Councillors tell TTC to improve delay response as commuter frustration simmers
Staff will investigate what's behind repeated signal issues slowing down trains
Missed meetings and appointments. Incomprehensible onboard announcements. Forty minute waits on crowded platforms.
At a Monday morning news conference, volunteers from advocacy group TTC Riders and Toronto city councillors shared their stories of recent commuter frustration while riding the Toronto subway.
Delays "disrupt lives, affect livelihoods, cause anxiety, and erode public trust," said TTC Chair Coun. Jamaal Myers.
Together with Coun. Josh Matlow, Myers successfully put forward a motion Monday at the TTC board meeting that requests the transportation agency tackle how it investigates and handles service delays.
TTC staff are now being instructed to investigate what caused recent delays — including a string of signaling issues in December and a broken power rail last week.
Staff have also been instructed to look at ways to make replacement shuttle bus service better by exploring using "priority surface transit routes," to explore investing in preventative measures to stop members of the public from trespassing on the tracks, and to improve communication during delays — including by auditing subway sound systems.
"It almost sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher. You cannot understand what they are saying," said Matlow.
The motion lays out a timeline as well, with staff now expected to report back on Myers and Matlow's directives this coming spring.
Signaling servers went offline 'for unknown reasons'
The various causes of slow and inconsistent service on the TTC have made headlines several times in the last few months.
Among the issues flagged: the impact of vehicle "bunching" on streetcar and bus delays, the ongoing battle against track "slow zones" in the subway system, and the delay-creating oil leaks that result from aging and faulty equipment.
In Myers' and Matlow's motion, there's also a specific request to look at the root cause of problems in the automatic train control (ATC) signal, which contributed to multiple delays last month.
According to a statement put out by the TTC's interim CEO at the time, those issues were created when a server with the ATC signaling system — which is meant to automatically slow down or stop trains if issues are detected — went offline "for unknown reasons."
"This number of ATC signaling issues so close together is unacceptable to me," CEO Greg Percy said in the statement. "We need to understand them better in order to resolve them safely and quickly."
The installation of ATC signaling on Line 1 was completed in 2022, replacing a system put in place in the 1950s.
At the TTC meeting on Monday, board members also heard that people are still responsible for the majority of delays in the TTC system — about 60 per cent in all.
That includes disorderly passengers and trespassing on tracks.
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