The TTC board has approved a first step toward peak-hour pricing of transit fares where rush-hour riders would pay more than those who travel at less busy times.

It was among a series of price structure changes adopted on Wednesday as part of the TTC’s preparations for rolling out the Presto card system-wide by 2017.

Among the changes was a move to a single cash fare that would remove the cash discount for seniors and students. Other discounts would still be available for those groups.

The TTC expects to have Presto readers on all its buses and in all its subway stations by the end of next year. That’s when riders will have to tap their card on an electronic reader to enter the system and tap off to exit the subway through new fare gates.

Streetcars already have the readers.

Many of the changes are designed to push riders toward the new electronic payments as the TTC eliminates tickets and tokens, and dramatically reduces the amount of cash it handles.

The electronic system allows the TTC the option of automatically deducting a higher fare off riders’ Presto accounts at the busiest times.

“Because so much of our ridership is off-peak, to give a 5-cent discount in off-peak would require a 15-cent increase during peak,” said TTC deputy CEO Chris Upfold, who is managing the Presto launch.

That would be based on a two-hour peak period but the technology could would allow the system the flexibility to make it a 15-minute period or just charge a flat fare after a certain time in the evening.

A quarter of the TTC riders travel between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

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“Transit systems around the world spend the bulk of their money providing service for a relatively short window of time because you gear up to carry that number of people in that peak hour,” said Upfold.

“If you can shift any of that demand it means you have people who are travelling when it’s less busy so they are happier and you don’t have to expect never-ending increases in your peak,” he said.

Peak-hour pricing would be considered as part of the 2018 operating budget so the specifics likely wouldn’t be decided until 2017.

The fare structure makeover comes less than a month after the TTC board approved a 25-cent cash fare hike and a 10-cent increase in the price of tokens in the New Year.

Other Presto fare recommendations approved by the board include:

The migration of weekly and monthly Metropasses on to the Presto card in 2016.

A proof-of-payment honour system across all TTC modes in 2017 that would extend the fare inspection system implemented on all 11 streetcar routes on Monday.

Also in 2017, VIP Metropass customers, who buy their pass through an employer, would be transferred to the MDP (Metropass Discount Plan) for riders who commit to buying a pass for the entire year in 2017. That program would then be sold through Presto.

Forty per cent of adult Metropasses and 20 per cent of senior and student passes are purchased through those discount programs.

Extending proof-of-payment throughout the system will depend on having enough fare inspectors, said Councillor Josh Colle, who chairs the TTC board. An increase in inspectors was among several TTC requests, including earlier Sunday openings, that were not covered in a proposed city budget released Tuesday.

“We’ll have to see how that plays out. There’s no doubt for proof-of-payment to work we need an accompanying increase in transit enforcement,” he said.

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TTC officials have been warning the public that the transition to Presto will be complicated.

“This is going to require huge public communication and public outreach to educate our passengers, especially in the early stages. So many people use our system and so many people are set in their ways, trying to change that behaviour is going to be a challenge,” said Colle.

The TTC has yet to decide how to handle cash customers on buses or whether to even maintain that option. One possibility is to have a single-use Presto card dispenser on board the vehicles.

The TTC is the last transit system in the Toronto region that hasn’t fully signed onto Presto. But it is expected to be the first to have the next generation of Presto that will allow riders to pay their fares with a credit or debit card or cellphone. It’s not clear when that feature will be available.

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