This came in through today’s whitewater rafting on the information rapids: the Toronto Transit Commission’s report to council on why it should get a five-cent fare increase.

On page 8, the report writers include a comparison chart of the subsidies provided to various transit systems in various cities. (My attentive readers will remember that my post a few days ago noted that ALL transit routes in Vancouver require a subsidy of one sort or another. Fares simply do not cover the cost. That’s true for transit systems as a whole, everywhere.)

Before anyone jumps to conclusions of incompetence, btw, I’d make the point that transit systems that have to serve newer large sprawling cities as opposed to transit systems that get to serve older, denser cities seem to require more subsidies.

Los Angeles, currently revered by transit nerds because of the money its mayor is spending to build new rapid-transit lines, is close to $5 per rider subsidy. Vancouver is almost at $3. Toronto is around 80 cents.