-TTC通过加价议案，成人现金每程涨至3元
-TTC车票涨价仍无法填补来年预算漏洞
-New Year’s TTC fare hike likely
-TTC proposes fare hike
TTC通过加价议案，成人现金每程涨至3元
星岛日报/多伦多公车局（TTC）周二通过加价建议，由明年1月3日开始，成人现金车费增加25仙至每程3元，而代币价格也增加25仙。
新的学生车费由1.85元增加至2元。月票的加价影响较轻，只由109元调高至121元，比公车局董事所考虑的126元为少。
与此同时，也是由1月3日开始，学生及长者的月票将会由91.25元上调至99元，而整年都购买月票的乘客月票费用则为89元。
另方面，根据一项新的条文，由明年9月开始，学院及大学学生的月票价格将会一律与中学生的价格看齐，不受年龄影响。
多伦多公车局2010年营运预算估计将会有1.06亿元的赤字，而新的车费结构预期可以额外带来4,550万元的收入，但较原来的加价建议少了1,650万元。
多伦多公车局主席赞邦尼（Adam Giambrone）表示，筹措不足之数的方法在下月之前不会有决定。
他向记者说：“我们觉得公车局及乘客已尽了本份。”
约廿人在周二的公车局会议上发言。这些包括了来自学生组织的人士认为，服务差及过于挤逼，令到加车费难以接受。
若干乘客周二对加车费的决定感到不满，形容是衰退期间的卑鄙手段。
多伦多公车局已采取措施防范新车费生效前乘客大量预购代币。周二，一些乘客在联合站试图将20元面额的钞票放进出售代币机，但却未能成功，原因是售币机目前每次只出售一枚代币。
资料来源：星报/加通社
TTC车票涨价仍无法填补来年预算漏洞
加国无忧牧涛综述/昨日（周二），多伦多公车局（TTC）正式投票通过了车票涨价的议案。尽管涨价能给TTC增加收入，但是仍然不足弥补来年的预算不平衡。同时，车票的涨价也引起了市民很大的不满；民间组织也纷纷炮轰。
学生月票惠及15万大学生
据悉，TTC在本月月初放出车票涨价的口风，曾表示将把成人月票加价至126元，学生月票加至104元。不过，由于受到了来自社会的巨大压力，才降低了票价的涨幅。
按照新的降价议案，从明年的1月3日起，TTC成人车费（现金）将从现在的2.75元上涨至3元；学生车费（现金）由1.85元增加至2元；token从现在的2.25元上涨至2.50元；成人月票加价至121元；而学生和老人月票涨至99元；整年都购买月票的乘客月票费用则为89元。老年票票价将涨15分，儿童票票价也将上涨5分。
TTC委员会还通过了市议员、TTC主席张本力（Adam Giambrone）的建议，将学生月票的受益范围扩展至大、专院校的学生。届时，本市15万名大专生将可与中学生一样，买票时比成人月票节省22元（即99元），不再受年龄的限制。
按照法律程序，这份涨价议案还要通过多伦多市议会的投票。不过，公车局的决定一般都会被市议会通过。
同时，TTC还将继续实行限制市民购买Token的措施。在每个地铁窗口，Token购买量为每人5枚。至于公车站出入口的自动售票机，每次只会给每名乘客出售一枚Token。如果Token售光，乘客便必须支付2.75元的现金车费。
据悉，由于Token的铸造成本较高，不会随着车票涨价而变换，所以储存Token便成了市民节约交通费的有效方法。在前几次车票涨价的时候，很多人都会一次购买几十、甚至上百个Token，以备日后之用。TTC这次的决定，是为了堵住这个会“造成潜在损失”的“漏洞”。
涨价仍不足弥补预算漏洞
对于这次涨价，TTC主席张本力称，公车局及乘客之间有着很大的分歧，不过双方都已尽了本份（commission and riders have done their part），暗示这次的涨幅对TTC和乘客都相对公平。
他表示，由于来自政府方面的拨款减少，TTC的日子并不好过。受经济不景气的影响，省府面临着巨大的财政赤字（247亿），而市府也在为如何平衡来年的预算而大伤脑筋。昨日，安省省长麦坚迪在新闻发布会上已经明确表态，这次将不会再多伦多的公交系统方面投入更多的资金。
据估计，TTC 2010年营运预算估计将会有1.06亿元的赤字，而车费的涨价预计可以额外带来4,550万元的收入，仍然无法填补这个漏洞。张本力表示，TTC会和市预算委员会沟通，想想其他“有效的”办法筹措不足之数，相关措施可能会在下个月公布。他还称，自己不赞成TTC削减服务，也会为之而尽力，而且自己也对此“有信心”。
据悉，目前乘客的车费大约占公车运营成本的68%，剩下的都要靠各级政府的拨款、补助。
市民们和民间组织的反应
TTC再次涨价令本地市民十分不满。昨日，大约20位市民和本地学生在公车局的会议上发言，抨击TTC服务差及过于挤逼，令到加车费难以接受。
至于TTC所谓“惠及15万大学生的学生月票”似乎也没有起到十分大的效果。据本地主流媒体采访的一些学生表示，尽管大学生买月票不用看年龄，但是如果买token或投币，仍然和成年人一样的价钱，这使得不少课程比较少的大学生根本无法受惠。
多市及约克区劳工协会主席卡特赖特(John Cartwright)则表示，多伦多的失业率接近10%，这个时候让车票涨价实在有些不合情理。
多伦多环保联盟主席米勒(Katrina Miller) 则抨击，今年的车票涨价无非是在TTC的大创口上贴了一张小创可贴而已，无法从根本上解决问题。她表示，TTC年年都说“面临财政困难”、年复一年地涨价（上次涨价就在去年的11月份），市民想要知道，他们到底还需要付多少钱才能罢休。
同时，米勒也呼吁各级政府能出台一个对TTC长期的拨款方案，以缓解本市交通系统的财政压力。据悉，纽约公交系统每运送一名乘客，可从政府获得1.71美元的补贴；而TTC只能获得59分的补贴，这使得TTC必须有足够的乘客，否则便会面临财政不平衡。
今年，TTC乘客有望达到4.71亿人次，尽管超过了去年的4.69亿人次，但是离预算的4.73亿人次还是相差甚远。
New Year’s TTC fare hike likely
Commission moves up meeting on operating costs as $100 million budget shortfall predicted for 2010
Tess Kalinowski
Transportation Reporter
All signs point to a New Year’s fare hike for TTC riders, now that the Toronto Transit Commission has moved up its monthly November meeting to talk about operating costs.
Originally scheduled for the end of the month, it will take place Nov. 17, with the TTC’s 2010 operating budget expected to be the key agenda item.
That gives the nine city councillors on the commission just a little over the six weeks the TTC requires to prepare for a fare increase.
It’s not clear how big a fare hike is being contemplated, but an increase of about 25 cents per ride raises about $45 million in revenue for the transit system.
For the past decade the TTC has raised fares about 10 cents per ride annually, which brings in about $20 million in operating revenue. But this year Mayor David Miller pledged a price freeze to help recession-weary riders.
Chair Adam Giambrone has already rejected the idea of service cuts, and both the city and province are predicting dire financial straits for the foreseeable future, making subsidy increases look unlikely. The TTC is nevertheless expected to ask for an increase of about $80 million in operating subsidies for 2010.
There is going to be about a $100 million shortfall on next year’s operating budget, Giambrone said Tuesday. That reflects higher costs across the board, 2 to 3 per cent inflation, diesel prices and rising accident claims.
There are three ways for the TTC to raise operating revenue: Cut service, increased subsidies from government and fare hikes.
“All three options will be before the commission for consideration,” said Giambrone. “I am not prepared to cut service.”
TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc said, “The bottom line is the deficit for the TTC is huge,” referring to the shortfall in operating revenue generated at the fare box, where the transit system recovers only about 71 per cent of its costs.
“You cannot talk about the deficit without talking about fares,” he conceded. A 10-cent increase usually means a loss of about 2 million rides a year.
The TTC is only just recovering from the loss of ridership in the 1990s, when it cut service and increased fares.
“It has taken us a generation to get that ridership back,” said Mihevc.
TTC surveys consistently show that service cuts are the last thing riders want.
The transit system received about $394 million in city subsidies on its $1.3 billion operating budget this year.
That was up from $317 million in 2008 – making another increase look unlikely for 2010, said city budget committee chair Shelley Carroll, who pointed out that if the TTC wants to raise fares in January it is in the awkward position of having to do so before the budget committee does its review.
“We’re going to wait to see their submission,” she said.
But with new Transit City streetcar lines rolling out in a couple of years, operating costs for the TTC will continue to be a problem.
Asked if it would get more money next year, she said, “Without any hesitation, with what I know of the early operating outlook, the answer is no.”
The TTC last week announced it had reduced its 10-year capital plan, which includes new vehicles and facilities, by $538 million. That’s $300 million less than the $838 million the city asked it to cut.
The TTC is already projecting a $22 million shortfall on its 2009 operating budget, in part because the transferable monthly Metropass has been appealing to riders.
Instead of collecting $1.80 per ride, the TTC has been averaging only about $1.78 – an amount that adds up when multiplied by about 1.5 million rides a day, according to transit officials.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/ttc/article/720791–new-year-s-ttc-fare-hike-likely
TTC proposes fare hike
Jennifer Lewington Toronto City Hall bureau chief
Toronto — From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
Published on Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009 5:14PM EST
Last updated on Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009 11:33PM EST
Toronto transit riders will have to dig a little deeper as of Jan. 3, under a proposed fare hike that includes an extra 25 cents for a token.
The proposal, unveiled yesterday, is the first across-the-board increase since the early 1990s and comes as the Toronto Transit Commission strains to close a yawning shortfall of $100-million in its operating budget next year.
If adopted Nov. 17 by the TTC, which needs six weeks lead time to raise fares, the increase will generate $62-million in new revenue to offset rising labour and fuel costs.
“Riders are going to have to pay more to maintain the level of service we currently have,” said TTC chairman Adam Giambrone, adding that he and other commissioners prefer a fare hike over cuts to a system that carries 471 million people a year.
A spokesman for Mayor David Miller, who ruled out a fare hike this year because of the recession, said the mayor will not stand in the way of an increase in 2010. However, the mayor hopes to limit a proposed increase in the price of a monthly Metropass, set to rise to $126 for 50 trips from $109 for 48 trips spokesman Stuart Green said.
That’s also the view of Mr. Giambrone, who wants to moderate increases for Metropass users and students, whose Metropass is proposed to rise to $104 a month from $91.25.
The TTC last raised fares in 2007, with a 15-cent increase in the price of a token.
TTC commissioner Joe Mihevc says the transit system is a victim of its own success, with 2009 a record year for ridership despite the recession.
“It’s a difficult thing,” he said of the proposed hike. “We would only do this as a last resort.”
The final package of fares will be hammered out at the TTC meeting later this month. In the meantime, Mr. Giambrone said he and other commissioners will lobby budget officials to boost the city’s annual TTC subsidy of $394-million.
But with the city facing its own budget woes in 2010, and the province squeezed by a $24-billion deficit, no one is holding out much hope of a cash injection.
The fare-hike decision rests with the TTC, but other city councillors expressed concern about the move.
“It’s understandable in the [fiscal] climate but rarely makes sense to raise TTC fares,” said Councillor Adam Vaughan (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina). “Senior levels of government have a responsibility in this area.”
Over the past four years, the province has provided annual sums to support the TTC operating budget, without ever pledging to a permanent share of funding. In the late 1990s, a previous Conservative government ended the practice of paying for 50 per cent of the TTC operating budget.
Councillor Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre) unsuccessfully called for a small increase last year to keep pace with rising costs.
“This year they are trying to plug the gap,” he said. “It is really too little, too late,” he added, arguing that a 50-cent hike more accurately reflects what the TTC needs to balance its books.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/ttc-proposes-fare-hike/article1351264/
