The TTC has reopened subway service on the full Yonge line after evaluating damage to a tunnel from construction work being conducted above. But that came too late for thousands of commuters.

The shutdown affected the line between Eglinton and Bloor stations, starting before the afternoon rush hour.

"At approximately 2:30 this afternoon, a contractor doing road work unrelated to the TTC inadvertently punctured the roadbed, exposing the subway between St. Clair and Summerhill stations. TTC crews have secured a 75-foot cut slab of concrete to ensure the subway can operate safely," the TTC said in a news release issued Wednesday evening.

"Normally these things take longer than you expect ... but sometimes you get lucky," TTC chair Adam Giambrone said, but added the solution is temporary. More work will be required.

The TTC said the subway should operate normally during the morning rush hour.

The closure lasted about six hours. Crowds quickly built up outside the Yonge-Eglinton TTC station, one of the city's busiest at the best of times. Police were brought in to help organize the loading of shuttle buses.

As of 7 p.m., CTV Toronto's Michelle Dube said there were still hundreds of people waiting for a shuttle bus. Some told her they had been waiting for two hours. However, police have made it more orderly, she said.

The TTC originally had 50 shuttle buses running, but bumped it up to 80 at one point, Dube said.

Can't replace a subway

For those thinking of a cab, there were reports the wait was up to 30 minutes, if not longer. Some suggested going for dinner or a movie until things calmed down.

And once people arrived at Eglinton station, there were reports of a two-hour wait to take the subway north because of the backlog.

The shuttle buses can't possibly replace the capacity of the subways, especially at rush hour, TTC spokesman Brad Ross said. The TTC is handicapped because the buses must be pulled off other routes, he added.

The mishap occurred shortly before 2:30 p.m. at Jackes Aveue, which is between the Summerhill and St. Clair subway stations, he said.

"The third-party contractor was doing work on the bridge, doing a trench cut along the roadway, not realizing that below them was a subway tunnel," Ross said.

The tunnel got "compromised" by the work. TTC engineers determined it would not be safe to run trains through that area.

The TTC will attempt to keep the public informed through its website, email alerts and news releases, Ross said.

In a posting to the Twitter social messaging service, Mayor David Miller said the contractors were working for the Enbridge natural gas company.

Giambrone said a permit had to have been issued for this work, and discussions will have to take place between Enbridge and the contractor.

In a separate incident, police attended a car-pedestrian accident at Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue late in the afternoon. An elderly female pedestrian was taken to hospital.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Michelle Dube