This year’s TTC operating budget will exceed $3 billion
TTC chair Jamaal Myers said the transit agency needs to significantly boost ridership in order to improve its finances
The TTC’s operating budget is about to become more massive than ever, according to a plan passed by the TTC board.
Before a TTC budget meeting yesterday, TTC chair Jamaal Myers told reporters that the transit agency needs to significantly boost ridership in order to improve its finances.
With a $210-million increase over last year’s $2.82-billion budget, the 2026 budget is set to exceed $3 billion for the first time ($3.03 billion, to be precise).
Related: Toronto’s property taxes will increase this year
According to Toronto Today, taxpayers will cover $1.48 billion of that, which represents 49 per cent of the transit agency’s overall operation costs—a $94-million increase in the city’s contribution compared with last year.
These are big numbers, but it could get worse. Next year, a $1.2-billion deal signed by Mayor Olivia Chow and Premier Doug Ford, meant to partially cover transit, will expire. Toronto Today noted that “without a renewal, the TTC could face a $379 million shortfall in 2027 and a $145 million deficit in 2028.”
John Montagnese, the TTC’s interim chief financial officer, said that for the possible 2027 gap to be closed through fare collection, the cost per ride would have to reach the unlikely price of $5.20, up from $3.30. (For this year, Chow has already announced a fare cap and has again frozen fares.)
Chow has expressed confidence that the deal will be renewed, but others are more concerned. “The amount of red ink that runs through the entire TTC budget is absolutely terrifying,” said Councillor Dianne Saxe, who is on the TTC board. “I’m really worried about next year.”
Last year’s TTC fare revenue fell $46 million below expectations, with six million fewer rides than in 2024.
Related: Who broke the TTC? Inside Toronto’s public transit disaster
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
