TTC restoring 3-minute subway service on Lines 1 & 2, boosting service on several routes

With the school year set to begin for many in the first full week of September, Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) staff have announced they are ramping up certain subway, bus and streetcar services to match an expected surge in riders.

All of the changes will begin coming into effect as of Sept. 4. TTC CEO Rick Leary and agency staff said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon that without new COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, it’s anticipated there will be a 10-to-15-per-cent jump in ridership. Currently, the number of customers on the TTC has been around 55 to 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

“As students return to school and more people return to in-office work after Labour Day, we know our ridership will increase as it typically does in September,” Leary wrote.

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“This year is different from past years for obvious reasons.”

When it comes to subway service on Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina) and Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth), three-minute-or-better service will return during peak periods.

Increased service will be coming to the following bus and streetcar routes:

• 26 Dupont
• 38 Highland Creek
• 44 Kipling South
• 100 Flemingdon Park
• 102 Markham Road
• 123 Sherway
• 131 Nugget
• 134 Progress
• 511 Bathurst
• 512 St. Clair

Staff announced the 176 Mimico GO and 938 Highland Creek Express routes will be coming back into service. Also returning into service are all seasonal secondary school bus services.

Riders of the 65 Parliament and 365 Parliament routes will be able to travel as far south as Queens Quay and George Brown College’s waterfront campus (service currently stops at Front Street East and The Esplanade).

Revised schedules will be issued for the following routes to reflect “observed operating conditions.”

• 44 Kipling South
• 45 Kipling
• 47 Lansdowne
• 84 Sheppard West
• 123 Sherway
• 131 Nugget
• 944 Kipling South Express
• 945 Kipling Express
• 984 Sheppard West Express

TTC staff said there will other improvements later this autumn, including the full rollout of automatic train control signals on Line 1 (the upgraded signals allow for trains to run closer together) and the expansion of Wi-Fi on buses.).

They also issued reminders about existing policies aimed at boosting ridership, such as the ability for children 12 and younger to ride for free and for hop-on-and-off transfers over two-hour periods.