The TTC has announced that they will be offering free after-midnight service for New Year's Eve as well as running subways until 4 a.m.

It's always struck me as somewhere between curious and reckless that the TTC discontinues subway service before the last calls for alcohol are served in bars around town and has long seemed to me like a half-hour worth of schedule policy that strongly encouraged drunk driving amongst those feeling dizzy, brazen and stubborn downtown at 2 a.m.

That's a separate rant, but at least they recognize that people will be out drinking on December 31st, even if they haven't yet noticed that people are out drinking most other nights too. It's been the norm for the TTC to offer extended hours for NYE, but what hasn't happened in quite some time is that they're waiving the fares.

The TTC last offered free New Years rides in the late 1970s, discontinuing the freebie for lack of funds, and while Adam Giambrone claimed last year that a free ride like this could cost them between a half million and a million buck, he's now expecting it to be a loss of around $80 000 and says the TTC is looking for sponsorship to offset that amount.

Photo: St. George Subway Station at 3:30AM, Nuit Blanche 2007 in Toronto by blogTO Flickr Pool contributor reflex6002.