The TTC wants to open the subway an hour earlier on Sundays — at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. — starting Jan. 3, and is recommending that buses and streetcars match those hours starting later next year.

The early Sunday service is one of five recommended improvements being considered by the TTC's budget committee on Monday in conjunction with a series of fare increase scenarios of up to 25 cents a ride.

The other service recommendations include improved reliability on buses, streetcars and trains; three-minutes-or-better frequency on the Yonge-University subway until 10 p.m.; running streetcars to the new tracks on Cherry St., and adding express buses in off-peak hours on four routes.

A staff report calls these "low-cost service enhancements relative to the major transit investments currently under study." They would benefit hundreds of millions of riders a year, it says.

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The cost, $9.6 million next year and $23.8 million annually starting in 2017, is not included in the TTC's proposed operating budget. But the report says the changes could come within six months if council approves the funding.

The extra hour of Sunday service — including the subway, buses and streetcars — would cost about $1.4 million annually, attract 800,000 more riders and benefit 6 million customers, says the report.

It has the backing of Mayor John Tory, who released a letter to the TTC board on Thursday, urging it to support the earlier openings.

"The people of Toronto should be able to move around this city with ease — seven days a week — and the TTC plays an instrumental role in providing this mobility," he said.

The TTC has traditionally opened the subway later on Sundays to give crews extra time to complete work at track level that doesn't get done during shorter weekday shutdowns between 1:30 a.m. and 5:45 a.m.

To make sure the work still gets done, the TTC is rearranging the overnight storage of trains and discontinuing the practice of running out-of-service trains partway along the lines.

While riders will see a subway train on their platform at 8 a.m. if they live close to the storage yard, others will have to wait a few minutes while the train moves down the line to their station, says the report.

"Even this one hour of extra service on Sunday will have several hundred thousand rides made possible. It affects that many people. There's a lot of people moving around," Tory told reporters.

TTC chair Josh Colle has already said he favours freezing the cost of the monthly Metropass and looking instead to raise cash and ticket prices. In part, that would persuade more people to switch to the electronic Presto fare system that will roll out across the entire TTC by the end of next year.

A 10-cent hike on all fares would generate $36 million to $41 million. A 25-cent increase in cash fares would raise only $6 million. All fares require a city subsidy, since rider revenue covers only about two-thirds of operating costs.

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The five recommended improvements would need to be approved by the TTC board, which meets Nov. 23. The budget would then go to council for approval.

The TTC implemented new service this year, including free rides for children 12 and younger, more frequent buses and the restoration of service that was cut in 2012. Those enhancements cost $95 million annually and are included in the budget proposal.

The TTC is still looking at a $53-million shortfall on next year's proposed $1.8-billion operating budget. It is asking the city for a $573-million subsidy next year, about $90 million more than this year.