(Toronto, ON) -- Volunteers stationed at 18 TTC stops distributed flyers to commuters about service cuts that came into effect over the weekend. The flyers inform transit users how much longer they will be waiting for their bus, subway or streetcar and encourage them to phone Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford for urgently needed TTC funding.
“Service cuts mean being late for work and school,” said TTCriders executive director Shelagh Pizey-Allen. “Without federal and provincial transit operations funding, the TTC could make even deeper cuts. Prime Minister Trudea and Premier Ford must invest now in transit funding.”
A study by Toronto Metropolitan University found that most of the TTC service cuts coming into effect March 26, 2023 will affect areas of the city where people depend most on transit and where more people are unemployed, living in poverty, or are immigrants. The TTC’s own data shows that those taking transit during off-peak times tend to be low-income people, shift workers, and women.
"Missing a bus can lead to a half an hour delay, especially when we are already taking two hours a day to commute," said transit user Jan Cheng. "I live in Black Creek and I take the Jane bus daily. I’m here to speak up for my neighbours facing these unfair TTC cuts. This is our reality. Many of us are low-income shift workers. The needs of this marginalized and racialized community have been ignored."
“There will be no economic recovery and no meaningful climate action without a thriving transit system,” said Gideon Forman of the David Suzuki Foundation. “Millions of Canadians have been depending on public transit during the pandemic and need continued support in this week’s federal budget to keep it moving.”
As of February 27, 2023, the TTC reported that ridership was at 69% of pre-pandemic levels. Prior to the pandemic, the TTC relied heavily on transit user fares for its operating budget.
Link to TMU study: https://www.torontomu.ca/city-building/news-research/2023/03/ttc-service-changes-marginalized-areas/
Link to TTC staff report about which groups use transit during off-peak hours: https://ttc-cdn.azureedge.net/-/media/Project/TTC/DevProto/Documents/Home/Public-Meetings/Board/2022/July-14/7_Advancing_the_5_Year_Service_Plan_2024_2028_and_10_Year_Outlook_Reset.pdf
"Throughout the pandemic, three key customer groups continued to rely on transit: people with low income, women, and shift workers. Generally customers travel in off-peak times, make longer bus trips to destinations spread out across the city and women often trip-chain, making multiple stops during their trip" (p. 2 of TTC report).
February 7, 2025 (Toronto, ON) – TTCriders, a membership-based transit advocacy group, released the following statement in response to Premier Ford’s promise that the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will open in 2025.
(Toronto, ON) – Transit advocacy organization TTCriders will hold a rally on February 19, 2025 to call for answers about the Eglinton Crosstown and Finch West LRT projects and ask all provincial parties to commit to solutions for more reliable transit.
Toronto’s transit and public spaces are torn. When City Hall can’t mend the fabric, tactical urbanists step up and stitch it back together