TTC won't refund millions in tokens, ombudsman says
A 65-page report criticizes the transit agency's decision to discontinue tokens and tickets without public consultation or a refund policy.
The day's top stories, food & events — every morning at 7. Unsubscribe anytime.
Toronto's ombudsman is calling out the TTC for how it ended tokens and tickets as payment methods, citing a flawed decision-making process, lack of public input, and no refund policy.
In a report released Friday, ombudsman Kwame Addo said his office fielded complaints after the TTC announced in 2024 it would stop accepting tokens and tickets by year-end. That deadline was later extended to mid-2025 for the conventional TTC system and the end of 2025 for Wheel-Trans.
Residents who held hundreds of dollars' worth of tokens or tickets faced losing them entirely. When the ombudsman's office pressed the TTC on who made the decision and how, staff and board members gave conflicting accounts — some pointing to the board, others to staff. The transit agency couldn't produce records supporting either account.
In October 2024, TTC board members learned that roughly 6.7 million tokens and 573,000 tickets worth an estimated $24 million were still in circulation. Despite this, the report found the TTC collected no data on how the change would affect riders and conducted no equity impact analysis.
When riders requested refunds, the TTC denied them all. The agency cited a fare policy document that doesn't actually exist, and relied on an outdated policy some staff didn't even know about.
"The TTC lacks a consistent process or practice for making certain fare-related decisions," the report concluded. Without clear operational guidelines, it's impossible to assess whether the TTC's refund decision was applied fairly or consistently.