If there's one thing Toronto residents can unite on, it's frustrations about the TTC. But it seems the transit agency is just as frustrated with us common folk constantly complaining about the seemingly neverending challenges facing the city's public transit network.

The TTC took to Instagram in a since-deleted post that appears to have been directed at the deluge of customer complaints regarding the "reduced speed zones" where subway trains slow to a crawl due to ongoing repairs.

The post, shared on Tuesday, uses the popular "woman yelling at a cat" meme to express TTC employees' apparent impatience with riders, with the text prompt "customers asking why the subway feels slow" and the response, "The TTC Social team trying to explain what a reduced speed zone is."

Essentially, the TTC is complaining about people complaining about the TTC, creating a mindbending complain-ception-esque situation.

lol the TTC now posting that riders shouldn't complain about a subway that can't go faster than 10km/h

Keeping trains safe doesn't require slow zones on most transit systems! pic.twitter.com/R0UsNeZNlz

— Jamie (@TransitThinker) October 15, 2024

However, the joke didn't appear to land on a very irritable audience of, well, the very people who take the TTC and have to contend with these reduced speed zones daily. Which is why anyone scrolling the TTC's Instagram account today will not see the since-deleted attempt at humour.

Ride the rocket! 🚀

— E. Toste (@EmanuelToste) October 15, 2024

Responding to the blowback, TTC spokesperson Stuart Green tells blogTO that the transit agency "understand[s] our customers' frustrations regarding subway delays."

"The post in question was meant to engage our Instagram followers and highlight for them the reasons behind these delays. But we also recognize that the tone and interpretation of that meme missed the mark, which is why we removed it. We apologize for any misunderstanding and we are committed to learning from this experience to address these concerns more thoughtfully in the future."

The TTC later replaced the post with a similar meme that removed the frustrations of riders from the equation.

https://t.co/dSonRw13CV

— Rodney🚧🚇 (@_ChanFace) October 16, 2024

In its updated post, the TTC explains that every three days, crews "meticulously check every inch of the tracks to make sure everything is in optimal condition. Slowing the subway down helps keep our customers and employees safe while we carry out necessary repairs and preventive maintenance."

"We have a dedicated team working on these repairs every day, but much of this work happens when the subway isn't operating— typically between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Not all repairs can be finished overnight, and with trains running every few minutes for 21 hours a day, our tracks experience significant wear and tear."

"That's why we slow down the trains to ensure the safety of our customers until the necessary maintenance work is completed."

The post notes that riders are experiencing 500 to 1,000-foot stretches of slow service across numerous portions of the subway network because "Each speed zone has to cover at least one or two train lengths, and since our trains are 500 feet long, you've got to wait for the entire train to clear the slow zone."

"If there are multiple spots that needs attention, you may pass through several reduced speed zones in a row."

Despite the change in memes and the detailed explanation, the response from riders is more or less the same.

"We understand *why* … tell us *when*," writes one user.

Another user explains to the TTC that riders "know what a reduced speed zone is," arguing that "The problem is in the amount of them going up at the same time, due to deferred maintenance," and calling travel times "atrocious."

Others chimed in with similar responses, like one who said the TTC is "missing the point" and stressing that customers' issue is not a lack of education about reduced speed zones but rather the question of "why do we always have reduced speed zones?"