August Puranauth is a transit user and campaign manager for advocacy group TTCriders. They remember how four years ago, TTC fares increased and service went down. It was a time when more people were working from home and ridership was way down.
Then, under the current city council, fares were kept frozen and service cuts were reversed. “Transit’s gotten meaningfully better,” Puranauth says. They also point to a couple more recent wins with “dedicated bus lanes on Dufferin, and there’s been the introduction of fare capping,” which means that after 47 rides per month, every additional ride is free.
But, they say, “that doesn’t mean that transit is perfect. There’s still a lot of issues with the TTC,” and riders have identified several priorities. Those include improvements to service and reliability, including dealing with slow zones on subway lines.
Safety is also a concern, and it has become a major talking point in this mayoral election. Personal safety concerns are the second most common reason that some people say they are riding less than they were pre-pandemic, according to polling by Liaison Strategies. The only stronger factor was changes to their routines, like working from home.
Mayoral candidate Brad Bradford has promised to put a police substation at Union Station, but it turned out that substation was already in the works. Bradford also pledged to put officers at every single subway station.
Olivia Chow, while mayor, oversaw the establishment of the Toronto Community Crisis Service as the city’s fourth emergency service. In November, these crisis workers were deployed to TTC stations on line 1, available 24/7 along the downtown “U” section.
The TTC under Chow also added more security cameras, and subway riders can use the SafeTTC app to report bad behaviour on subway platforms to transit control, who then issue targeted announcements.
Transit expert Steve Munro says security concerns on public transit are a problem in many cities, not just Toronto. “Part of it has to do with a lack of service for people in crisis, including the provincial government deciding to force the closure of supervised consumption sites.”
“We’re kind of grudgingly providing more services to support people, but it’s clearly not keeping up with the scale of the issue,” Munro says.
“So there’s a general issue with public safety and I think it is being overplayed by the right — essentially it’s a scare tactic…. Yes, there are issues, but it’s not on the scale that is claimed.”
Chris Alexander, who is also running for mayor, wants to increase fare for adults from $3.30 to $3.40 as well as introduce surge pricing during peak hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
He also proposes more fare enforcement, which already ramped up under Chow.
Munro doubts the benefits of fare crackdowns. “The issue with fare evasion has always been, it’s kind of diminishing returns. You can spend a lot on fare enforcement [but] the incremental benefit you get declines. You have to assume that the people you’re going to catch are people who would otherwise pay a fare and ride the system, as opposed to freeloaders who are just not going to get on.”
Chow, meanwhile, is focused on making transit more affordable. If reelected, she says she’ll expand fare capping so rides are free after you’ve paid for 10 in a week.
While it will save people money, polling shows that affordability isn’t a major factor in why people are taking the TTC less than they were pre-pandemic.
“The public is also very clear on what would get more people onto transit,” says David Velentin with Liaison Strategies. “More frequent and reliable service is first at 29 per cent, followed by improved personal safety at 19 per cent. Lower fares are not the lead answer. Reliability is.”
Not much was said on the reliability front in the first month of the mayor’s race.
Bradford has previously promised to introduce refunds for passengers who face delays of over 15 minutes. As mayor, Chow has overseen improvements to the reliability of lines 1 and 2 through upgrades and changing maintenance practices, but hasn’t made new promises. Alexander mentions construction and signal timings on his website.
For his part, Munro is doubtful that there will be meaningful improvements to the TTC anytime soon.
“It’s kind of a glass half-full-half-empty thing,” said Munro. “There’s lots of potential there, but you have to want to do it. And I’m not sure the politicians in Toronto — and I pretty much include everybody in this — really want to invest the effort and the money necessary to substantially improve the TTC.”
This article appeared in the 2026 Oct/Nov issue.
