In February 2023, TTCriders held a Public Transit Safety Townhall co-organized with a range of community groups. The townhall featured expert perspectives on proactive solutions to transit safety. This report summarizes key messages from that townhall, including solutions that can be implemented now to make the TTC safer for everyone, and challenges mayoral candidates to invest in approaches to safety based on evidence and care.
“Whose Safety?” Investing in a Safer TTC for All
“Whose Safety?” Investing in a Safer TTC for All
Read “Whose Safety?” Investing in a Safer TTC for All
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To create a safer TTC for all, the next Mayor of Toronto must invest in:
- Non-police responses to crisis and violence. The TTC needs a plan to tackle mental health crises with staff who are peer-led or peer-involved, trained in de-escalation, rather than relying on an enforcement approach that puts people experiencing mental health crises and Black, Indigenous, and unhoused people at risk of being harmed.
- Housing supports so people do not need to take shelter on the TTC. This includes keeping shelter hotels open, expanding non-congregate shelter spaces, a moratorium on encampment evictions, and collaborating with all levels of government to increase funding for affordable and safe Rent-Geared-to-Income housing.
- A resourced TTC with reliable service and supportive staff. Attracting transit users back to the system by reversing service cuts and expanding supportive staff roles are critical elements of a safer TTC.
Being unhoused or dealing with mental health challenges is not a crime. Unhoused people experience more violence than the general population, yet have been unfairly scapegoated for perpetrating violence on public transit. Expanding supportive staff on the TTC is a positive approach, but outreach workers on the TTC focused on connecting with unhoused people will have little effect if there are no safe, supportive, indoor alternatives,such as shelter spaces and 24/7 respite centres, to offer them.
To create lasting change, the report recommends that Toronto form a Safety Roundtable with the following perspectives and people at the table: Transit users, transit workers, people with disabilities, unhoused people, youth, Black, Indigenous, and racialized people, women, non-binary people, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and drug users. A safety plan must also needs to implement harm reduction, trauma-informed, and place-making approaches.
The report recommends the following TTC policy changes to make transit safer for everyone:
- Reverse TTC service cuts.
- Expand cellular and internet access on the TTC.
- End fare enforcement.
- Create supportive, welcoming staff roles that are unionized.
- Install platform edge doors.
Report highlights:
- TTC data shows that the number of “offences against customers” began trending downwards between December 2022 and January 2023, before the introduction of overtime police officers on the TTC.
- The report presents a comprehensive timeline of TTC and City Council decisions about transit safety between January 2023 and March 2023, and lists all new staff roles. The majority of new staff added to the TTC were either enforcement roles (TTC Special Constables and temporarily deployed Toronto Police Services) or roles with a focus on outreach to unhoused people (Streets to Homes, Multi-Disciplinary Outreach Teams, and Community Safety Ambassadors), which means that many of the staff are involved in the TTC’s “Move Along” initiative.
- Cities including Calgary, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston have created new, non-enforcement transit staff roles to help with wayfinding, accessibility, and safety concerns.
- Numerous policy announcements about transit safety between January 2023 and March 2023 were haphazard, and not based on any publicly-presented evidence.
- TTC CEO Rick Leary was given unprecedented discretion to spend $15 million on emergency measures, which represents roughly twice the amount that City Councillors were able to amend democratically during the 2023 budget process.
Contributing authors:
- Jane Finch Action Against Poverty
- Showing Up For Racial Justice
- Shelter and Housing Justice Network
- Woman Abuse Council of Toronto
- Toronto Youth Cabinet
- Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto
- Centennial College Students Association
- Centre for Independent Living
- Encampment Support Network Parkdale
- Reach Out Response Network
- No Pride In Policing
- TTCriders