NEWSTALK 1010 producer Donnie Coulter, who frequently uses the subway system, started capturing video of the empty TTC subway booths he would frequently come across. Scammers take advantage of situations like this to avoid paying the fare.
In part one of our series on the Toronto Transit Commission, we look at how bad fare evasion is and exactly who these fare evaders are.
Depending on which TTC official to talk to you, fare evasion costs $20-40 million a year. While that seems like huge chunk of cash, it is actually about 1-2% of TTC's overall budget (around $1.2 billion).
Brad Ross, Executive Director of Corporate and Customer Communications, says that $20 million lost to evasion is standard with the industry. Toronto City councillor John Campbell believes it is much higher -- thanks to the different payment methods currently being used (cash, tokens and Presto).
Former TTC Chair Adam Giambrone thinks the loss of money due to system scammers as high as $40 million. Karen Stintz, another former TTC Chair, confirms that fare evasion was costing the organization roughly $30 million a year between 2010 and 2014.
All agree that fare evasion and trying to fix it is not an exact science. The question remains, how does the TTC determine ridership and ultimately how then do they determine revenue?
Stintz Giambrone question the current TTC upper brass’s attitude, saying that fare evasion is not being acknowledged as a big problem -- and not being given the priority it deserves.
TTC officials believe once Presto is fully implemented system-wide, that they will have one, accountable and definable payment option. Presto has been repeatedly delayed. It's current schedule for completion is the end of 2019 at an additional cost of $9 million -- for a total of $120 million to fully implement.
The TTC acknowledges that while all-door boarding makes it easier and faster for riders to get on transit vehicles, it makes the system difficult to police. The Fare Inspectors check around 5% of riders a say on streetcars. By comparison, Go Transit Fare Inspectors check 1 in 20 riders on train routes.
The hodgepodge of fare payment options and lack of policing give scammers an easy way to steal rides -- developing strategies to do so. Fare evaders have told NEWSTALK 1010 that they plan which streetcars are the easiest to sneak on to; the best times of day to avoid paying; and which subway stations they can get into when no one is in the booth.
This week, NEWSTALK 1010 will be probing TTC management for what they can do to fix the system and stop the commission from bleeding money.