NDP announces motion to stop Ford’s $720 transit fare hike
QUEEN’S PARK — Today NDP Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath will debate a motion to make transit more affordable for Ontarians who commute between the 905 and Toronto for work.
Horwath’s motion calls on the Doug Ford government to reverse its cancelation of the Discounted Double Fare Program, and restore the 50 per cent operating subsidy for municipal transit agencies to help make transit fares more affordable. Next month, the Ford government is planning to scrap the Discounted Double Fare Program, which would stick commuters who use both GO transit and the TTC with an extra $720 in costs every year.
“Commuters are already paying too much for transit without Doug Ford dinging people who live in the 905 with hundreds of dollars in extra costs every year,” said Horwath. “Whether you live in Mississauga or Scarborough, this just adds insult to injury for folks who have been paying more and more for less and less. GO station parking spaces are harder to find, fares keep climbing, and transit is increasingly crowded or running late.
“The Liberals let commuters down by refusing to restore the operating subsidy for municipal transit agencies after it was cut by the last Conservative government, and Doug Ford is only taking things from bad to worse.”
In addition to scrapping the Discounted Double Fare Program, Ford cancelled a planned gas tax transfer to municipalities that would have helped them improve transit service and he cut $184 million in transit operating funding. Now Ford’s Conservatives are entertaining a scheme to make free GO parking paid, which would ding 905 commuters with as much as another $1,200 in costs each year.
“Better transit means more parents making it home on time for family dinner. It means more workers able to succeed at that dream job, far away from their own neighbourhood. And better transit means more money in your bank account at the end of every month,” said Horwath. “Ontarians in the 905 deserve that.”
“We should be making it easier for commuters in the 905 to leave their cars at home, not making it harder to take transit by piling on new expenses,” said NDP Transit critic Jessica Bell. “That’s why the NDP is calling on the government to keep the discount for 905 commuters in place and invest in transit so Ontarians can to where they need to go quickly, affordably and comfortably.”