TTC keeps crowd control measures at Yonge-Bloor station

The TTC’s crowd-control experiment at Yonge-Bloor station has found that cutting train-standing times by just 10 seconds allows as many as 3,000 more passengers to travel the overcrowded Yonge line during the morning rush.

A pilot project, which has now been extended, found shaving standing times from 55 seconds to 45 lets two to three more trains to run each hour. To do it, the TTC simply put up barricades and assigned employees to direct passengers on and off southbound subway cars between 7 and 9:30 a.m.

The TTC has tried to solve a bottleneck problem for years, and staff will recommend making the project permanent at the next commission meeting.

“People’s behaviours and patterns have to change and they have changed. I think people for the most part understand and accept what we’re doing and appreciate it because, in the end, they’re getting to their destinations more quickly and in less crowded conditions,” said TTC spokesman Brad Ross.

More than 30,000 people pass through the station each hour during the morning rush. The line is busiest between 8 and 9 a.m., with trains arriving at Bloor every two-and-a-half to three minutes.

Before the new measures, crowds congregated at the north end of the southbound platform, creating a bottleneck and holding up trains. Now, passengers getting off trains have better access to exits and the Bloor line, while those getting on are forced down the platform by the barricades and sometimes have to wait for the next train.

“This is about passenger flow, it’s about efficiency. It’s not forcing people to do things, rather it’s asking people to change their behaviour and the pattern in which they ride the system,” said Mr. Ross.

Currently, the TTC is using transitional employees who are coming back from sick leave to direct traffic and provide information to confused passengers. Costs of the new measures, which will also include new signage and semi-permanent barricades, have yet to be determined.

Crowding at the station could get even worse if the Yonge line is extended into York Region, and there are proposals for a centre platform at Yonge station. The TTC also plans to put add trains early next year that accommodate 10% more passengers than the current cars and, are implementing an automatic signaling system that will allow trains to travel more closely together.