Ontario to end discounted PRESTO fares between TTC and GO Transit this spring

Discounted PRESTO fares between GO Transit and TTC customers will be eradicated this spring, according to Metrolinx.

For the past three years, users have experienced the luxury of a $1.50 discount on fare when transferring between the GO or UP Express and the TTC with a PRESTO card.

That agreement will end as scheduled, Metrolinx says, on March 31.

Funded by the province for up to $18.4 million annually, the company says it has covered a $9.3 million shortfall since the program’s launch.

In the near future, solutions will be proposed to help customers travel across the region using different modes of transit, Metrolinx says.

Metrolinx has issued an update on the scheduled end of the DDF program pic.twitter.com/wobnEBvQyS

— Metrolinx (@Metrolinx) January 22, 2020

“Fare hikes are not the way to encourage ridership. Forcing commuters to dig into their pockets for an extra $1.50 a trip is going to hurt the monthly bottom-line for already-squeezed working people,” Official Opposition critic for Transit Jessica Bell said in a release.

“No one should be charged two full fares for a single trip to work. But now, due to Doug Ford and the Conservatives’ funding priorities, the entire discount is scrapped. This is just another example of how Doug Ford is taking commutes from bad to worse.”

News of the discount’s end comes mere weeks after Metrolinx announced that customers may soon have to pay for parking at GO stations.