TTC implementing new service cuts along several routes starting next week

TORONTO -

The TTC says it will be reducing service on several routes across the city starting next week, including on one of its subway lines, due to operator shortages caused by the transit agency’s mandatory vaccination policy.

The new cuts, which take effect Nov. 21, include 57 bus routes, one streetcar route, and the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway.

Line 2 will see daytime service pared back from every three to four minutes to every four minutes on weekdays and evening service will be reduced to every seven to eight minutes rather than every six minutes.

“We began communicating last month that because of our mandatory vaccine policy, as we begin to move forward with it, there could be some changes to service as some of our employees become ineligible to work,” TTC spokesperson Shabnum Durrani said Tuesday.

“The plan we've put in place is one that is predictable and reliable and we've really focused on maintaining service, as we have throughout the pandemic, on our busiest routes in the busiest times.”

Durrani said the service changes that will take effect later this month will be similar to the ones that are implemented seasonally.

“So similar to service we put out in summer or December. We just want to assure riders that across the system, all of our corridors, the hours of operation will be maintained,” she said.

While some bus routes will only reduce the frequency of service by a minute or two, riders along other routes will see wait times double.

On select bus routes, including 50 Burnhamthorpe and 49 Bloor West, on weekdays in the early evening, service will scaled back from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes.

Transit advocacy group the TTCRiders released a written statement Tuesday, urging the TTC to walk back the cuts, noting that in recent weeks, transit users have already been reporting long wait times.

“TTC cuts are not an option. Cuts will cause chaos for working people who depend on the TTC every day to get to work, school, and groceries,” the group said.

“The TTC has had months to prepare for a labour shortage, but has been operating ‘just enough’ service due to underfunding.”

They called on the TTC to immediately extend the deadline for its vaccine mandate and urged all levels of government to extend emergency transit operating funding.

“The TTC could implement interim measures such as regular testing while it conducts a hiring blitz and continued education about vaccination,” the TTCRiders said.

“The TTC should be trying to win back riders. Cutting service now will have long-term negative consequences for the climate and every Toronto resident, because those who can afford to will switch to cars. Riders need reliable, frequent service and lower fares now, not cuts."

The TTC has previously said that the impact on wait times would be “minimal.”

TTC staff have been given until Nov. 20 to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and as of Oct. 27, approximately 88 per cent of TTC employees had confirmed their vaccination status. But at that time, nearly 2,000 employees had not disclosed their status to their employer.

The TTC has repeatedly defended its vaccine mandate.

"I stand firmly behind our vaccination policy,” TTC CEO Rick Leary said last month. “It is the right thing to do to protect the health and safety of our employees, their families and the communities we serve.”