TTC needs a culture change

Before the Spadina streetcar shut down for repairs, you could sometimes witness a phenomenon when disembarking at the station.

- EDWARD KEENAN

A graduated fine system for TTC fare evasion is a welcome idea, Edward Keenan writes, but with a lowered fine, there should be ramped-up fare inspection.

If fare inspectors were at the exit gates, your fellow passengers would engage in a frenzy of belated fare-card tapping, some of them discreetly on their way off the streetcar as they saw the line form for proof of payment, others sneaking out of the line to run back to the car to tap.

It could be shocking, the realization of just how many of your fellow passengers have not paid their fares when they were supposed to. Plenty of them middle-aged, apparently middle-class, professional-looking people.

It seems the culture of riding the TTC has become one where many people view paying a fare as optional.

The numbers back up that conclusion. At a transit meeting last week, a report detailed how the estimated rate of fare evasion has more than doubled since 2018. On subways, the report says, 6.3 per cent of passengers on the subway are now skipping out on paying. On buses, there are twice as many freeloaders. On streetcars, the rate is an eye-popping 29.6 per cent.

The commissioners voted to look at some ways to do something about it. And that’s probably a good thing.