The Ontario Liberals' campaign promise of$1 public transit fares to boost ridership and cut costs for commuters is drawing mixed reactions from advocates and analysts, with some contending the money would be better spent on increased and more reliable service.
"I think it's really good in the sense that we're actually having a conversation about transit fares because they are, frankly, a mess in a lot of the province. But I think that this proposal kind of misses the mark," says Reece Martin, a Canadian transportation analyst who hosts a popular YouTube channel with more than 100,000 subscribers.
"What I think [public transit agencies] need is operating subsidies so that they can operate more service," Martin said.
"If you're in Markham or Oakville or a lot of other places across the province not to mention Kingston or North Bay having a $1 fare on the bus is great. But if the bus only comes once an hour or once every twohours, it's still a really inconvenient service to use."
The $1 fares, which the party is calling "buck-a-ride, provincewide," would kick in this year and run until at least the end of 2023. Monthly transit passes would also be capped at $40, the Liberals promised. The party saysthe proposal would cost about $710 million in 2022/2023 and roughly $1.1 billion in 2023/2024, and that the government would replace all lost revenue to transit services.
At a news conference this week, Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said the fare reduction would take about 400,000 cars off Ontario roads each day and make life more affordable for commuters.
WATCH |Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca on his plan to slash transit fares provincewide:
The proposal was welcomed by some Toronto-area transit riders who spoke to CBC News Monday morning.
"That's amazing," said Jay Sharma outside St Andrew subway station. "Right now, I pay close to $140 [per month]. So that'd be nice."
A Liberal party official saidinternal modelling done in consultation with transit experts suggests the $1 fares could result in a 20 per cent increase in public transit usage across the board in Ontario.
There's no question that a dramatic drop in ridership caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has proven a persistent problem for public transit services.
The Ontario Public Transit Association (OPTA), an industry advocacy group, estimates that on average operators are running at roughly 60 per cent pre-pandemic levels.
That figure varies widely, however. Anne Marie Aikins, spokesperson for Metrolinx, said the GTHA regional transit agency is currently seeing about 35 per cent pre-COVID ridership levels, while operating 55 per cent of its pre-pandemic services.
Because public transit agencies in Ontario rely on farebox revenue for a significant percentage of their operating budgets, and in some cases a majority, lagging ridership threatensfuture viability.
OPTA estimates that for every 10 per cent drop in ridership, transit systems lose, on average across the province, $245 million in revenue. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) alone is forecasting a $561 million revenue shortfall in 2022.
That is why commitments for stable operating funding should take priority over across-the-board discounted fares, according to Gideon Forman, a climate change and transportation policy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation.
"The research generally shows that for people who are comfortably off, middle income or higher, the major issues around transit are convenience, speed, reliability, those sorts of things," he said.
Deep fare reductions for low-income Ontarians, coupled with money for better services on existing transit networks and new projects could be the key to improving ridership to pre-pandemic levels and beyond, Forman said.
Terry Johnson, president of the non-partisan advocacy group Transport Action Canada, called the prospect of $1 fares "an exciting idea" that could encourage some drivers to ditch their cars for public transit, while offering relief to Ontarians hit hard by rising inflation.
Cheaper fares need to be balanced with major investments for the future, he added.
"We have to be doing the triage that's needed post pandemic to encourage riders to return," Johnson said, but without money in the short termfor transit improvements, it will take even longer for networks to recover.
"If service drops off because the funding isn't there, the drop in ridership will likely be longer and it will be harder to rebuild."
The Liberals have previously committed to a $375-million increase in annual subsidies for the operating costs of municipal transit services.
Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of the Toronto-based advocacy group TTCriders, said it was this element of the Liberals' public transit plan that most caught her attention. She says the commitment is a "good first step" but questions if it would be enough to help transit providers dig out of their pandemic holes.
"We are wondering, is it going to be enough to protect municipal transit from the service cuts that ... may be on the horizon as transit agencies continue to face COVID shortfalls because of lower ridership?" she said.
Until the 1990s, the Ontario government covered 50 per cent of operating costs for public transit agencies. Since 2013, provincial funding has come through transfers from gas-tax revenues.
Both the Ontario NDP and Green Party have committed to reintroduce the 50 per cent operatingcost-sharing model for municipal transit services, which the parties say would allow agencies to cut fares over time.
The Progressive Conservatives have put much of their focus on large transit infrastructure projects, promising $61.6 billion over 10 years as part of the capital spending plan presented in the 2022 pre-election budget last week.
When it comes to transportation-related affordability measures, the PCs have largely targeted drivers by scrapping license renewal fees and pledging to cut the provincial gas tax by 5.3 cents per litre for six months beginning on July 1.
In March, however, the government did drop some local transit fares for riders using the GO Transit network to connect to and from their local systems. The province also increased discounts for youth and post-secondary students.
Premier Doug Ford's government also provided a one-time infusion of $120 million to municipalities with public transit services to make up for lost gas-tax revenue as residents drove less during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That funding came in addition to roughly $2 billion in joint federal and provincial money that went to municipal transit services through the Safe Restart Agreement in 2020.
This year, Ottawa announced a one-time infusion of $750 million to municipalities countrywide, $316 million of which went to Ontario. The province then matched that funding, which was intended for not only public transit but all municipal services.
In the 2022 budget, the province conceded that the funding "may not be sufficient to address municipal transit pressures" and called on the federal government to provide a further influx of money.
Read more here:
There are pros and cons to the Liberal plan for $1 transit fares, experts say - CBC.ca
- Fox News Anchor Comes Unglued, Berates 'Dumb' Liberal Colleague - The Daily Beast - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Mathew Chandy '24, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - UConn Today - University of Connecticut - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Will No One Rid Me Of These Meddlesome -Isms: Thinking and Rethinking Liberalism - Front Porch Republic - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Why market demand doesn't capture the value of the liberal arts | Letters - Tampa Bay Times - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- See what the students were wearing for the School of Liberal Studies at Savannah High prom - Savannah Morning News - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Is a $330000 liberal arts education still 'worth it?' - Los Angeles Loyolan - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Judge installed by liberal Democrats over centrist Hochul pick responsible for Harvey Weinstein ruling - New York Post - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Liberal Cities, Conservative Towns Seek Supreme Court's Help on Homelessness - The Wall Street Journal - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Luke Grimes on Yellowstones liberal critics: A lot of people see a cowboy hat and think, thats not for me - The Independent - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Liberal pundits really do have weekly meetings to 'shape' message on Trump - Washington Times - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Trump slams 'Bidenomics' ahead of court, claims to have a 'good chance' of winning liberal state - Fox News - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Ones a Conservative, Ones a Liberal. Heres Their Secret to Friendship. - InsideHook - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Bill Cotterell: What? NPR is liberal? Say it ain't so - Tallahassee Democrat - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Orban: Hungary is island in the European progressive liberal ocean - bne IntelliNews - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- NY Times keeps spotlight on NPR crisis on heels of Uri Berliner blowing whistle on liberal bias - Fox News - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- CPAC Hungary: ex Polish PM Morawiecki warns of "destructive ideas of liberal elites" - Notes From Poland - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- The biggest threat to freedom in the West is liberalism itself - The New Statesman - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Letter: NPR Editor Berliner reveals liberal bias of network - Arizona Daily Star - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Chicago native says residents livid over liberal mayor's new migrant funding, ready to vote for Trump - Fox News - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Ontario Liberal leader says Dresden landfill project could be nixed with 'stroke of a pen' - The Chatham Daily News - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Opinion: The Liberals' immigration policies have accomplished the opposite of what was intended - The Globe and Mail - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- At Issue | Was the Liberal budget a bust with Canadians? - CBC.ca - April 27th, 2024 [April 27th, 2024]
- Have the Liberal Arts Gone Conservative? - The New Yorker - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Letters to the Editor: 'I see myself in Katie Britt' what liberal critics missed in the senator's response - Los Angeles Times - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Even when it criticizes Israel, the liberal world is not against us - opinion - The Jerusalem Post - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Former Trump Aide Alyssa Farah Griffin Becomes a Liberal Favorite - The New York Times - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Renowned author, liberal arts proponent to deliver annual Lester Lectures - Mercer University - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- NYU to Host Zaheer Ali at the Annual Liberal Studies Student Research ColloquiumApril 5 - NYU - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Power to the Neighborhoods!: New York City Growth Politics, Neighborhood Liberalism, and the Origins of the ... - Joint Center for Housing Studies - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Canada's Conservatives back NDP-Liberal anti-scab legislation that undermines the right to strike - WSWS - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- The Surprising Left-Right Alliance That Wants More Apartments in Suburbs - The New York Times - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- PARKER: Clarence Thomas, liberal racism and the ongoing denigration of Black conservatives - Kankakee Daily Journal - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Liberal Media Scream: Hollywoods freaks over Trump - Washington Examiner - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Why liberals failed in the fight against antisemitism - JNS.org - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Liberal Renew manifesto sneak peek and bits from Bucharest congress - EURACTIV - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Katie Britt calls on liberal media 'to pay attention' to border - 1819 News - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Liberal truck wash cited $171k for OSHA violations - KSN-TV - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Over 30,000 Killed in Gaza, but Even Israel's 'Liberal Left' Says: That's War - Opinion - Haaretz - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Liberal Man Injured in Beaver County Accident - KSCB News.net - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- What is the Market's View on China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd (CLEU) Stock's Price and Volume Trends Monday? - InvestorsObserver - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- German liberals send defence expert into tripartite EU election leadership team - EURACTIV - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Ramaswamy warns liberal justices 'buying political latitude' with 9-0 ruling as more Trump cases lie ahead - Fox News - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- How much of this is propelled by white liberal guilt from executives?: Gutfeld - Fox News - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Liberals and the Libel of Christian Nationalism - The Imaginative Conservative - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Liberal Arts & Science Academy - Austin extends home winning streak to seven - MaxPreps - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Liberal Racism and the Denigration of Black Conservatives - Daily Signal - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- Watchdog group exposes radical, liberal ideology of school-based health centers - The Lion - March 12th, 2024 [March 12th, 2024]
- What happens when a liberal learns her family owned slaves? - Leader & Times - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Is it Liberal Arts, Without the Arts? - Xavier Newswire - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Quebec Liberal Party would be more popular with Denis Coderre at the helm: poll - Montreal Gazette - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Maine's Liberal Members of Congress Stand by Biden After Disastrous, Confused Press Conference - The Maine Wire - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Liberal Media Scream: Kristen Welker likes to lecture Republicans, too - Washington Examiner - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Australia's only Liberal government lives on - for now - Yahoo News Australia - February 11th, 2024 [February 11th, 2024]
- Liberal institutions are the threat to liberal institutions Claudine Gay is warning about - Washington Examiner - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Elon Musk, the "free speech absolutist" kicks liberal journalists off Twitter - Daily Kos - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Liberal Arts and studies in humanities under attack on college campuses - The Community Word - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Liberal candidate for federal byelection planned to run for Conservatives last year - National Post - January 10th, 2024 [January 10th, 2024]
- Bill Barton: 'The Liberal by the Bay' - Redheaded Blackbelt - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- OPINION | Female-dominated liberal arts imperative in male-dominated tech world - Tulane Hullabaloo - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts job with Tarleton State University | 37572379 - The Chronicle of Higher Education - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Laughing Stock: 'A liberal agenda' may not be what you think - Tucson Weekly - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Justin Trudeau plays the Trump card - POLITICO - POLITICO - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Norman Lear, Producer Of TV's 'All In The Family' And Influential Liberal Advocate, Dies At 101 - Newstalk 750 - 103.7 ... - KFQD - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Kremlin Taps Liberal Businessman to Oppose Putin in 2024 Election Report - The Moscow Times - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Norman Lear, producer of TV's 'All in the Family' and influential liberal advocate, has died at 101 - WV News - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- MoveOn Carries Out Layoffs as Liberal Groups Struggle to Raise Money - The New York Times - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Norman Lear, producer of TV's 'All in the Family' and influential liberal advocate, has died at 101 - El Paso Inc. - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- UW System President suggests universities with high numbers of low income students should shift away from liberal arts - Wisconsin Examiner - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Norman Lear, producer of TV's 'All in the Family' and influential liberal advocate, has died at 101 - The Caledonian-Record - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Israels representative in New York resigned to protest Netanyahu. Now hes got some tough words for liberal New York Jews. - Forward - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- Neal Milner: Watch That Swinging Door, Liberals, Lest It Hit You On The Way Out - Honolulu Civil Beat - December 7th, 2023 [December 7th, 2023]
- The Liberal Answer to Cancel Culture - Manhattan Institute - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Study: Liberal US priests facing 'progressive' extinction - The Pillar - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Liberal Jewish U.S. Groups Are Walking an Oh-So-Thin Tightrope - The New Republic - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Why a liberal arts degree is often a ticket to career success - USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Open Forum: In their time, founding fathers were liberal - The Winchester Star - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Liberals announce National Campaign Committee Co-Chairs - Liberal Party of Canada - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- UT College of Liberal Arts hosts panel about Senate Bill 17 - The Daily Texan - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Liberal Arts student uses platform to educate others on the ... - Pennsylvania State University - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]
- Stanford celebrates 50 years of Structured Liberal Education ... - Stanford University News - November 8th, 2023 [November 8th, 2023]