The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has announced increased service is returning to late night trains on subway Lines 1 and 2 as a result of improved staffing levels.
During a board meeting Monday, TTC CEO Rick Leary said the transit agency is reversing the cuts that were previously introduced as part of the city’s 2023 budget. The first phase of service adjustments were implemented on March 26.
“We’ve heard from many people that they’re uncomfortable at the proposed eight-minute waits and we’ve responded,” Leary said.
“Additionally, we’ll have the ability to add additional resources to address some of those busy routes identified across the city,” he added.
Lines 1 and 2 will now see six minute wait times or better late night service after 10pm starting on Sunday.
Prior to the upcoming May 7 service changes, wait times on Line 1 were five minutes on week days and 7 minutes on weekends.
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This move by the TTC comes following a reduction in absenteeism, meaning when employees are absent from work.
“I’m pleased to tell the board here today that working with our union partners, we’ve actually been seeing absenteeism at a much lower rate than we budgeted for in 2023,” Leary said.
The transit agency says it built a service resiliency to ensure it had enough operators available to cover scheduled services in the event of a resurgence in COVID-19. However, there has not been a surge resulting in a lower absenteeism rate, and in turn the agency is reinvesting resources into more service.
Back in March, a Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) report found that the TTC’s service cuts would disproportionately target marginalized communities in the city.
Since the cuts were announced, transit advocacy group TTCriders has been sharing their concerns, and released TTC documents that it obtained revealing greater impact to riders.
The TTC has yet to rebound to its pre-pandemic ridership levels and says it continues to work to meet or excel those stats.
