Once every so many months the Toronto Transit Commission that governs over Toronto's subways, trains, street cars and transit buses has to balance its budget. In the past, the traditional method is to simply raise the cost of TTC fares. But there are other ways to be making up the short-fall.

And thus here is MY proposal, and I admit I've stolen it from other cities that have done the same thing (and its worked wonders).

Put a tax on every litre of gasoline sold in the city. For large cities, this is actually a lot of money.

FACT: The city of Toronto uses 32 million litres of gasoline/day. People in Toronto commute a lot, plus there is also the issue of truckers, tourists, people passing through on the 401, etc.

A 3 cent tax on every litre of that 32 million litres would raise: $960,000/day. Or roughly $350 million/year. And its only an extra 60 cents for every 20 litres, so its not a huge amount that would cause drivers to complain.

With an extra $350 million/year, the TTC could build more subways on a regular basis, keep trains/buses up to date and safe, and maintain the same fare prices.

Furthermore, even if people did complain about the price increase, their only solution would be to take the TTC themselves (at a cost of $1200 annually for unlimited travel), which means the TTC would still be making more money anyway.

In the future 90% of people will live in cities. There is no reason why those cities should be using cars most of the time. There should be subways within a 5 minute walk of anywhere you go. I've been to cities where that is already the norm (Seoul, South Korea) and people there normally never use a car. Almost everyone prefers the subway because its faster and convenient.

The problem with the TTC right now is that they are still in a growing/building stage. Eventually the plan is to have 90% of Torontonians using the subway all the time, at which point fares could actually go down because as a public service they are not allowed to make a profit.