Service on 17 TTC routes returning to pre-pandemic levels: Tory

By Patricia D'Cunha and Samantha Knight

The TTC is improving and increasing service on 17 routes starting this Sunday, as the agency works to restore transit service across the network to 100 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

Below are the routes that will see improved service:
• 8 Broadview
• 9 Bellamy
• 12 Kingston Rd
• 20 Cliffside
• 22 Coxwell
• 42 Cummer
• 45 Kipling
• 50 Burnhamthorpe
• 56 Leaside
• 57 Midland
• 61 Avenue Rd North
• 78 St Andrews
• 161 Rogers Rd
• 168 Symington
• 300 Bloor-Danforth overnight bus
• 501L/H Queen (replacement bus)
• 925 Don Mills Express

Click here to review the service changes for each route.

In a release, the TTC said service will continue to be based on demand, adding that overall service hours will be restored “in line with the lifting of public health restrictions and the re-opening of workplaces.”

Last November, overall service had to be adjusted based on reduced staff availability.

“We’ve got to move forward … we’re restoring 17 routes starting this Sunday and we’re doing that because the situation seems to be getting better with COVID. We have to make a move to start to restore service back to normal levels,” Mayor John Tory told Breakfast Television.

In its operating budget submission to the City, the TTC said it is planning to restore service to 100 per cent over the coming months as ridership increases.

“I just would stress that it’s very essential if we’re going to have a strong economic recovery, that we have a strong transit system,” Tory said when asked if funding from the federal and provincial has been secured.

In January, Tory said the City’s 2022 budget contains a $1.4-billion “COVID impact” with most of the shortfall coming as a result of lost TTC revenue from low pandemic ridership.

“The financial picture is still very challenging for us. I am working very hard on that with the other governments and we’re having good discussions … but in the meantime, we’ve got to get on with recovery and get on with getting transit service back to its normal level,” Tory said on Wednesday.

Without more money from the federal and provincial governments, the City of Toronto may have to cancel more than $300 million in planned transit and repair projects in 2022.

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With files from Michael Talbot of CityNews

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