TTC stops selling tokens

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is halting most sales of tokens Monday as it tries to prevent hoarding in advance of a January fare increase.

Tokens will still be accepted for fares on the city's buses, streetcars and subway lines, but the TTC will be selling a temporary adult ticket beginning on Monday.

TTC spokesman Brad Ross said riders were hoarding tokens — and costing the TTC money.

"Last week, for example, in one day we lost almost $45,000 in token sales," Ross said. "People are purchasing tokens at 2009 fare rates, more than what they’re actually going to need."

The temporary paper tickets won't be sold after Jan. 2. They will be accepted until Jan. 31, but after the fare increase takes effect, riders will have to pay an extra 25 cents to use one.

Counterfeiting fears played down

Adult tickets were discontinued last September because the TTC thought they were too easy to counterfeit. At the time, the TTC estimated it was losing as much as $400,000 a month because of counterfeit tickets.

But TTC chair Adam Giambrone said he isn't too concerned about the adverse effects of counterfeiting on the transit authority's bottom line for the next few weeks.

"One of the reasons we didn't announce this measure earlier is to avoid any lead time for the counterfeiters to get ready. We expect it will probably take at least a couple of weeks …for the counterfeiters to get up and running," Giambrone said.

"Remember, it's not just producing the [counterfeit] tickets, you also have to establish the networks to distribute them. And those networks technically became dormant for a year. Are they re-establishable? Absolutely. But these tickets will only be sold for five weeks."

Purchases of multiple tokens won't be allowed until after fares increase in January. Single tokens can still be bought from vending machines, but only the temporary tickets will be sold at TTC counters.

The TTC fare hike was confirmed last week — a single cash fare will rise to $3 from $2.75, starting Jan. 3. The price of an adult monthly Metropass is set to increase to $121 from $109.