TTC set to increase service as students head back to school

The Toronto Transit Commission says it will be increasing service as students prepare to head back to school and others return to in-office work after Labour Day.

The TTC announced Monday that from Sept. 5, it would be restoring 126 school trips for elementary and secondary schools.

The transit commission said it would also be increasing frequency on nine routes that serve post-secondary institutions.

“Additionally, the TTC is increasing regular service hours in September to 93 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, and further increasing service to 95 per cent by November, with bus service at 99 per cent of pre-pandemic levels,” the TTC said in a news release.

TTC CEO Rick Leary said the transit commission knows “how important it is that we make this return to school and work as smooth as possible for our customers, by providing safe, reliable and frequent transit service when, and where, it is needed most.”

“With tremendous support from the TTC Board, we are working harder than ever to improve service levels across our bus, subway and streetcar network,” Leary said in a statement.

According to the TTC, beginning on Sept. 3 and continuing into the fall, more room will be made on board buses by “increasing service based on ridership demand, and adding capacity on specific trips to address overcrowding.”

The TTC said it will also shorten wait times by improving the bus Ten Minute Network.

There will also be 41 time periods across the day with reduced wait times.

“Twenty-seven of those time periods will either return to pre-pandemic levels or be better than they were before,” the TTC said,

The TTC said it will also improve reliability with more “unscheduled, demand-responsive service.”

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said more TTC service “means more room on board, shorter wait times, and better reliability for all transit users.”

“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,” Chow said. “Most of this investment will be in the bus network, where we know demand is greatest.”