Toronto area fare integration set to boost ridership, halve costs for some commuters

Internal projects suggest a new Toronto-area fare integration program could be used almost 160,000 times per day and boost ridership by 24,000.

Fare integration across the Greater Toronto Area could be used almost 160,000 times per day and attract thousands of new public transit riders, according to the province’s internal estimates of the impending policy.

The Ford government is set to eliminate costly double fares across the GTHA in early 2024 — a policy the government said would save riders an average of $1,600 per rider per year.

The policy was originally supposed to be delivered before the end of 2023.

An internal government summary of the upcoming Toronto-area transit fare integration policy obtained by Global News lays out new details of the program and its potential impacts.

“The new provincial funding program introduces free transfers for TTC to GO Transit and TTC to Durham Region Transit, York Region Transit, MiWay and Brampton Transit,” a briefing for the recently-appointed Minister of Transportation said.

The policy is also set to become a key Ford government affordability pledge when it launches in early 2024.

“We’re working with our partners here at Metrolinx to make it more convenient and affordable for people to use transit,” Premier Doug Ford said in a recent video promoting the new policy.

The document, obtained using freedom of information laws, predicts people who use the program will save “approximately half of their daily transit costs” when the plan launches.