Higher fares for less service? A breakdown of what the TTC's proposed budget means for riders

The Toronto Transit Commission board has passed what TTC CEO Rick Leary is calling the toughest annual budget in decades.

Mayor John Tory first announced some changes to the TTC operating budget last week, touting some $53 million in new spending largely focused on making the system safer in the wake of several violent incidents.

However, according to the budget report, the plan also comes with a 10-cent fare hike and lower service levels at certain points in the day, even as the transit agency tries to lure back riders it lost after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

While city council has yet to approve TTC's operating budget for 2023, the fare hikes and service cuts are set to come into effect this spring.

"Difficult decisions had to be made with respect to both our core service delivery model and to fares," Leary told the TTC board.

"What you have before you today is a balanced approach in the face of lower ridership and revenues and pressure of inflation."

Here's what the changes could mean for your wallet and commute:

The TTC measures its service levels through the number of hours service is provided each week.

Last year, the commission was set to provide 180,200 total hours of service. With this new plan, the number of total hours served will fall to 164,200, representing a roughly nine per cent decrease across the board. 

But those cuts won't be felt equally on TTC buses, streetcars and subway trains.

Data from November shows buses ran closest to maximum capacity at 97 per cent service levels. Proposed cuts will bring that down by three percentage points by the end of the fiscal year.

Streetcars will take a steeper hit, decreasing from 92 per cent to 87 per cent service levels.

But trains are set to bear the brunt of the service cuts. In November, scheduled service sat at 90 per cent. By December, they'll sit at 75 per cent service levels.

Effectively, subway trains will come at least every six minutes or less in most cases, the budget report says, but can take as long as 10 minutes to arrive.