After successive fare increases during the first three years of his term, Mayor John Tory says he wants the TTC to freeze the cost of riding transit next year.

Fielding questions at a news conference at the TTC’s Hillcrest Complexon Tuesday, Tory said he expected TTC staff to hold the line on fare prices when they table the agency’s preliminary 2018 financial plans, which could happen within a matter of weeks.

“The work is underway now on the budget and it will be presented as it is. But certainly my wish as the mayor, and I have one vote on the city council when it comes to the budget ultimately, is that it will be presented with no change in the fares,” he said.

The city manager has asked that the TTC and all other agencies make board-approved budget submissions by Oct. 1.

Last November, the TTC board approved a 10-cent fare increase for 2017, pushing the cost of adult ride using a token or Presto card to $3, and an adult Metropass to $146.25.

At the same meeting the board voted in principle to freeze fares in 2018, which is a municipal election year. While the board’s decision on next year’s rates isn’t considered binding, Tory said it was his “expectation” that it would be honoured.

The price of TTC tokens has increased every year for the past six years, and since 2009,the cost of tokens and monthly Metropasses have both gone up by roughly 33 per cent, far outpacing the rate of inflation.

During the 2014 election, Tory promised not to raise fares during his first year in office. He broke that pledge weeks after becoming mayor however, announcing a 10-cent increase the same day he unveiled plans to invest $95 million in transit service and let children 12 and under ride free.

Balancing the TTC’s $2-billion operating budget without a fare increase won’t be easy. Even if the agency doesn’t improve service levels, its costs are expected to increase by at least $126 million next year, according to a May report from the city manager.

Council has already voted to freeze all 2018 department budgets at 2017 levels. In order to make that target without resorting to a fare hike, the TTC would have to offset the expected $126-million increase by cutting costs elsewhere.

“The challenge becomes, how do you balance a budget without (the revenue from a fare increase)?” TTC chair Josh Colle said Tuesday, calling the budget process “a very difficult balancing act.”

The 10-cent fare increase instituted this year was expected to generate $28.7 million in revenue.

“The plan right now is not to increase (fares) and I think commissioners will hold to that commitment,” Colle said.

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Jessica Bell, the executive director of transit advocacy group TTCriders, said that a fare freeze is a “step in the right direction,” but argued that the cost of taking the TTC should be slashed.

“We have people all across Toronto who are working on minimum wage, who have difficulty paying all their bills and paying for public transit,” said Bell, who is also the Ontario NDP candidate for University-Rosedale.

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