Following backlash over increased waiting times — and a series of high-profile violent incidents — Toronto’s transit system is walking back part of its service cuts.
Changes to Toronto’s streetcar, subway and bus service were brought in through the spring after cuts agreed as part of the city’s 2023 budget.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) initially said the changes would “see reliability improved and capacity will be matched to ridership demand, or both,” but the changes also saw cuts to the frequency of some routes, including subway service.
A report from Toronto Metropolitan University suggested that lower-income areas would be hit by cuts.
On Line 2, for example, the report found that service would be reduced or suspended during four periods of the day and increased only during one. Express bus routes, including the 905 Eglinton, 943 Kennedy and 953 Steeles, were all set to see service reduced without an increase to offset it.
In a tweet, the TTC admitted it had heard “concerns” about its plan to reduce subway service at night.
A spokesperson for the transit agency said on Monday that plans for service to drop to every eight minutes at night had been scrapped. “Today we announced the restoration of six-minute subway service late nights on Lines 1 and 2,” they said.
The spokesperson said that TTC would “continue to monitor service in real time and have additional, unscheduled vehicles available across all modes to fill gaps in service when and where possible.”
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