Pedestrians cross Queen Street West in front of a westbound TTC streetcar at University Avenue. The Queen streetcar route currently has a four-door ‘honour-based’ boarding and payment system, a model the city is planning to implement on all its streetcar routes.FRED LUM/The Globe and Mail
TTC chief Andy Byford is proposing to roll out all-door boarding and an "honour-based" payment system on all of the city's streetcars by the beginning of next year.
The transit commission, which already allows all-door "honour-based" boarding on the Queen streetcar, had originally intended to roll it out system-wide by the end of 2019. But Mr. Byford said that, upon further reflection, the commission has decided to move that date forward.
"We don't think it's right that customers should have to wait until 2019, so we are proposing to roll out proof-of-payment – the honour-based system – across the whole streetcar network, all-door boarding, all day, all routes, by the beginning of January, 2015," he said.
Mr. Byford said the proposal is subject to board approval later this month, and that the commission would be seeking to hire up to 80 new enforcement officers to prevent fare evasion on top of the 20 they've already hired.
Mr. Byford said that fare evasion and counterfeit fares on the Queen route currently cost the city $2-million a year. But he said that enforcement until now has been "hit-and-miss," and that things would change with the hiring of more officers.
The proposal comes a day after a city staff report that blamed King streetcar delays on long loading and unloading times.
Ann Hui