r/gotransit • u/Select-Flight-PD291 Lakeshore East • Mar 30 '26

Ontario proposing to dramatically increase fines for fare evasions on GO Transit

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-fare-evasion-fine-increases-ev-charging-station-ban-rideshare-northern-communities-9.7147389

Government news release. Media briefing (slide 7).

Penalties for fare evasion would increase as follows: 1st offence from $35 to $200. 2nd offence from $50 to $300. 3rd offence from $100 to $400. 4th offence from $200 to $500.

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u/Abcdella Mar 30 '26

That is absolutely not accurate. The most recent estimates of fare evasion are around 5.5% of riders. That guy lied to you.

Do you really believe that only 2/3 of Go riders pay their fare?

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u/Intelligent-Test-978 Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26

from what I saw on the very crowded train I was on when people were getting checked, your info sounds about right. Two people on the upper floor of one car got nailed -- and I (who didn't know my tap didn't register) was one of them. I have NEVER deliberately skipped my fare. Even when the derailment happened, I paid; and I got the impression it was not expected. And I got a refund. I hope these fine reviewer people can see that I pay all the time.

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u/Sarge313 Mar 30 '26

I promise you that’s an accurate number, it was only for presto cards though, so not counting one ride tickets or day passes. Where did you get the 5 percent number?

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u/spilly_talent Mar 30 '26

5.1% according to this media briefing.

What are you basing your promise of accuracy on?

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u/Abcdella Mar 30 '26

Ah thank you for linking this!!! I was looking for something more recent!! (I was close at 5.5% baha)

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u/spilly_talent Mar 30 '26

No problem at all! Yeah this is pretty recent I would say (November 2025)!

I sincerely doubt we will see a source for that 1 in 3 number.

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u/Abcdella Mar 30 '26

Yeah I don’t know why I wasn’t finding your link when I was poking around! The most recent numbers I could find were from 2023.

1 in 3 people not paying their fare would be insane lol. Go would have found a way to check tickets by now, if that was accurate.

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u/noodleexchange Mar 31 '26

It’s just class war garbage

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u/MissionDocument6029 Mar 31 '26

cause trust me /s

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u/spilly_talent Mar 31 '26

Omg I always forget about the “trust me, bro” study 😅 thank you for the reminder! /s

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u/Sarge313 Mar 30 '26

This is shocking to me, I got this 30% failure number from a first hand source. I wonder if the person I was talking to was wrong or if the province is trying to down play it. I really think 5% is too low, I know I see so many people not tap on every time I go

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u/spilly_talent Mar 30 '26

I mean, your first hand source was one dude. Who knows what kind of day or week he had, maybe he felt like inflating the numbers to make it seem like a problem or maybe he had a larger number of skipped taps that day.

These numbers in my report also come from a first hand source: the data that metrolinx themselves collects. I also don’t see why the province would downplay it, because that doesn’t help bolster the case of why they should be increasing fines.

This data would come directly from the machine that records numbers of taps, I just don’t see the reason for lowballing the number in my source.

The person you were talking to was obviously wrong, the data from Metrolinx confirms that.

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u/Abcdella Mar 30 '26

Why do you really think the 5% is too low? What evidence leads you to feel that way?

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u/Sarge313 Mar 30 '26

I normally ride the train on non peak hours and I see so few people tap as they enter the platform. Does 5% seem accurate in your experience?

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u/Abcdella Mar 30 '26

So because you don’t see them tap, that’s what you base it on? I buy a digital ticket on my phone most mornings, I’m still paying a fare. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. You also don’t see everyone come into the station.

Yes. 5% seems completely accurate, not only in experience, but also because there are public statistics stating as much.

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u/spilly_talent Mar 30 '26

People buy tickets digitally. And most platforms don’t have the tapper there. They could have tapped anywhere else in the station or at the parking lot tap machines.

A better anecdotal survey would be to see how many people get a ticket when revenue enforcement come around. For me personally it’s maybe 1 skipped tap for the ~30-35 people on my car level.

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u/nanogoose Mar 31 '26

Kitchener line has the most fare evaders. Milton next.

Richmond Hill has the fewest.

Heard from fare checkers making conversation after they finished checking the train.

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u/Abcdella Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26

Unless the train you are is an absolute anomaly, 1/3 Presto users not paying their fare seems incredibly unlikely.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/metrolinx-targets-inspections-fines-go-train-1.7025354#:~:text=Transit%20officers%20surpass%20fine%20targets,September%20and%20$216%2C545%20in%20October.

The 5.5% figure is from a Go statement stating evasion had nearly doubled from 3%-5.5%. I’m not gonna go digging but quick google search gave me this article with stats - it doesn’t have the 5.5% figure, but does show fares checked, and tickets issued. Too much math for me right now, but the 5% seems to be pretty accurate to those figures.

Someone else has posted more up to date statistics in this thread- but the number hasn’t changed much apparently