Following a week of press that would have even Tiger Woods scrambling, the TTC has decided to allow riders with remaining paper tickets to refund or exchange them until the end of March. The temporary tickets -- which were offered in response to the hoarding of tokens prior to the January fare hike -- were initially set to become valueless at the end of this month.

TTC Chair Adam Giambrone positioned the decision as an example of the TTC's new commitment to customer service. Sharing the news on his twitter feed, he wrote: "TTC is listening to our customers & will NOW allow refunds/exchanges for adult tix -- just as we [do] senior/student tix."

Brad Ross, the TTC's director of corporate communications, also commented on the decision. "We had enough feedback to say okay, we need some fairness for customers who bought tickets and haven't used them for whatever reason."

Although the limit has yet to be specified, those with a large number of tickets will need to wait for the TTC to verify their authenticity before receiving a refund in the mail. Others will receive their refund or exchange immediately.

As good as this news is for those who are stuck with a heap of temporary tickets, it seems the most transparent of PR moves. It doesn't really cost the commission anything, but still allows its representatives to lay on the customer service rhetoric pretty thick.

We'll see if this willingness to heed customer feedback is a sign of things to come.

For instructions on how to refund/exchange your tickets, see the information from the TTC website below:

Lead photo by AshtonPal, member of the theGentries Flickr pool.