toronto weather closures

Record snowfall seriously screws up Toronto's morning commute

Subway, streetcar, plane, train, bus, bike, foot or automobile, there's no good way to get around Toronto after a major snow dump (except, perhaps, for military tanks, but we're not quite there just yet).

The city is in a bad way this morning on the heels of a storm that left us with a whopping 26.4 cm of snow to dig out from.

Crews of all kinds are going whole hog to clean up roads and sidewalks right now, but there are only so many snow plows in existence... few of which can actually tackle train tracks or your windshield.

Your best bet? Stay the heck home (it's a full-on snow day for many students!) or, as our perpetually beleaguered friends at the Toronto Transit Commission so often put it, "give yourself plenty of extra time" when planning your commute.

TTC buses are getting stuck in the snow all over the city right now...

Or spinning out...

If they can even move in the first place, that is.

Only two of the transit commission's four subway lines are functional right now, and that's a generous use of the term.

Subway trains were stopped between Woodbine and Warden Stations on Line 2 for most of the morning on account of "weather related rail issues."

That delay cleared around 8:40 a.m., according to the TTC, but the Bloor-Danforth line remains in absolute chaos as signal issues are now causing "longer than normal travel times" westbound between Woodbine and Yonge.

The entirety of the subway system's Line 3 in Scarborough remains closed due to snow on the tracks.

Shuttle buses are filling in the gaps... when they're not getting stuck.

Streetcar riders are livid, as per usual, by long wait times and overcrowding at stops.

Some passengers are taking the matter of not being able to catch a ride into their own hands (er, feet) by kicking the snow away from streetcar doors that are frozen shut.

Public transit is still a lot more reliable than pretty much any other form of transportation right now.

Cars are buried all over the city.

And those who have managed to make get their vehicles out from under the icy blanket are now struggling not to get stuck again.

Think you can breeze to work by hailing a cab? Think again.

Avid cold-weather cyclist? Good luck.

You couldn't even fly out of the city right now if you wanted to.

But hey, it could always be worse.

Whatever you do today, make sure you do it with enough time to get back indoors by nighttime, when it'll feel like -30 C with the windchill.

Good luck out there, friends who aren't ever allowed to work from home.

Lead photo by

Jeremy Gilbert


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