The working poor took a mild kick in the vitals Wednesday. The Toronto Transit Commission imposed fare hikes.

In addition to taking more money out of the working poor's pockets, it'll do wonders to get more cars off the road! :)

Here's an excerpt from the Toronto Star article:

Adult cash fares will jump 25 cents and the price of tickets and tokens will rise by a dime starting March 6, the Toronto Transit Commission decided last night at a rancorous meeting where commissioners were accused of betraying the city's working poor.

As a sweetener for the sour news, the TTC also approved the introduction in September of a $30 weekly transferable pass that families, friends and co-workers can share. The price of a monthly Metropass remains at $98.75.

"I don't like having to raise fares," said Councillor Howard Moscoe, who chairs the TTC. "We haven't had a fare hike in two years and it barely covers inflation. We've tried to make it as painless as possible."

The fare increases will add about $10 million to the TTC's coffers this year and helped balance a very contentious budget.

Fare hikes historically cost the TTC some riders; the transit system lost 90 million of them between 1991 and 1997 through a combination of fare increases and service cuts, and 10 million after fares went up in 2001.

But officials now estimate ridership will grow from 418 million in 2004 to 426 million this year because the increase is supporting the cost of adding new bus service through the day to previously underserved suburban areas.

"Our decision was whether we were going to do a slight increase in fares or scrap the ridership growth strategy, and we managed to retain the ridership growth program," Moscoe said.

Combined with about $10.2 million in cuts by deferring some hirings, building new bus loops and repaving parking lots, the TTC passed new operating and capital budgets.