She’s 25 to 54 years old, employed, rides off-peak hours to work and makes a surprising amount of money.

The typical TTC rider fits the public transit stereotype in many ways except for one: instead of being middle-class or working poor, her family brings in more than $85,000 a year.

Thanks to telephone polling carried out in every quarter for the past two and a half years, the TTC now has a handle on who rides the rocket and why.

“The stereotype of who uses transit simply isn’t true,” said TTC spokesperson Chris Upfold.

Slightly more than half the riders are women (57 per cent) and 66 per cent are employed. The majority of riders are aged 25-54 (55 per cent), while only 16 per cent are under 25 and 29 per cent are 55-plus.

Only seven per cent of passengers are unemployed or stay-at-home, while 13 per cent are students and an equal proportion are retirees.

These numbers seem to indicate that the cost of bringing in free or subsidized passes for unemployed people would be reasonable, but Upfold points out that seven per cent of the $1.2 billion the TTC takes in in fares every year is still $84 million.

Twenty-six per cent of riders have household incomes above $85,000, a larger percentage than any other single income group among those willing to divulge their bracket (26 per cent of respondents declined to answer the income question).

A full 68 per cent take the subway, 47 per cent the bus and 34 per cent the streetcar. Most people ride between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (37 per cent), while 21 per cent ride before 9:30 a.m., and 27 per cent in the evening rush, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

More people ride transit daily (42 per cent) or several times a week (34 per cent) than just once a week (12 per cent) or less often (12 per cent).

Almost half use tokens (45 per cent), while 26 per cent use a Metropass and 13 per cent use cash.

The TTC polls 1,000 people by phone every quarter, and bases statistics on the total sample over time, which now tops 8,000 people, said Upfold. The organization hopes to use the information to better identify its customers’ needs.