TTC, GO Transit, UP Express all providing free rides on New Year's Eve

For Toronto residents braving the freezing cold on Sunday evening to celebrate a brand new year, there will be plenty of free ways to get around.

TTC service will be free from 7 p.m. on Sunday to 7 a.m. on Monday.

GO Transit, including both trains and buses, and UP Express, for the first time ever, will be free as well after 7 p.m.

"There is no excuse for drinking and driving, now that all over, the transit is free," Anne Marie Aikins, spokesperson for Metrolinx, a provincial transportation agency, said this week. 

The TTC says it expects to move 250,000 riders on New Year's Eve and into the early hours of 2018.

TTC offering 'reverse surge pricing'

"We want get people to and from where they need to be safely," Stuart Green, spokesperson for the Toronto Transit Commission, said this week.

Green said this year is the fifth year that the TTC has offered free service on New Year's Eve. The service is being made available with the help of Corby Spirit and Wine, a Toronto-based distributor of spirits and imported wines.

The TTC is charging what he called "reverse surge pricing," he said.

"As our demand goes up on New Year's Eve, we will be charging nothing," he said.

GO Transit offering extra late-night train service

Aikins said even if people are only going to the airport, there will be no fare for the UP Express.

There will be extra late-night service on GO trains on Sunday night, she said. 

"Lots is happening, and the free service, of course, on Sunday night for New Year's Eve is a great option for people so they can get to and from their parties safely," she said.

Fare boxes to be covered, paddle gates opened

In a news release, the TTC said the last Line 1 trains will leave Union Station at 3:30 a.m. for Finch station and 3:38 a.m. for Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. 

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The last Line 1 northbound train will connect at Bloor-Yonge station with the last Line 2 eastbound and westbound trains and at Sheppard-Yonge Station with the last eastbound train on Line 4.

As for Line 2, the last trains will leave Bloor-Yonge station at 3:37 a.m. for Kipling station and at 3:37 a.m. for Kennedy station. The last eastbound train on Line 2 will connect at Kennedy Station with the last eastbound train on Line 3.

Meanwhile, the last Line 3 train will leave Kennedy station at 4:06 a.m. for McCowan Station, while the last Line 4 train will leave Sheppard-Yonge Station at 3:58 a.m. for Don Mills Station.

During the free period, fare boxes on buses and older streetcars will be covered and TTC paddle gates at all stations will be left open. PRESTO machines will be turned off and PRESTO card holders are being told not tap their cards.

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