May/June 2024 - 29

Future of One Fare program
Tamas noted YRT and other agencies
involved in the One Fare program have
met with the government of Ontario
in roundtable discussions on ways to
improve the program. The goal is to
eventually include more transit agencies
in the Greater Toronto area into both
the PRESTO payment system and the
One Fare program.
Avis-Birch adds the One Fare program
should lead to more service integration,
citing the ability to make
more connections between the transit
agencies.
" In the future, what I see is this opening
up the door and enabling us to have
more service integration, making those
train meets connect better, understanding
what we call the first mile, last mile,
about how people are going to get from
their homes to the station, " Avis-Birch
noted. " The road networks are jammed
as they are. We only have a limited
amount of parking so really creating
more opportunities, more partnerships
to make it easy and seamless for people
to get into the transit network and get
where they need to go easily. "
She noted there is an idea the One
Fare program is going to resolve all the
region's transit issues, which is unrealistic,
but the program will set the region
up for ongoing growth. .
" This idea of sustainable regional
transit network for all is an ongoing mission, "
Birch said. " We are not stopping,
particularly about connecting communities,
and we don't know what's going
to happen tomorrow, but we do want to
continue to grow and reach the customers
that we need to reach. I do think that,
ultimately, growth is the name of the
game, but not growth for growth's sake,
growth in really matching the needs of
the people in the region for where they
need to live, work and play. "
In two months, the program has seen
5 million taps, which Thanigasalam
views as a massive success but reiterates
the program is young and has tons of
room to grow.
" We are investing to make sure the
future generation, the current generation
and our seniors have the potential
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to go wherever they need to go without worrying about the
cost of transit, " Thanigasalam said. " We not only want to
make transit more affordable for everybody in the region,
but more accessible so that anyone can just tap their credit
or PRESTO card on a reader or by using their smartphone.
This is only the beginning of what we hope is a successful
partnership with transit agencies across the Greater Toronto
area for years to come. "
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May/June 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May/June 2024