TTC announces increased service schedule ahead of fall ridership surge

The TTC has announced changes to its schedule in the fall with students getting ready to head back to class and more people expected to return to the office after Labour Day.

Beginning on September 5, the TTC will be restoring 126 school trips for elementary and high school students and adding more vehicles to nine routes that serve colleges or universities.

“This is the week where families are getting ready to get their kids back to school,” said Mayor Olivia Chow, making the announcement on Monday morning alongside TTC officials at Scarborough Town Centre. “A lot of people are now planning how long will it take for my kids to get to school.”

“People rely on the TTC and they deserve a reliable, fast public transit system that works for them.”

In addition to more frequent bus trips to help students, the transit agency says the following changes will be implemented on Sunday, September 3:

• Increase service based on ridership demand and added capacity on specific trips to address overcrowding on buses
• Shortened wait times by improving the bus Ten Minute Network
• 41 time periods across the day with reduced wait times, including 27 time periods that will return to pre-pandemic levels or better
• Improving reliability with more unscheduled, demand-responsive service

The operator says it is increasing its regular service in September to 93 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and will increase it again in November to 95 per cent.

Chow says the funds used to increase service is leftover cash that had been set aside for the Eglinton-Crosstown LRT and Finch West LRT. The two light rail projects were originally scheduled to be in operation by now but have had their openings delayed until 2024.

“You might ask, where are we finding the money?” said Chow. “Because we put aside that money, we now have extra cash on hand.”

TTC Chair Jamaal Myers says the new changes will help improve transit in Scarborough and provide more riders there with a direct bus route to the subway without needing to transfer to other buses.

“A large percentage of the improvements to bus services will benefit transit users in Scarborough, where better transit is desperately needed,” said Myers in a statement.

The TTC announced last week that service on its Line 3 Scarborough RT will not resume. The decision to permanently shut down the line came a month after the rear car of a train derailed near Ellesmere Station.

Line 3 was originally scheduled to be decommissioned on Nov. 18 with the TTC planning to run express shuttle bus service along the 6.4-kilometre route from Scarborough Centre and Kennedy stations for the next seven years until the Scarborough Subway Extension opens in 2030.

Rogers Communications launched the first phase of its new 5G wireless services in parts of the TTC subway system last week.

Rogers customers will have full 5G capabilities in all the stations and tunnels of the ‘lower-U’ of the subway system (St. George south to Union, north to Bloor-Yonge and west to St. George). Also, stations between Keele and Castle Frank, plus Spadina and Dupont, will have 5G service at platform level and in station corridors.

While full 5G capabilities are just for Rogers customers, there will be more reliable 911 service in the subway system for all wireless users.