TTC internal report on fare evasion raises red flags over lost revenue

The TTC’s ability to enforce proper fare payment is “poor,” according to an internal report drafted by the transit agency, and the organization now says a policy designed to address the problem is on hold.

A TTC position paper that was among a set of previously unpublished documents obtained by the Star warns “TTC revenue control has been increasingly constrained as a result of broad, successive changes to policy over the last three years.”

“These changes were approved over time to provide easier travel for passengers yet were cumulative which resulted in poor revenue control,” says the paper, which is marked “confidential draft” and dated Feb. 9, 2018.

The documents outline numerous policies and logistical problems that they say have hampered the TTC’s ability to ensure customers don’t cheat the system. Fare evasion costs the agency tens of millions of dollars a year.

The challenges include the introduction in 2015 of new rules that allow children 12 and under to ride free. The program was backed by Mayor John Tory and has proved popular, but the paper states it has “introduced a significant risk for the TTC.”

The implementation of all-door boarding on the streetcar network later that year “further compounded the lack of revenue control,” the paper says.