Give it more time and more marketing. That’s what transit officials counselled when the first test of an integrated TTC-GO fare got off to a slow start last winter.

But it hasn’t worked. Apparently $60 a month — the cost of access to the GO trains at Danforth and Exhibition stations for TTC Metropass holders — is too much even if it does give commuters a more comfortable, faster ride to Union Station.

In the five months between the pilot project’s launch Feb. 1 and the end of June, only 338 commuters bought the special Metropass stickers giving them GO privileges. Of those, 134 were sold in the first month of the fare integration experiment.

Since then, Metrolinx has launched its $50,000 marketing effort for the co-fare program, including a TTC station platform video, billboards, posters, social media and in-station announcements.

However, only 18 of the stickers have been sold at the Exhibition station, where Councillor Mike Layton (open Mike Layton's policard) had argued GO was a needed alternative to west-end commuters vexed by the over-crowded King streetcar. By comparison, 271 stickers sold at the Danforth GO station and 70 at Union.

Metrolinx wouldn’t comment on the sales.

But the issue of how transit riders cross system boundaries is already on the horizon with Mayor John Tory (open John Tory's policard)’s SmartTrack proposing to carry TTC riders on the GO tracks far beyond the south end of the Lakeshore East and West lines.

As early as November the TTC board will be looking at a new Presto-enabled fare structure that some think should include a fare-by-distance provision.

But TTC chief customer officer Chris Upfold says a speed-based fare is more likely. The TTC already charges for speed by doubling the fare on its downtown express buses that make fewer stops and get riders to their destination faster.

“I think you can make the argument that people might be willing to pay more for a faster trip rather than to pay more for a longer trip,” he said.

Distance-based fares would mean the people with the least service and longest trips would pay the most.

Other considerations under study, said Upfold, include:

Whether to continue the “all-you-can-eat” Metropass or go to a capped system such as GO uses where Presto users get a discount once they exceed a pre-determined number of rides.

Two-hour transfers.

Senior and student discounts.

And an off-peak fare that Upfold says could free up room on the system.

“If we can start to move a little bit of our demand away from exactly 8:30 a.m. If I can shift it to 8:45, or 9, that buys a whole lot of extra capacity. Transit agencies spend a lot of money moving one hour’s worth of people,” he said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Meantime, Upfold says the sluggish results of the fare pilot suggest that TTC riders are satisfied customers.

“From a product standpoint, the TTC product is very good, that we offer a good service at a good price,” he said.

The addition of buses to supplement the King streetcar last fall and new operating practices that have drastically reduced those pesky short-turns, may also have played some small role.

But Layton, who pushed for the GO-TTC co-fare, thinks those are marginal factors.

“Anything was better than what it was and it continues to be difficult,” he said. “Maybe you’re getting on the third streetcar or bus instead of the fifth.”

While he agrees cost has discouraged some GO use, Layton says it’s time to ask residents what they want.

“Since we started proposing this as a notion I don’t think anyone’s sat down with the community and asked what can we do here,” he said, adding that kind of ridership research is in the purview of Metrolinx and the TTC.

“If you look at the conceptual idea of SmartTrack this is essentially a testing ground,” he said.

Layton wonders if something as simple as renaming the station by adding “Liberty Village” to “Exhibition” would make it clearer that the GO facility serves that neighbourhood.

“To get from Liberty Village to city hall it was something like 40 minutes on the streetcar versus 25 (on GO). There’s an obvious reason to do it, so why aren’t people taking that?”

Read more about: