn't that be more efficient?

Efficiency seems to be TTC's main obsession, to the point where it's ignoring or even actively hindering its social role, but it's not really efficient at all.
 
iSkyscraper said:
It did, until 2013. But every system would have its unique fare structures. The point, I think, is to use the example fares cited to point out the overall trend, which is that the TTC is really expensive. So when people like Ford deny new revenue streams or demand the riders pay more (Ford Nation loves that one) they need to realize that the farebox well is dry.
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There's no 1 or 3 day passes anymore, plus a $1 surcharge to get a MetroCard. Sounds like they're trying to cash in on tourists and infrequent riders.
 
With regard to the suburban systems, it's kind of insane the difference between Toronto and, say, New York. A person living in Richmond Hill going to the downtown core would pay something like $7 for a YRT ride and then a TTC ride. A person living in Westchester or Long Island would pay only the standard $2.50 fare on their local bus system (Bee-Line, NICE) and get a FREE transfer onto the NYC MTA subway. So the cost for a suburban rider is close to TRIPLE in the GTA. The lack of integration and free transfers is utterly pathetic and a major barrier to getting cars off the road. The same is true in Chicago when riding a Pace bus - pay your $2.25 fare, then a standard 25 cent transfer when getting on the CTA subway, just like a CTA to CTA transfer.

The GTA is so broken. Metrolinx should absorb them all, charge the TTC fares, and allow free transfers across the region.
 
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