Students got good news this week from the TTC.
Post-secondary students, including college, university, part-time and adult high school students, who had paid adult prices for the Metropass, will now pay the same as high school students for their Metropasses – a move that is a long time coming.
With high levels of youth unemployment and always rising tuition costs, the Et Cetera thinks that it is about time students get a break.
TTC chair Adam Giambrone visited Humber on Nov. 18 to discuss the new student fare.
He told Et Cetera that one of the reasons he’s in favour of instituting the student discount is that once people are hooked at a young age, they become TTC users for life.
But the fare hike passed by city councillors and the transit commission on Nov. 17 raises the issue of whether the city of Toronto really wants its citizens to hop on a bus rather than the Gardiner.
The new fares, effective Jan. 3, raises the price of a regular adult Metropass to $121 from the current price of $109.
One reason the TTC has increased fares is because it lacks government support, both on the federal and provincial levels.
Giambrone told the Et Cetera the TTC is the least subsidized transit system in North America.
This sort of disregard for Canada’s biggest city when it comes to transportation is outrageous. Governments may talk about high pollution levels and air congestion, but do they try to do anything concrete to get cars off the roads? Instead, the TTC must hit its own customers with an expensive mark-up and cannot rely on government
funds.
At least cash-strapped students won’t feel the full brunt of the hike, an option not available for the millions of commuters who rely on the buses, streetcars, and subway trains to get to work everyday in Toronto.

1. 

   Maddie

   December 13, 2009 at 11:03 am

   I don’t think the new student fare is effective until September.
2. 

   Dave

   January 18, 2010 at 12:38 pm

   I think a discount on a price hike is still a hike.