Toronto has not tripled its per-trip rideshare fee, and we found no new congestion surcharge on any City page. The 2026 user fee list does show one small rise: the accessibility fund regulatory charge on Uber and Lyft trips goes from $0.10 to $0.11, up 10%. That is one cent a ride.
What the City’s fee list says
Each year the City publishes user fee adjustments for Council to approve with the budget. The line for the Private Transportation Company Reserve Fund, Accessibility Fund Regulatory Charge shows $0.10 per trip in 2025 and a recommended $0.11 for 2026. Council adopted the 2026 budget on February 10, 2026, but we could not open the vote on this one line. Treat $0.11 as the City’s recommendation and check the current fee schedule on toronto.ca.
The charge supports accessible vehicle-for-hire service. Riders see it inside the fare, and drivers don’t keep it.
What we could not confirm
The earlier article described a fee rising from thirty cents to ninety cents a ride, plus a new congestion surcharge. We looked for both on City fee schedules, by-law pages and the budget notes and found neither. Both are removed, along with the personal fare story. A missing page isn’t proof that nothing else changed, and platforms add their own fees. But we won’t print a figure we can’t source.
What one cent costs
A rider with three rides a week takes 156 trips a year. At $0.10 the charge is $15.60. At $0.11 it is $17.16, a difference of $1.56 for the year. A heavy user with 500 trips pays $5 more.
Why a receipt can still jump
If a ride cost far more than last time, this charge is rarely the cause. The app sets the base fare, distance and time charges, demand pricing and any booking fee. Cold nights, closing time and big events push demand up together. Then HST at 13% goes on top.
Say the app quotes $18.00 before tax. HST is $2.34, so the receipt shows $20.34. If demand lifts the fare to $27.00, HST is $3.51 and the total is $30.51. The tax rate is the same both times, and the fare does the damage. Check any receipt with the GST/HST calculator.
Comparing a ride with the TTC
Since September 1, 2026 an adult PRESTO fare is $3.30, and after 47 paid trips in a calendar month rides are free, so the most a rider pays is $155.10. Eight rideshare trips a month at $20.34 cost $162.72, already above that ceiling. A late ride home serves a different purpose than a daytime commute, so cost is one input among several. The TTC fare cap calculator shows where your own trips fall.
Those tips are general, and no single one is certain to lower a fare. Waiting ten minutes or walking a few blocks from a crowded pickup spot sometimes helps, and the itemized receipt in the app shows which line moved.
Where it fits in the budget
The per-trip charge isn’t part of your property tax. The 2026 operating budget is $18.9 billion, with a residential tax rise of about 2.2% (0.7% plus a 1.5% City Building Fund levy), or about $91.53 on an average assessed home of $692,140. If you rely on rideshare, the budget calculator shows how the fares sit next to other costs.
What would change our answer
A new per-trip fee or a congestion surcharge would appear in the user fee schedule, the by-law updates page or a Council decision. Until an official page confirms one, the firm facts are short: one accessibility charge recommended up by a cent, HST at 13%, and fares driven mostly by the app. See also the PST / QST Sales Tax calculator, and the full set of tax calculators.
Sources
- City of Toronto, 2026 user fee adjustments
- City of Toronto, Vehicle-for-Hire
- City of Toronto, 2026 City budget
Common questions
Did Toronto triple its per-trip rideshare fee?
Last reviewed: . Figures come from the official sources listed above. How we check the numbers and our editorial policy.