Are you
beginning to notice whether TTC buses are less crowded? On February
17 the commission added extra service to dozens of bus routes and
TTC chair Adam Giambrone says more enhancements are being planned
for March, May and during the fall.
Unfortunately
streetcar lines did not get the same treatment as the bus network
last week, with only three routes seeing limited increases to
frequency. Giambrone says the TTC is short about ten streetcars
during peak periods -- and new light rail vehicles won’t arrive for
several years.
The subway
network is also feeling more crowded, say readers. Tom Martin of
Toronto writes about trying to board northbound Yonge trains in the
early evening: “Recently I have been getting on the subway several
times a week at about 6:30 p.m. at Wellesley. I often can't even get
on the subway at this hour, let alone find a seat.”
The TTC is
aware of overcrowding at “the shoulders of the rush-hour periods”,
replies spokesperson Mike DeToma. He says there are “tentative plans
to add additional northbound service on the Yonge Subway at around
6:30 p.m.” He adds, “These service increases are likely to be
introduced in September; they are among a number of similar
increases planned for the Yonge Subway and the Bloor-Danforth
Subway, at the end of the morning and afternoon rush hours, in order
to help reduce crowding.”
Another reader
alerted me that patrons are regularly being left on the westbound
platform at Lansdowne station during the morning peak -- an unusual
phenomenon for the Bloor line.
Giambrone
admits there have been “a lot of problems over the last month and a
half” on the subways including significantly more delays than
normal. The very wintry weather has not only caused mechanical
problems especially along tracks that run outside, but he says more
people switch to the TTC during inclement periods.
The entire
Bloor-Danforth line has also been affected by track speed
restrictions near the site of a train derailment early this month at
Kennedy station. Giambrone says he was told the “slow orders” in
this area were lifted last week, but transit critic Steve Munro
reported Monday on his site stevemunro.ca that “Service at the
eastern terminal of the Danforth Subway has been glacial.”
We should get a
full report on the Kennedy derailment at Wednesday’s TTC board
meeting.
Commission
chair Giambrone says permanent improvements to subway frequency have
also been held up by a lack of operators. Trains “have been
cancelled because there weren’t enough employees,” he tells In
Transit, “and that adds to the crowding issue.”
The TTC has
been hiring a lot of people, he says. “We will be in a position
probably by beginning of April to be able to have our service
operating in an acceptable manner.”