By: Sophie Chong
The upcoming 2018 Toronto mayoral elections has sparked debate on the possibility of free public transit in Toronto.
Ryerson graduate and mayoral candidate, Saron Gebresellasi, has advocated that the goal of free public transit is attainable.
Students want it
Results of a recent poll at Ryerson showed that one third of Ryerson students strongly supported free public transportation.
“It would be great because it would be something I don’t have to worry about paying for,” says business management student, Kieran Huang-O’donnell.
As someone who pays three separate fares to commute to Ryerson almost every-day, Huang-O’donnell says he spends just under $100 per week on public transit.
“I’m already stressed out about paying back my credit card debt, my school textbooks, food, stuff like that,” he said. “If I didn’t have to pay transit, I could focus on my school work instead of being pressured to work more days just to keep up with the increasing transit fees.”
Other students around campus have made their feelings clear about paying the daily presto fees.
Film student Aleeze Siddique says not having to pay the $1200 that she spends per semester on transit in Toronto, would be amazing.
“I would definitely want free transit,” she said.
Siddique takes the MiWay bus that operates in Missasauga, and takes the TTC to Dunadas Square to Ryerson.
“Even if Ryerson students could get free TTC, not even free MiWay or free GO transit, that would be a big help and save a lot of [students’] expenses.”
It’s not impossible
The idea of a free transit system is not a completely far-fetched idea. It has been attained already by a few countries around the world.
In 2013, the city of Tallinn in Estonia became the first European capital to offer fare-free services on buses, trolleybuses, and trams to those registered it its municipality.
For two euros, which is the equivalent of three Canadian dollars, residents could use all public transit for free. According to an article by the Guardian, the city reported a 25,000 increase in the number of reported residents within the city. Local authorities in turn received 1000 euros of each resident’s income tax every year (about 662.62 dollars in Canadian).
The Strategic Regional Research Alliance based in Toronto have an objective to lead the research about the best policies for public infrastructures, and pursue issues in funding and the development of urban transportation.
Glenn Miller, who is the co-founder, says that free public transit is a “good idea”.
“Compare it like this,” he said. “We don’t would even dream of charging people of using the elevator to the 70th floor, so you could be making the same argument for transportation; why would you charge someone to move from work to where they live?”
Toronto mayoral elections will take place on Oct 22.
Ryerson School of Journalism students conducted in-person surveys about Toronto election issues with 1,081 undergraduate and graduate Ryerson students in October prior to the municipal election. The results are considered accurate to within plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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