Crombie promises provincial funding for platform doors on TTC subway network
Liberal leader says pledge part of wider public safety platform
Bonnie Crombie says an Ontario Liberal government would provide provincial funding to build platform edge doors at TTC subway stations as part of a broader push to improve safety on the country's busiest transit network.
"We know that over a million people ride the TTC each and every day. And for myself and for others, there's situations where you just don't feel safe," the Liberal leader said during a Friday morning campaign stop in Scarborough. She was joined by Peter Yuen, a former deputy chief in the Toronto Police Service and the party's candidate in the riding of Scarborough–Agincourt.
Crombie lives in Mississauga but said she often rides the TTC into the city from the Islington and Bloor area, where she parks her vehicle at her mother's house.
"We want people to ride public transit and I want to make it as accessible and safe as possible. So we are making some recommendations today that are easy fixes just so people have the comfort of feeling more secure," she continued.
The Liberals did not say how much money they would put toward platform edge doors, but said an estimate would be included in a fully costed platform they plan to release during the four-week snap election campaign.
The barriers are used to separate platforms from train tracks, and have been shown to be effective in preventing injuries or deaths. The are particularly helpful for reducing suicides.
Toronto Public Health recommended the platform barrier system in 2014 in a larger report on suicide prevention. The TTC has also said it would save lives.
The issue became prominent in 2018 after a 56-year-old man pushed a 73-year-old man onto the tracks in front of a moving train at Toronto's busy Bloor-Yonge Station. The man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
The TTC has previously estimated installing platform doors across the network would cost roughly $1 billion. The transit agency announced in 2023 they would be installed at Bloor-Yonge as part of a major station overhaul but that work has not been completed yet.
Crombie also pledged to provide provincial funding for the TTC, Metrolinx and OC Transpo in Ottawa to hire a total of 300 more special constables. A Liberal government would similarly create a Crisis Assistance and Response Enhancement Fund to "double investment" in mobile crisis intervention teams, she said.
"You have people using the TTC as a shelter from somewhere to come in off the cold, and there are times on our subway cars where, quite frankly, you just feel unsafe. It could be in the middle of the day, it could be in the evening, it could be on your work on your way to work. You could be riding with your children to drop them off at school," Crombie said.
"But the situation feels insecure, it feels unsafe, and that's something we want to address."
Rival parties respond
In an email, a spokesperson for the Progressive Conservative campaign pointed to investments Doug Ford's government made in Toronto transit as part of the province's "new deal" with the city signed in 2023.
"In our historic new deal with the City of Toronto, we provided over $300 million to keep people safe on transit, including new police and transit safety officers, the continued expansion of transit rider cellular and data services across the TTC network, and enhanced emergency reporting options and response times for riders," Grace Lee said.
Lee also noted $750 million the province will contribute, along with the city and federal governments, to purchase new subway cars for Line 2 and some $330 million in operating funding for new subway projects.
"While the Liberals sat on their hands for 15 years, the Ontario PCs are getting shovels in the ground on all four priority subway projects in the GTA to build the largest transit expansion in North America," Lee said.
Meanwhile, NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Crombie's proposed measures are good, but she also wants to see more transit projects actually come to fruition.
"I think a lot of people right now are struggling with the cost of using public transit and we have a government under Doug Ford and the Conservatives that have promised transit projects, bungled them and never opened many of them," Stiles said.
Friday marks the third day of the election campaign, with Ford set to make stops in Hamilton before an announcement in Niagara Falls, Ont.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will be in Chesley, Ont.
The snap election called by Ford will be held on Feb. 27.
With files from The Canadian Press