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Stintz will discuss zone-based TTC fares – once Presto pay card in place

Read More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle7964874/

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The idea is not new – many cities, including London, have zoned systems – but can be controversial. Advocates say a zone-based system makes heavy users pay up for their service while detractors say the poor are unfairly hit and that distance is a crude way to measure value.

- The Presto pay card isn’t expected to be fully implemented across the TTC until 2016. “Before we would make a decision to go toward zoned fares we would want to see what the impacts are on those who use the system,” she told reporters at City Hall. “But as it becomes more integrated, as we implement Presto, I think then we can begin a discussion about whether or not a zoned fare makes sense.”

- But long-time local transit advocate Steve Munro argued instead that a system allowing unlimited travel within a discrete period is a better solution. It’s an idea that the TTC is testing on St. Clair, where a transfer allows up to two hours of travel in any direction.

- Mr. Munro said the situation is more complicated than is portrayed in the professors’ report. He noted that distance travelled is only one way to measure value to riders. People who wait in the snow for the Queen streetcar and then can’t get a seat might argue that they are paying more than the service is worth. People whose homes have access to a subway line, meanwhile, get a better deal for their token than those who have to take surface transportation.

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