A rider spotted syringes on a TTC subway this weekend, less than a month after one was found on a streetcar seat, and many Torontonians are voicing their concerns about the incidents online.
On Saturday morning, a TTC rider, who took an eastbound subway train at Royal York Station around 8:30 a.m., spotted needles on top of a subway seat, according to CP24.
A TTC spokesperson tells Now Toronto that the rider then reported the incident through the SafeTTC app, and the vehicle was taken out of service for cleaning.
“We appreciate that it was reported so we could manage quickly,” the spokesperson said in an email statement.
The commuter, however, did tell the media they were “upset” and “scared” after the discovery.
This is not the first time an incident of this kind happened this month.
On June 7, a transit rider spotted a needle poking out from under a TTC streetcar seat. At the time, the commuter shared a photo of the object online, alerting other riders to the issue.
“I was taking the streetcar this morning and spotted this… Please keep an eye out when travelling on the streetcar!” they said in a Reddit post.
https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/1l5s2tc/please_be_careful_on_the_streetcars/
According to them, the needle was spotted on a 501 Queen eastbound streetcar, which the TTC said was taken out of service for cleaning after it was reported through the SafeTTC app.
After the incident, the Reddit user and a friend who was also at the scene revealed that they had tried to report the syringes to fare inspectors on sight, but they said nothing was done to remove the needles or inform other staff until the riders reported the occurrence through the app, according to CBC.
Upon learning about the second needle incident, commuters took to social media to voice their concerns.
“I thought these were isolated incidences until I got on a streetcar a few weeks ago and saw one on a seat. Imagine a child sitting down on one without seeing it. Completely unacceptable,” one Reddit user said.
“This is why I drive my car from the suburbs to Toronto,” another user said.
“Unused or not it’s still not something to leave around as f**king litter. Jesus Christ,” a different user wrote.
Earlier this year, the city saw multiple closures of its Supervised Consumption Services (SCS), which offered a clinical space for people to use their own drugs while accompanied by health professionals.
The closures came after the Ontario government passed the Community Care and Recovery Act last year, ordering Toronto Public Health to shut down its SCS facilities by March of this year.
Now, some Torontonians online are also linking the needles on the TTC to the closures.
“Shutting down safe consumption sites leads to everywhere becoming an injection site,” one Redditor wrote.
“Safe shooting clinics were just shut down, that’s the issue. I was a junkie for years and I was meticulous with the safety aspect of the sharps. But I was mentally competent. There are people who aren’t mentally competent, and they have nowhere to go to shoot up. This is exactly what everyone said would happen when they closed,” another user added.
“This keeps happening because our government thinks ignoring the problem and closing safe injection sites will magically solve it,” a different user said.
Meanwhile, other users say this has been an ongoing issue before SCS were closed.
“People still left needles all over the place before any safe injection sites closed,” one user said.
“Not that I disagree, but it’s not like we didn’t have this problem when we had the sites,” a different person added.
The TTC is encouraging riders who spot similar occurrences to report them to staff or the SafeTTC app as soon as possible.
