Ontario proposes steeper fines for GO Transit fare skippers
· Toronto Sun
The province is ready to crack down on fare evasion on GO transit — by raising fines significantly.
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The Ontario government is looking to make a number of transit changes, including expanding the One Fare program, which would require transit agencies across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to unified fare prices, and improve services across municipalities.
One major change would be raising fare evasion fines on GO transit from $35 to $200 for first-time offences, while subsequent offenders would face up to $500 in fines.
The current maximum penalty is $200.
About 5% of riders skip out on GO transit fares, which costs the province around $21 million a year.
What other changes can Ontarians expect?
The fine hike and plethora of other changes are all part of the Building Homes and Improving Transportation Infrastructure Act, new, wide-ranging legislation that was introduced at Queen’s Park on Monday.
The One Fare system, which was introduced in 2024, allows riders to transfer to and from different municipal transit agencies within the GTHA without having to pay more.
The program has saved Ontarians over $230 million so far, according to the province.
The latest legislation, dubbed One Fare 2.0, would expand on the current program by requiring transit agencies to adopt the same fare levels, and include Hamilton and Halton transit systems.
Saving travellers more?
“This would allow us to work with municipal and regional transit agencies towards a more unified fare structure, including common fares discounts and free transfers across the network in order to make transit faster, easier, more affordable for people across the GTHA,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said at a news conference,” Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said during Monday’s news conference.
Sarkaria added that the province will be consulting with municipalities “every step of the way” on any changes.
“The principle and the concept of it is to drive more ridership, is to drive more individuals onto our transit systems, and as well, at the same time, bring forth a seamless transit system that works together collaboratively with all of our regional transit agencies,” he said.
“They will be a part of this every step of the way, and we will work with them on every one of the challenges that they outlined, from fares to timing to services to levels of service across the entire network, that would be our plan.”
Other proposed transit changes include the harmonization of GO station designs, a new rideshare regulatory framework for communities along the corridor of the Northlander, the train service that connects Toronto with Northeastern Ontario, as well as the previously announced plan to allow all travellers to use provincial highways’ high-occupancy vehicle lanes in off-peak hours .