YRT Fare Increase: Worst in the GTA?

October 20, 2007 - York Region Council has passed a motion this past Thursday to increase York Region Transit fares AGAIN. Single adult cash fare will go up from $2.75 to $3, making it the most expensive single ride cash fare in the entire GTA. The only city that I can think of with a cash fare of $3 is the City of Ottawa, but even there, they have large subsidies for those who buy passes and tickets.

According to YRT officials, fare increases is a way to keep up with the rising costs of delivering transit service in the region. Officials are calling it part of an annual exercise, stating that fare increases could be annual event. Despite dramatic increases in ridership, transit riders still currently only cover about 40% of the operating costs of YRT/VIVA - a far cry from the TTC's 80% and Go Transit's 90%.

This begs the question - does YRT/VIVA operate efficiently? In particular, with VIVA, is it operating at a level where it can actually be sustainable? In theory, the goal of VIVA is to provide transit service to parts of York Region before new dense developments take place. This means efficient transit service will be provided the minute people move in- thus, people won't have to switch from their cars to transit - something that is pretty hard to do in our car-friendly culture. In practice though, this might not be as efficient. Running empty buses through the empty fields of the future downtown Markham, for example, generates zero ridership. The VIVA Green route, in particular, is so severely underused that YRT recently cut the service back to rush-hour only.

Kudos for York Region to tackle the congestion issue through public transit though. While much improvements have been made, transit riders won't care when they are slapped by a fare increase every year. Even transit supporters like me have a hard time swallowing fare increases (this of course, is right after the TTC increased its fares). I have to say though, YRT's customer service is much much better than the TTC's, but in terms of reliability, it still has a long way to go. You're fine if you stick to the major routes (like VIVA or #99 Yonge/Bernard or #91 Bayview for #1 Hwy 7), but if you like any of the local routes, you're doomed. For those that complain about their TTC bus not coming or the subway being too crowded, try waiting for the #4 Major Mackenzie bus for 40 minutes, in the middle of winter. This is after you have spent 40 minutes on the subway and another 30 minutes going up Yonge Street from Finch Station. Until you have that experience, you really shouldn't be complaining about unreliable bus service at all.