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Your City,
10/20/2010
I want to get on/off/on the bus
No, I’m not opposed to taking transit. I just want to be able to step off now and then to run some
errands. The TTC, on the other hand, wants to hold me hostage.
While many other transit systems have payment systems that allow riders to hop on and off during a set Transit failures, b
travel period, the TTC carries on with an arcane transfer system that completely handcuffs its riders. -- is there a crisis
The TTC’s system works only if I am willing to go directly from A to B. But God forbid that I want to stop at government? Joi
C for some groceries or D to pick up my child from school. you’
Subscribe to this
Scrutiny of the strange tear marks on my grubby transfer by a brow-furrowed streetcar operator will
instantly betray my radical quest for freedom from the TTC’s transfer rules. The only exception is the “pilot” Recent
on St. Clair’s 512 streetcar. rig4365
This system isn’t good for transit riders – and it isn’t good for our climate. It isn’t good for our climate jerryann
because it artificially limits our use of transit for multiple short trips and makes us opt for the car instead. Alexco38
Samantha
Unless you are a monthly pass holder, the cost of multiple trips is simply too great. (And the TTC’s
Metropass is actually one of the least generous among major Canadian cities in providing a net financial Sarah
benefit to the average transit user, although about half of daily users now have passes.) I’d just as soon ken
buy time on the system as individual rides. DianaB
Al on
With that innovation in place, I would then be free to run many more errands on transit. One other service
would make this a really attractive option: I need local retailers to get back into the delivery business. iSkyscraper
matt
I had to laugh (ruefully) at a Toronto Star reporter’s description of some guy hauling a snow blower onto a
jam-packed streetcar. We’ve all been there – either as the person being pushed aside by the woman with Archives
a giant new microwave or as the person struggling up the streetcar steps with some large and awkward October
package. September
How great would it be to support local shops while getting goods delivered to your door (maybe even by August
bike trailer)?! This is a real economic opportunity for small retailers struggling to compete with big box July
stores equipped with hundred-acre parking lots. June

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Your City, My City Page 2 of 5

If the TTC lets me get off and shop locally and I can then get my purchases delivered to my door, the May
vibrancy of local shopping streets is going to be a lot greater. And that, in turn, is good for my April
neighbourhood, giving me more opportunity to walk, bike or take transit the next time I need milk – or March
something bigger.
Categories
About Julia Langer
Arts
Posted by Julia Langer at 01:29:53 PM in Author: Julia Langer, Transit, Transportation Author:
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Save to Delicious Tweet This! Digg This Reblog Author: Dan
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Comments Author:
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post. Author:
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Innovation at the TTC? Really? Never knew it could happen. Author:
Posted by: mustardman | 10/20/2010 at 01:52 PM Author: Jim
Yep, excellent suggestion. Ottawa's bus system does this, they even have fancy printed transfers, instead of the Author:
clumsy old ones that TTC drivers tear off. Author: John
Another good idea would be a reduced fare during off-peak times. This move would also encourage people to take Author:
transit at nights and weekends for quick errands. Author:
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So instead of paying $6 for a quick bus ride to the bank, people are paying $2. Revenue would drop, but ridership
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would increase by quite a bit.
Author:
Posted by: Israfel | 10/20/2010 at 01:54 PM
Author:
what you just wrote makes such obvious sense. I have seen that very same system in Amsterdam and it works
Author: Pat
beautifully; lots of commuters hopping on and off within the time allowed in a single fare time slot. Great suggestion
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for TTC to consider seriously
Author:
Posted by: SDalal | 10/20/2010 at 01:57 PM
Author:
TTC management is mired in 1962. I can't think of anything innovative that they have done on their own. Everything
Author:
is done by pushing them, screaming and kicking, to do it. Announcing stops for passengers with visual problems? A
Author:
court order was required -- and then the drivers don't have to do it -- we had to pay for recordings to make the
announcements. Author:
Author:
I also hold the union responsible for this backward approach, but good management in other cities has managed
Author:
their labour relationship to the benefit of passengers and the city.
Author:
I wish it were better: I'd be eager to go back to the TTC instead of reluctant. (I have a car again, for the first time in
Author:
11 years) after moving to a small town last year, then returning to Toronto earlier this year).
Budget
Posted by: CK DesGrosseilliers | 10/20/2010 at 02:06 PM Business
child
With VIVA in York Region, you are able to do that. I stop all the time to grab something for dinner after work, a book
Commuting
at the Richmond Hill library, or if I'm early in the morning I'll get off at a Tim's a get a coffee and then hop back on.
Crime
The believe the tickets are good for 2 hours after you stamp them. It's very nice.
Culture
Posted by: abc123 | 10/20/2010 at 02:10 PM Current

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Your City, My City Page 3 of 5

I think there´s a point here. I have to pay twice for just getting off to pick up my daughter at daycare and on to the Environment
same bus again. Daycare is only two blocks away. Transfers should be valid for at least 1 hour. Mississauga transit Food and
has that option and it´s really convenient for most riders. Games
Posted by: Lovemycity | 10/20/2010 at 02:18 PM Housing
Julia Langer for Mayor. Infrastructure
Posted by: Brian S. | 10/20/2010 at 02:18 PM Newcomers
This is currently available in York Region, a bus ticket is valid for 2 hours from when you buy a viva ticket. It is very Parks
convenient... Politics
Posted by: S | 10/20/2010 at 02:20 PM Public
She's right of course: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Rail_Zone Sports
For that matter, who would pay for the cost to take the subway for one stop: assuming a driving cost of $0.30 per Taxes
km, it costs 60 cents to drive from Sheppard Station to York Mills versus $3 on the TTC. Television
Posted by: bka | 10/20/2010 at 02:23 PM Transit
Let's be clear here. The TTC is not a child that likes to "play well with others." Transportation
Travel
Frankly, the level of selfishness that the TTC displays is ridiculous. They won't accept transfers from other systems
withing the City of Toronto, they charge extra to go beyond the city limits too. They are the ONLY system in the
Vision
GTA than doesn't allow this ridership behaviour, and it's just a little counter-productive. Web/Tech
Weblogs
I believe it's time for Metrolinx to step in and take over the TTC with a mandate of making the transit services
throughout the GTA, and even the Golden Horseshoe a unified and sensible system. Twitter
Maybe the adoption will encourage them to grow up. thestar.com

Posted by: Cameron | 10/20/2010 at 02:26 PM Your City My

lots of people are already doing it. Its up to the driver whether to question the transfer or not. Many of them just
don't want to bother or have an argument with a hostile person with a foreign accent.

By the way fares are much more expensive in London and no, you can't get on and off as you please with the same
fare.
Posted by: Helen Goldfarb | 10/20/2010 at 02:31 PM
Dear Julia,

Please check with the TTC before writing this article. You are currently allowed to make a 30-minute stop, do some
shopping and get back on the bus with a transfer.

Posted by: John Smith | 10/20/2010 at 02:39 PM

Vancouver also has a 2 hour hop on/hop off system, making public transit much more desirable. Interestingly, the
transit system in Vancouver is under attack in the Keep TTC public campaign...

Posted by: Ashley | 10/20/2010 at 02:44 PM

This means that the TTC should be moving to a system-wide time based transfer system, same as those applied in
YRT/VIVA, Brampton Transit, MiWay (Mississauga), Burlington Transit, Milton Transit and Oakville Transit. But, the
TTC is afraid of losing money since it will pave the way to accepting transfers to and from the 905. But the TTC
should accept them anyways.
Posted by: Maria Selimovic | 10/20/2010 at 02:49 PM
Takes money to do something like that, and the lost revenue that would happen is what's really stopping the TTC
Blog Roll
from doing this. If people are willing to pay more to subsidize the TTC then more good things can be done, but right
Alexandra
now with a per rider subsidy of $0.63 you just can't do it. Now if you want to provide what York Region does to
Kimberly Silk
transit, over $4 per rider subsidy, then we would have one of the greatest transit systems in the world, with all the
Dalton
fancy perks, but we all saw how people cried foul when the TTC fares went up a whole quarter. If you want good
things you have to pay for it. Spacing

Posted by: Kev | 10/20/2010 at 02:49 PM

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When I lived in Vancouver in 1980 I was able to hop on, hop off the buses within a 2-3 hour period of time. When I
Related Li
moved to Toronto in '85 I found this was not an option with the TTC and have complained about it ever since. Its
Today's Online N
just another one of those things demonstates the TTC is NOT the better way.
TheStar.com
Posted by: RichardB | 10/20/2010 at 02:49 PM
More Star
As disappointed as I was with the Ottawa Transit system when I first moved here from Toronto a few years back...
TheStar.com Pho
I must say... the system you described has been in Ottawa for ages. TheStar.com
In fact, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary all have better transfer system's than the TTC. Commenting
Its not just a "Euro" or "Asian" thing to have innovative transit options. Advertisem
Its a Canadian thing, less your in Toronto. The fare system is so out dated. Montreal already has a system similar to
what PRESTO is suppose to be, except its already up and running.

Heck, even on the Quebec side of Ottawa (Gatineau), they have a smart card fare system in place.
Posted by: k | 10/20/2010 at 02:49 PM
In Portland,Oregon streetcar use is FREE in the downtown core.

Posted by: Karinky | 10/20/2010 at 02:50 PM

This would be ideal, combined with a proof-of-payment policy system-wide.

It baffles me that public transit systems in Canada, not only the TTC but VIA Rail and I think Go as well, make
people stand in line to get on so that their tickets can be checked, after they just finished standing in line to pay.
Most trains and transit systems in Europe use proof of payment because, if you fine people who are caught without
proof of payment consistently, it works as well and maybe better ensuring people actually pay. And you can then
allow people to board through any door (on a bus or streetcar) or gate (on the subway) which would practically
eliminate waiting in line.
Posted by: Phil | 10/20/2010 at 02:54 PM
This is one of the big issues I have complained about for the past few years. Cities as close as Mississauga allow
the timed transfer system, the TTC still doesn't. It is very inconvenient to have to pay one fare to stop at the store
for 15 mins, and another fare to go back. Has the TTC every addressed this issue, explaining why it isn't feasible?
Posted by: Adrian | 10/20/2010 at 02:55 PM
"And the TTC’s Metropass is actually one of the least generous among major Canadian cities in providing a net
financial benefit to the average transit user"

Julia, do you have a source for this information? I had thought it was the opposite - I'd always heard the Metropass
was one of the better deals in Canada. Thanks!
Posted by: Josh | 10/20/2010 at 03:05 PM
Dear Helen:
This is the first time I heard that. It is great if there are any references from what you have just pointed out.
Thanks
Posted by: Tuan Tran | 10/20/2010 at 03:05 PM
Helen is NOT correct, there is no 30 minute "shopping window" - though you can, of course, usually pop in to buy
something IF you are at a connecting point and it doesn'rt take too long. You can't get off Bus A to shop and
reboard Bus B on the same route.

The main problem with TTC transfers is that it's a stupid system that confuses people (why can't you start walking
and then catch a bus?). It is also a major cause of arguments with drivers. Has the 'test' on St Clair worked? If so Legal Noti
expand it. If not find out why, as noteda bove it works in MANY other Cities. TheStar.com
Posted by: DavidSu | 10/20/2010 at 03:19 PM Copyright Toront
Helen, if that 30-minute rule is true they've certainly not publicized it well. The TTC transfer I picked up on the 504 rights reserved. T
yesterday says on it "This transfer can be used at TTC transfer points for a one-way continuous trip with no the w
backtracking" and "Must be used at first available transfer point (cannot walk to next stop)" and "Not valid for the Toronto Star

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Your City, My City Page 5 of 5

stopover" -- the last one is bolded. None of these rules give me the impression that making extra stops along your not responsible
route to do chores and re-boarding is okay. on external sites
Posted by: CityPainter | 10/20/2010 at 03:21 PM republication of a
..one of the many reasons why the TTC is not an option! without
Posted by: Michael | 10/20/2010 at 03:22 PM Newspapers Lim
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http://thestar.blogs.com/yourcitymycity/2010/10/i-want-to-get-onoffon-the-bus.html 2/1/2011