The TTC has been overwhelmed with complaints and patience is wearing thin
From streetcar congestion to regular service interruptions, the TTC has historically received its fair share of complaints — however, grievances have only seemed to increase following post-lockdown ridership patterns.
Common complaints among riders continue to highlight overcrowding on both subway and bus routes, limited accessibility, an uptick in security incidents, and long wait times that disrupt travel to and from work or school.
Currently have waited over 10 minutes for a train on Line 1 in downtown Toronto. I don’t know what the TTC is doing but off peak headways have been horrible for what feels like over a year.
Trains should not be packed like this at 9PM
Current leadership is driving people away pic.twitter.com/4Gc13N4y3d
— Reece 🚇 (@RM_Transit) November 2, 2023
In August, the transit agency announced that it would be increasing service throughout the network during the fall back to pre-pandemic levels to address overcrowding on routes.
More specifically, the TTC announced that it would be increasing regular service hours in September to 93% of pre-lockdown levels and further increasing service to 95% by November, with bus service at 99% of pre-lockdown levels.
Heres a visible thing the TTC could improve – the next train screens. I have been in Toronto a decade and they have arguably gotten slightly worse!
They are hard to read, especially for those with vision impairment and if you can’t see there is no audio announcement! pic.twitter.com/oZGNJhaRvv
— Reece 🚇 (@RM_Transit) November 2, 2023
“More TTC service means more room on board, shorter wait times, and better reliability for all transit users,” Mayor Olivia Chow said during the announcement.
“By reinvesting some of the $60 million originally budgeted to operate Line 5, there will be 280,000 weekly customer trips with scheduled service improvements by November, with service almost back to pre-pandemic levels. Most of this investment will be in the bus network, where we know demand is greatest.”
Toronto transit follies. Just took me 17 minutes to go about 1.7km on the King Street supposed priority corridor. Add 6 mins waiting time and I might as well have walked. And since I got short-turned, I ended up walking anyway
— Oliver Moore (@moore_oliver) October 26, 2023
Aside from increasing service based on ridership demand, the TTC said it would add capacity on specific trips to address overcrowding, shortening wait times by improving the bus Ten Minute Network and improving reliability with more demand-responsive service.
An entire chunk of the TTC line is down for the day and they aren’t running shuttle buses for ✨ whatever reason ✨, the other line is experiencing a completely mysterious powerdown, and @Uber responds by tripling its regular prices, so maybe I just won’t go to work today at all
— Clare Blackwood (@clareblackwood) October 28, 2023
During its 2023 budget announcement in January, the TTC also revealed that it would approve a 10-cent fare increase on single cash and PRESTO rides, with revenue from the increase — along with the City’s subsidy to the TTC — going towards ensuring reliability, safety, and accessibility of the system.
it’d be really nice to be able to get to work once a week without some bullshit like this happening
— marla singer 💜💖💙 (@persephone42069) November 2, 2023
The $2.38 billion combined operating budgets for conventional and Wheel-Trans services also included more than $4 million for safety, security, and cleanliness, including enhanced daily streetcar cleaning.
Train just bypassed Dundas station with 0 announcement and passengers onboard seemingly by accident? This is brutal. Transit riders deserve SO much better. pic.twitter.com/WCfLIpNdZL
— Reece 🚇 (@RM_Transit) October 30, 2023
The budget also includes nearly $3 million dedicated to service improvements in routes serving Neighbourhood Improvement Areas and expansion of the Fair Pass Program to an additional 50,000 lower-income customers.