Chris Alexander on TTC Fare Giveaway

“This Is What Toronto’s Mayor Looks Like When She Has No Answers”

TORONTO, August 13, 2026: This is what your Mayor is doing right now. She’s offering free TTC rides. It’s an election year. The timing isn’t subtle.

Here’s what’s actually happening. Every day, honest riders are subsidizing someone who isn’t, and the answer cannot be to make more rides free. Every year, $140 million in fares goes uncollected because the TTC hasn’t had the capacity to stop this fare evasion, and that revenue just goes up in smoke.

That’s not policy. That’s what you do when you have no answers.

“A discount before an election, without fixing the system, is an admission of failure, not a gift,” Chris Alexander said today. “It’s what you do when you have no plan to fix what’s not working. You hope people notice the free ride before they notice the gridlock.”

The math is simple. If there is less revenue, it means you cannot improve service, and it’s not surprising so many of us feel the TTC is less safe and reliable and could be cleaner.

As Mayor, I will have an immediate, substantive plan to stop fare evasion. That means real enforcement on streetcars and buses, where the system bleeds the most, and fixing broken fare gates. Not random blitzes, hoping the problem will just solve itself. That is what the current Mayor has tried. Her enforcement, at huge expense, recovered just 9 percent of the losses.

Once you recover the revenue, use it for people who actually need help with reduced fares, such as seniors and students. People who can’t afford full fare. Not a giveaway before an election. Genuine help for people genuinely in need.

“The TTC doesn’t need more free rides,” Chris said. “It needs to be managed properly. That’s what competent leadership looks like.”

Media contact:

Wilf Dinnick, 437-907-1376, press@chrisalexander.ca