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The days of free commuter parking for holders of the Toronto Transit Commission's monthly Metropass could be drawing to a close.

On Wednesday, the Commission will be considering a plan to end the practice of allowing Metropass holders free parking in the commission's lots. TTC staff are recommending that the 14,000 commuter parking spots be pay-only - a move that would raise between $2.9 and $3.9 million a year in additional revenue, staff estimate.

According to TTC Chair Adam Giambrone, the removal of the perk would push some commuters back behind the wheel and off of transit. But he maintained the increase in fees would only affect about 0.2 per cent of the TTC's ridership, and the rest would benefit from increased investment in buses across the city.

"The whole parking lot system costs $6.3 million a year, so each ride is costing us about $6.30 in subsidy," said Giambrone. "If I take half that and reallocate it to bus service and increase bus service, that's what you'll see in 2009."

The TTC is planning a major service boost next year, increasing frequency of buses in off-peak hours from 30 minutes to 20 minutes.

"We don't have an endless supply of money - so we have to allocate our resources intelligently," he said. "You take this money - and you're still subsidizing each ride with parking by $3 - and you plough it into bus service. And if you think about it, why should the average TTC rider, most of whom use the buses or subways, pay five or ten cents of their fare to subsidize the small amount of commuter parkers."

Giambrone pointed out that at some parking lots - such as the one at Finch Station - people who have purchased Metropasses simply use the lots as local long-term parking, and never actually use the system.

"There are people now who buy a Metropass and never ride the system because it's cheaper as a parking pass than anything else around," he said. "If you're at Finch, the lot across the street is $6 or $8 a day - so it's cheaper to buy a Metropass. And that doesn't achieve our parking objectives."

Giambrone said the plan would likely be administered by the Toronto Parking Authority, and prices would be set at market rates for long-term parking - likely between $2 and $6 a day.