TTC was total chaos last night after subway service shut down between 7 stations
Wednesday night's commute on the TTC was made a tad bit more brutal than usual after a planned nightly closure shut down service between seven stations in the east end.
Between June 6 and June 9, the TTC announced that subway service on Line 2 between Broadview and Woodbine stations would end nightly at 11 p.m. due to track work, with shuttle buses operating and stopping at all subway stations instead.
Although the service advisory was made via the TTC's website and social media pages, some passengers claim they weren't given a proper heads-up and criticized the lack of posters put up around the affected stations.
"The first I heard about this was when the subway stopped at Broadview and let people out," Kevin Rupasinghe, former city council candidate for Ward 20 — Scarborough Southwest told blogTO.
Alas, a 40 min subway+bus trip home unexpectedly turned into 100 min subway+bus+subway+wait+bus trip...
— Kevin Rupasinghe (@KevinRupasinghe) June 8, 2023
And I'm not the only one! It was a bit of a zoo at Broadview and Danforth, as seen in this video taken on a Wednesday at about midnight! @TTCHelps #TTC #Toronto #Transit pic.twitter.com/3OSRu9Kyl1
"If I had seen a poster at Kennedy or Victoria Park earlier in the day or week when I got on to the subway, I would have planned my trips to get back before 11 p.m. Not everyone has the choice, but these things shouldn't be a surprise for folks, especially if they are headed to or from work," Rupasinghe said.
"I cannot imagine the stress of someone working an overnight shift suddenly finding out about this closure. The TTC should be putting posters up in all the stations along the line, not just the two terminals of the closure (Broadview and Woodbine)."
A video posted to Twitter by Rupasinghe shows the intersection of Broadview and Danforth Avenue around midnight. Dozens of passengers are seen running across the street in hopes of catching one of the replacement buses, which both quickly filled up.
"Generally, the riders were quite cooperative. "The station was absolutely packed as each subway went out of service. The reality is a subway can move upwards of 1,000 people and a bus can move about 50. The volume of people on the subway just fills the platform, the stairs, the sidewalk corners, etc," Rupasinghe explained.
While the TTC runs shuttle buses to every station along the closed subway route, Rupasinghe urged the TTC to run express buses directly across the entire closure.
"In this case, running an express shuttle bus that just moves people as quickly from Broadview to Woodbine and back helps the majority of folks bypass the subway closure entirely, while a local shuttle bus could continue to serve the stops in between (Chester, Pape, Donlands, Greenwood, Coxwell)," he said.
@TTChelps, 3 suggestions to make these nights smoother:
— Kevin Rupasinghe (@KevinRupasinghe) June 8, 2023
1. Posters should be in all stations. I'd no idea this was happening. I could have planned ahead
2. Run express buses directly across the entire closure
3. Figure out single track subway operations so no shuttle buses needed
The chaos is expected to continue this weekend, as there will be no subway service on Line 2 between Broadview and Woodbine stations due to track work on Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11. Regular subway service will resume around 6 a.m. on Monday, June 12.
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