What’s the holdup?
THERE WERE 1,190 SUBWAY DELAYS IN A THREE-MONTH PERIOD
At 5:59 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2015 — only one minute after the first train was scheduled to leave Christie Station — the Toronto Transit Commission’s Bloor-Danforth line was already running behind.
It wasn’t the best way to start the day. And it got worse.
The train at Christie was late entering service, delaying riders for four minutes. Less than an hour later, a train at Lansdowne stopped for three minutes because of an unattended box. ( Transit officials examined it and found nothing inside.) At Kennedy, 11 minutes later, a train was delayed for three minutes because it had been speeding. Just before 9 a.m., an ill rider activated the emergency alarm at Bloor, stalling riders for three minutes.
There were another 12 delays of more than two minutes between 9 a. m. and 6 p. m. across the system. The longest the TTC was able to go without a delay was 76 minutes.
Then, at 6:53 p.m., a man killed himself by jumping in front of a train at St. George. It was a tragic but all- toocommon scene for the TTC, which saw 11 suicides and five further attempts in 2015. There was a 110-minute suspension between Ossington and Broadview, cutting service to the heart of downtown.
The TTC was scrambling again at 10: 08 p. m., when a passenger reported that a man was carrying a gun on a train at Victoria Park. That caused a delay of 13 minutes. The “gun” turned out to be a toy; police charged the man with public intoxication.
There were 24 delays on Sept. 30 — the highest oneday number for Toronto’s transit organization during its peak season from September to November 2015. The numbers exemplify a growing problem.
In anticipation of this year’s busy season for the TTC, a National Post investigation shows there were 1,190 delays affecting the Yonge- University, BloorDanforth and Sheppard lines during the same period in 2015. (Delays of two or more minutes are tracked.) The Post obtained the data from the TTC, translated a list of detailed codes and placed each incident into simple categories to better understand what’s causing the problems.
From September to November 2015, subways were delayed for a total of 7,301 minutes, or more than five days. The average was six minutes.
Terminus stations — those at the ends of the lines — were the worst hit. More than six per cent — 76 delays — happened at Kennedy. Kipling followed with 49, while Downsview (36) and Finch (35) were also in the top 10. Yorkdale and Bessarion had the fewest, with three delays each.
“If we could provide a perfect service every day, we could be on the beach drinking mojitos at 3 p. m., every afternoon because the world is rosy,” said Mike Palmer, the TTC’s acting chief operating officer. “When we don’t provide a good service, we are genuinely sorry.”
The number of total subway delays across the three lines increased from 17,574 in 2014 to 19,119 in 2015, according to internal TTC reports obtained by the Post. Only service on Line 1 ( Yonge-University) improved, with more than 1,000 fewer delays. Riders say they aren’t seeing improvements and worry that a lack of funding will worsen their commute.
Fare hikes, on top of the delays, aren’t helping. In March 2015, the price of an adult monthly pass increased to $ 141.50 f rom $ 133.75. Prices for the adult monthly pass and tokens have risen by 30 per cent since 2009. Cash fares were increased by 25 cents in January 2016 to $3.25.
The fare hikes may be contributing to a dip in ridership. According to a July report, the TTC had 250.3 million riders from January to June 2016 — 200,000 fewer than at the same time in 2015, and seven million fewer than what had been budgeted for this year. With the city asking the TTC for a 2.6 per cent budget cut, a new fare hike is on the table.
“The reason they’re losing their ridership is their service is so bad,” Lacey Juk, a TTC rider, said outside Ossington Station. “I think they need to fix that problem before it snowballs.”
TTC CEO Andy Byford has heard the feedback on subway delays. He rides the trains to work every day and said he’ll “take the hit” with customer complaints in person.
“People say they’re fed up with delays,” Byford said. “I absolutely understand their frustration.”
More than 28 per cent of delays were caused by passengers being injured, or falling ill on trains, or being disorderly. Customers seen toting guns accounted for eight delays over the three months. Riders were involved in several physical altercations, including six incidents where TTC employees were assaulted.
Passengers also falsely activated emergency alarms 54 times.
While Palmer said he can’t stop people from pushing the emergency alarm or fainting on trains, the TTC can reduce the amount of time it takes to respond.
“There are things outside our grasp, but even if somebody goes for a walk down a tunnel or hits an emergency alarm, how quickly we respond can impact the length of that delay,” he said.
There is room for i mprovement with stoppages caused by mechanical and infrastructure issues, Palmer said. These problems accounted for 25 per cent of delays with trains stopped because of door, air conditioning or brake issues.
The signalling system is out of date, and the T1 trains on the Bloor- Danforth line are 17 years old. A majority of the cabling is old and so is the substation equipment, he said. There are 300 sites in the system suffering from leaks, with the tracks at risk of flooding when it rains.
Some of the systems are run by the “equivalent of a Dell computer,” Byford said.
The smallest debris can clog door tracks and bring a train to a halt. During the summer, Popsicle sticks are the usual cause. During a recent subway trip, Palmer solved a delay himself, he said, after using a pen to fish out a dime stuck in the door tracks.
TTC workers caused 14 per cent of delays — 128 — during the three months. Crews and operators were frequently unavailable to operate trains, causing nearly 150 minutes of delays.
Bathroom breaks taken by crew caused 143 minutes of stoppages.
Palmer said staffers drive in from as far as Kingston and St. Catharines every day, and admitted there was “high absenteeism” among drivers. Eight drivers on one line called in on Aug. 19 to take an “emergency day of vacation,” he said.
Then there’s the unexplainable: an operator spotted a “grenade” on the tracks at Victoria Park on Sept. 17. On Oct. 10, an owl attacked an operator who opened a window on a train at Royal York. Three days earlier, a crew found syringes and spoons on a train at Sherbourne and put it out of service. On Nov. 17, a naked man wandered on to a train at Coxwell.
Over the three months, t here were ni ne bomb threats. In one case, a “female child” told employees, “There is a bomb.” That caused a 10-minute delay.
The TTC wrote a five-year plan in 2015 to reduce delays by 50 per cent by 2019.
A new software system coming in November should help speed- control issues — a safety mechanism that warns operators t hey’re speeding, and activates emergency brakes if they don’t slow down.
Computers will control the speed and distance between each train.
The current system relies on signals — red meaning it’s dangerous to proceed and green meaning it’s safe. During peak season in 2015, there were 48 signal- related problems.
For delays caused by mechanical and infrastructure issues, “money is the quick fix,” Palmer said.
According to its 2016 operating budget, the TTC receives what it said is the lowest operating subsidy for a transit organization in North America, earning only 89 cents per rider. In comparison, the TTC said that Montreal transit gets $ 1.11, Vancouver $ 1.76 and Edmonton $ 1.75. About 70 per cent of the TTC’s operating budget is funded by fares, while the remaining 30 per cent comes from the subsidy.
In 2015, Toronto invested $90 million in streetcar and bus service improvements, and $ 45 million this year in operating costs. But this year, the city is also asking all its departments — including the TTC — to make a 2.6 per cent cut. The TTC said it would have to find $ 231 million in savings to meet the request.
The provincial government provides funding for operations through a small share of the gas tax, Byford said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in May that the TTC would get $840 million of the $ 1.48 billion set aside for Ontario projects in the Federal Public Transit Infrastructure Fund. The money is set to go toward mechanical and infrastructure repairs and upgrades.
The TTC has $ 6.3 billion of the $ 9.4 billion it said it will cost to update the signal system, upgrade subways and buy new vehicles from 2017 to 2026, according to its 2016 proposed capital budget report.
It anticipates eventually getting a total of $1.2 billion from the federal infrastructure fund to cover part of the $3.1-million shortfall.
“The much-maligned TTC — for the money it’s given — works miracles,” Byford said.
Interviewed during their commutes at subway stations across the city, riders complained about constant delays and what they see as a lack of funding.
“It’s my understanding that the TTC is very, very underfunded,” Juk said. “If that’s the case, (improvement) is probably a matter of money.”
Juk said she gets a case of “commuter rage” every time the subway halts en route from Ossington to Eglinton West. She uses an app called TTC Watch to receive alerts but is still frustrated by her inability to get to work on time.
Three years ago, she could bike to a different job downtown. “I was so much happier in life,” she said. “I saved money and got exercise. It was so much better than taking the subway.”
Ashwyn Fernandes wasn’t surprised to learn of the many delays from September to November 2015.
“It sounds like an average day in Toronto to me, let’s be honest,” Fernandes said on the platform at St. George.
Fernandes said he sits through at least one or two delays a week on his trips from McCowan, the last stop on the Scarborough RT, to St. George.
During a ride from Wilson to St. George, Edmund Li said his ride was “relatively smooth.” He was cut off when an announcement told riders of an emergency alarm at Lawrence West.
“Perfect timing,” he said. “Now it’s not even surprising.”
Moments later, there was another announcement: “To ensure safety, this subway train will operate slower than normal.”
“I keep trying to defend the TTC and give a balanced review, but I just keep getting delay announcements,” he said, laughing.
PEOPLE SAY THEY’RE FED UP … I ABSOLUTELY UNDERSTAND.