TTC Fare Zones (Possible solution to offset Capital and/or Operating costs)?

[sjc]

That said, there's no way the TTC is going to make any kind of fare change that ultimately decreases farebox revenue (timed transfers or lower fares for downtown travel)

The question would be whether the increased traffic from people who are not taking the TTC because it is too expensive to go from Union to Queen (so they are currently walking) would make up for the reduced revenues from people that do already take the subway from union to queen.

Similarly for timed transfers, you would get less revenue from the people currently taking two hour round trips (or whatever the length of time for the timed transfer is) and more revenue from people choosing to take the TTC for short trips where they were not doing so before.

EDIT: On the other hand, perhaps the answer for people that want to make lots of little trips is the Metropass and we don't really need a complicated new system.

 

[GraphicMatt]

I don't know -- TTC ridership is very high right now, and downtown routes are often jammed with people. I don't know if there's a lot of room for revenue growth through adding downtown ridership. Even surface routes on weekends/evenings are pretty busy.

 

[The Mad Navigator]

I don't know -- TTC ridership is very high right now, and downtown routes are often jammed with people. I don't know if there's a lot of room for revenue growth through adding downtown ridership. Even surface routes on weekends/evenings are pretty busy.

Well, something is going to have to give then. Either we expand rapid transit downtown or lose more riders than we already do on average because they get fed up.

 

[gweed123]

I don't know -- TTC ridership is very high right now, and downtown routes are often jammed with people. I don't know if there's a lot of room for revenue growth through adding downtown ridership. Even surface routes on weekends/evenings are pretty busy.

The main congestion occurs during rush hour. The majority of discretionary trips take place outside of those periods (middle of the day, evenings, weekends). Yes, adding downtown ridership during the peak hours would be nearly impossible with the current transit infrastructure leading to and in downtown, but that infrastructure has plenty of room outside of those couple hours a day.

 

[T.O.Fanatic]

With PRESTO in place, what is the fate of the Metropass? I'm not sure if this question belongs here, but it worries me. I feel so mobile with my pass!

 

[Dan416]

With PRESTO in place, what is the fate of the Metropass? I'm not sure if this question belongs here, but it worries me. I feel so mobile with my pass!

Why would you feel any less mobile with a Presto card?

 

[golodhendil]

With PRESTO in place, what is the fate of the Metropass? I'm not sure if this question belongs here, but it worries me. I feel so mobile with my pass!

If they design Presto to be like any other smartcard systems in the world (it could be a big "if"), you would be able to load monthly passes onto the card.

 

[nfitz]

If they design Presto to be like any other smartcard systems in the world (it could be a big "if"), you would be able to load monthly passes onto the card.

The Presto website says you'll be able to load 3-different passes on your card. Hmm, well it used to ... it does say you'll be able to load passes on this fall ... so long before TTC is using it. So you'll just load a Metropass onto your Presto Card, in the same way you load an old-fashioned Travelcard on an Oyster Card.

 

[RedRocket191]

I believe that monthly and weekly passes should be eliminated in favour of the system Oakville Transit is implementing:

Rides 1 to 8, single adult fare ($3)
Ride 9, 50% off single adult fare ($1.50)
Ride 10, no cost
Rides 11 to 35, adult ticket fare ($2.55)
Rides 36+, no cost

Using this scheme, after ride 10 you have paid the same amount as you would have if you purchased 10 tickets from the start. After ride 36 you have paid the same amount as you would have if you purchased a monthly pass from the start. You get all the cost savings of a monthly pass if you make 70 trips in the month, and only pay for what you use if you only make 15 trips. This also benefits those who don't have $100+ at the start of the month to drop on a monthly pass, since you can reload your card whenever you wish.

 

[nfitz]

It's a great scheme ... but should there not be a slightly higher discount to those that commit in advance (or in case of TTC, those taht commit for a year instead of a month)?

No reason you can't do both schemes, or even all 3 schemes.

 

[RedRocket191]

Perhaps what you could do is offer people a bonus credit (say 5%) if they sign up for automatic top-ups to the Presto Card. This would probably be the simplest way to do it.

 

[nfitz]

That doesn't have the social benefit though of the pre-paid pass ... which then encourages people to actually use what they've already paid for, rather than just jumping in the car to save 5-minutes.

But there's no reason you couldn't have that going as well. Say max out what you can pay in a month at $130 (and day at $10), offer a 5% discount if they auto top-up ($123.50), sell a monthly pass pre-paid at $121, and something like the existing MDP at $111. For example.

 

[Disparishun]

There is now construction to extend the Spadina HRT subway into Vaughan. Guess what? Above Steeles Avenue, it is another fare. Passengers on Vaughan or York Region buses will be paying another fare to enter the HRT subway in Vaughan territory (unless they are lucky enough to walk to a station).

Or drive, or get dropped off. Most people try and avoid the double fare as it is. They'd certainly work to avoid a double fare whose boundary is moved that much closer to their trip's origin point.

 

[GregWTravels]

Transport for London has recently updated the fares section of their website, and now have a complete fare table. Thought I would post a link to it here to enrich the conversation...

 

[Cranky Old Fart]

This is about Toronto suburbs(North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough) that are served by the TTC. Not about burbs outside the 416. You completely missed the point of the thread. And your idea of charging based on speed, and transit mode will probably make the fare system complex enough to drive riders to driving. The idea is to make transit user friendly, and convenient. Not to force riders to calculate how much they will be spending depending on how fast they reach their destination. It's silly to even bring the idea of charging fares based on speed.
GO transit is a regional operator, and having a zonal system makes sense. Telling riders they have to pay more to ride a local operator just because they live so many km from a city core(Brampton, Mississauga, whatever) is not going to make transit attractive to riders, especially if the service is poor.

A Zone Fare System is a complete non-starter without an Automated Fare Payment System.