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The Ontario government wants to give itself the power to set transit fares across the province — a move some in Toronto are celebrating as a step towards a more integrated transit system in the GTA, while others are apprehensive about what it could mean for the TTC.
The province is proposing a host of transit-related changes as part of a new bill meant to speed up home construction and make public transit easier to access and build.
The legislation says Prabmeet Sarkaria, the minister of transportation, could make regulations that set fare prices, define fare categories and establish discount policies for certain transit systems.
The act doesn’t specify which transit systems might be impacted, but any regulations to change fares would have to be posted publicly by the government on its regulatory registry.
At an announcement at Queen’s Park on Monday about the proposed legislation, Sarkaria said the changes lay the foundation for an expansion of Ontario’s One Fare program.
“This would allow us to work with municipal and regional transit agencies towards a more unified fare structure, including common fares, discounts and free transfers across the network,” Sarkaria said.
Mayor Olivia Chow wants Toronto transit riders to be able to board for free after a certain number of rides per month. Lane Harrison explains.
The TTC’s 2026 budget, passed in February, included a third-straight fare freeze and a new fare discounting system known as fare capping. The transit advocacy group TTCriders now worries about what the legislation could mean.
“We wonder what’s going to happen to [those affordability measures]. What is the fare going to be if there’s this universal GTA fare, and how will it impact transit riders?” Andrew Pulsifer, executive director of TTCriders, said.
“We’re very concerned. I mean, [the premier] has a history of meddling in the City of Toronto’s policies.”
Mayor’s office reviewing proposed legislation
Coun. Josh Matlow, who sits on the TTC board, said he thinks the concept of fare integration is a good one.
“That all being said, each transit system’s fare is a critical and core part of how each of them budgets and each of them have different priorities, different challenges,” he said.
“How a uniform fare prescribed by the province would affect the local decisions that each transit system needs to make, that needs to be up for some meaningful conversation.”
Sarkaria was asked Monday how transit agencies are expected to control their own budget if they can’t set their own fares. The minister said it would be a “very consultative” process.
As the city faces questions about the speed of the Finch West LRT, the concerns dominated Wednesday’s TTC board meeting. CBC’s Lane Harrison talks through the discussions and what came out of them.
“They will be a part of this every step of the way and we will work with them on every one of the challenges that they outline,” he said.
Freezing TTC fares for the third straight year was among the first measures touted by Mayor Olivia Chow in the letter attached to her 2026 budget.
A spokesperson said her office is currently reviewing the proposal and what it could mean for the city.
“The mayor’s position is that anything new needs to be affordable and in the best interest of Torontonians,” Braman Thillainathan, the mayor’s press secretary, said in an email.
Board of trade supporting province’s idea
The move is being welcomed by the city’s board of trade, who published a report last month calling for integrated fares across the GTA as one of several recommendations to create a more unified transit network in the region.
Giles Gherson, the board’s CEO, said harmonizing fares would be an important step towards that goal.
“We just think it’s so important to easing congestion, getting more people to use the system,” he said. “You get so much more effectiveness out of a transit system, out of a network if it’s integrated.”
