One fare, one map: should the agencies merge?

The GTA has the TTC, MiWay, Brampton Transit, YRT, Durham Region Transit, Oakville Transit, Burlington Transit, Milton Transit, GO, and the UP Express. A trip from Ajax to Mississauga can involve four of them.

Fare integration has moved. One Fare, since February 2024, makes the second leg free when you tap between GO, the TTC and the 905 systems, up to $1,600 a year for a daily commuter by the province’s count, and about $117 million a year in reimbursed fares. It was funded to March 2026 and has been extended for two more years. It is a real improvement, and it is a subsidy with an expiry date rather than a structure.

What has not changed is the planning. Routes are still drawn by municipalities, still terminate at boundaries, and still meet each other at timings nobody coordinated.

The case for a single agency is that the labour market is regional, the commute is regional, and the only thing that is not regional is the institution running the buses.

The case against is that a merged agency answers to nobody in particular, and that the last time this region reorganised its institutions by provincial decision, it did not go especially well.

Sources: Metrolinx, One Fare · CBC, One Fare extended for two more years · Mass Transit, the early results