Public transit riders should brace themselves for another fare increase, TTC chair Karen Stintz said Friday night.

“We’ve tried to do everything we can to avoid it,” she said. “But we still have a gap, and unless something changes we’ll need to close the gap through a fare increase.”

In a letter to TTC customers, Stintz suggested a fee increase is on the way if the province doesn’t cover more of the $1.5 billion it costs to run the TTC.

“The current support from the province, while truly welcome, is not enough,” the letter said.

The TTC received $91 million from the province for operations in the 2010-11 fiscal year. That amounts to six per cent of costs, which Stintz said is “inadequate.”

TTC commissioners will decide next month whether to raise 2012 fares by 10 cents. Its next meeting is on Dec. 14.

With the province giving “no indication” it will provide more money and the city looking for savings, the commission will have to make some “difficult choices” despite trying to avoid increasing fares through staff layoffs and service cuts, Stintz said.

“We’ve exhausted all of our options.”

Stintz’s comments follow the news that Mayor Rob Ford’s budget cuts will take a toll on 62 transit routes across the city in 2012. The TTC board voted for the service cuts to help meet Ford’s directive that all city departments and agencies slash spending by 10 per cent.

The TTC will save $15 million per year by reversing service enhancements made as part of its ridership growth strategy, back to 2004 levels.

TTC fares went up 25 cents in Jan. 2010.

Stintz’s letter to riders comes one day after the TTC’s first quarterly TTC town hall meeting, which put transit executives face to face with riders airing complaints.

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