By McKenna Hart and Lex Harvey
January 5th, 2024
TTC
wrappped
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2023 wasn’t an easy year for Toronto’s transit riders.
The year started off with fare hikes and service cuts, then a spike in random violent attacks on transit shook the city.
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Scarborough transit riders were left in the lurch after the Scarborough RT abruptly derailed in July, forcing the TTC to shut the aging transit line five months earlier than planned.
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Meanwhile, by the end of the year the Eglinton Crosstown LRT still hadn’t opened (but at least we got 5G service and contactless payment!).
In between all of that … TTC riders waited.
In between all of that … TTC riders waited.
And waited ...
In between all of that … TTC riders waited.
And waited ...
... and waited.
1,306,541 minutes
In total, TTC riders spent more than 1,306,541 minutes waiting for delayed trains, buses and streetcars between January and November. That’s an average of 253 delays per day, totalling 65 hours.
-5% from 2022
But the glass is half full, right? Last year was a slight improvement over the year before. 2023 saw a 5 per cent decrease in delays from 2022.
TTC riders are used to waiting — the transit system is the least reliable in the GTA, according to a 2023 Toronto Region Board of Trade report, which found just 58 per cent of TTC trips were on time.
Buses and streetcars accounted for 75 per cent of delays, and 59 per cent of total ridership. That won’t be a surprise for anyone who has experienced Toronto traffic.
Subways saw 25 per cent of those delays, despite making up 41 per cent of ridership. However, it was also the only mode to see more delays in 2023 than 2022 (an increase of 15 per cent).
Let’s break it down by mode, starting with…
buses
Out of the three main transit modes, buses accounted for 49 per cent of TTC ridership and 60 per cent of total delays. In 2023, there were an average of 152 bus delays per day, with an average length of 20.5 minutes per delay.
The 10 busiest bus routes accounted for 20 per cent of all bus delays. Here they are ranked by ridership
#2
#1
36 Finch West
#3
#2
52 Lawrence West
#1
#3
32 Eglinton West
#7
#4
54 Lawrence East
#4
#5
29 Dufferin
#5
#6
35 Jane
#
#7
938 Highland Creek Express
#
#8
102 Markham Rd.
#
#9
25 Don Mills
#8
#10
41 Keele
#6
#11
7 Bathurst
#9
#12
47 Lansdowne
#10
#13
63 Ossington
… and here they are ranked by number of delays
#1
#3
32 Eglinton West
#2
#1
36 Finch West
#3
#2
52 Lawrence West
#4
#5
29 Dufferin
#5
#6
35 Jane
#6
#11
7 Bathurst
#7
#4
54 Lawrence East
#8
#10
41 Keele
#9
#26
47 Lansdowne
#10
#22
63 Ossington
#7
938
#8
102 Markham Rd.
#9
25 Don Mills
There is a general correlation between ridership and delays, with the 32 Eglinton West, 36 Finch West and 52 Lawrence West making up both the top three busiest and most delayed routes.
#1
#3
32 Eglinton West
#2
#1
36 Finch West
#3
#2
52 Lawrence West
#4
#5
29 Dufferin
#5
#6
35 Jane
#6
#11
7 Bathurst
#7
#4
54 Lawrence East
#8
#10
41 Keele
#9
#26
47 Lansdowne
#10
#22
63 Ossington
#7
938
#8
102 Markham Rd.
#9
25 Don Mills
Mechanical issues caused the most delays, with this category accounting for 34 per cent of delays and 22 per cent of time lost.
34%
no. of delays
22%
time lost
However, the most disruptive types of delays were diversions, which is when a route is forced to detour for construction or other reasons. These accounted for only 7 per cent of delays but 36 per cent of time lost.
7%
no. of delays
36%
time lost
Security incidents accounted for less than 1 in 10 delays on average.
However, this was not the case for the 320 Yonge night bus, for which security incidents accounted for almost half of all delays (48.5 per cent).
January had the least delays. However, the day with the most delays was Jan. 25, when a snowstorm affected many routes, resulting in an average delay time of 42 minutes.
daily average
3,120 mins
Jan. 25
13,554 mins
Mar. 4
3 mins
total time lost
The worst day to ride the bus was March 4, when another snowstorm wreaked havoc on the TTC, resulting in a 468 per cent increase in time lost compared to the daily average.
daily average
3,120 mins
Jan. 25
13,554 mins
Mar. 4
14,588 mins
total time lost
streetcars
In 2023, streetcars accounted for 9 per cent of ridership and 15 per cent of total delays. There were an average of 38 delays per day, with an average length of 16 minutes each.
daily ridership
504
KING
51.5K
501 QUEEN
46.1K
510
SPADINA
31.5K
512
ST. CLAIR
26.6K
506 CARLTON
26.5K
Of the top five most-used routes, the 504 King streetcar was the busiest, with a daily average ridership of 51,512 in 2022, or enough to fill every seat at a Toronto Blue Jays game.
no. of delays in 2023
504
KING
2,062
501 QUEEN
3,405
510
SPADINA
1,249
512
ST. CLAIR
910
506 CARLTON
1,724
But the 501 Queen streetcar had the most delays in 2023, with an average of 10 a day. The number of delays on that route jumped 46 per cent in May, the same month Queen Street between Bay and Yonge streets closed for five years to make way for Ontario Line construction, forcing the streetcar to divert to Dundas Street.
no. of delays in 2023
504
KING
2,062
501 QUEEN
3,405
510
SPADINA
1,249
512
ST. CLAIR
910
506 CARLTON
1,724
Coincidence? We’ll leave that to you …
average delay length
504
KING
14.9 mins
501 QUEEN
13.5 mins
510
SPADINA
14.1 mins
512
ST. CLAIR
10.4 mins
506 CARLTON
22.2 mins
The route with the longest delays was the 506 Carlton, with an average delay length of 22 minutes. Things got even worse in June, when the amount of time lost to delays was 204 per cent above the monthly average due to a series of long delays from the 506C replacement bus.
The least safe daytime route, in terms of percentage of delays by type of incident, was 510 Spadina, where 17.5 per cent of delays were caused by security incidents compared to 11 per cent for all daytime routes.
Only 2 per cent of delays occurred on night routes; however, these routes were 4 times more likely to experience a delay of more than 30 minutes (35 per cent vs 9 per cent for regular routes). They were also twice as likely to experience a security-related delay (24 per cent versus 11 per cent).
Stops that served multiple routes had more delays. The top 3 most delayed stops were (no.1) Dundas station (no.2) Spadina station, and (no.3) Queen and Dufferin.
top 3 most delayed streetcar stops
#1
Dundas Station
#2
Spadina Station
#3
Queen and Dufferin
But one of the worst stretches of stops was on King Street, between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue, 3 back-to-back stops which together accounted for 12% of all 504 King streetcar delays.
% of 504 King delays
5%
Bathurst
2%
Portland
5%
Spadina
trains
In 2023, subways accounted for 41 per cent of TTC ridership and 25 per cent of delays. There were an average of 63 delays per day, with an average length of 3 minutes per delay.
Line 1 (Yonge University) and Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) together accounted for 95 per cent of ridership and 92 per cent of delays.
Ridership
59%
36%
3%
2%
no. of delays
50%
42%
3%
4%
Comprising only 5 stations, Line 4 (Sheppard) accounted for just 3 per cent of both ridership and delays, while Line 3 (Scarborough LRT) accounted for 2 per cent of ridership and 4 per cent of delays.
Ridership
59%
36%
3%
2%
no. of delays
50%
42%
3%
4%
Most subway delays were caused by passengers. For all routes, the number one cause of delays was ‘disorderly patron,’ which accounted for 15 per cent of delays overall. Number two (12 per cent) was ‘injured/ill customer in station.’
#1
disorderly patron
15%
#2
injured/ill customer in station
12%
While less frequent, technical problems caused longer delays. One of the most disruptive types of these was ‘fire and smoke at track level’ which occurred 62 times, causing an average delay of 31 minutes. ‘Track switch failures’ caused 50 delays in 2023, lasting an average 17 minutes each.
x62
fire and smoke at track level
31 mins
x50
Track switch failures
17 mins
With 72 per cent of subway delays lasting three minutes or less, and just 3 per cent lasting 15 minutes or longer, most subway delays were brief
… Except for when they weren’t.
72%
3 minutes or under
3%
15 mins or longer
One of the worst days to ride Line 1 was on April 25, when a subway fire at the busiest station, Bloor-Yonge, resulted in a six-hour-long delay.
Ellesmere station Jul. 24
423 mins
Bloor Station fire Apr. 25
360 mins
Average subway delay
3 mins
But in 2023, one day stood out among the rest, as the absolute worst day to the TTC.
Ellesmere station Jul. 24
423 mins
Bloor Station fire Apr. 25
360 mins
Average subway delay
3 mins
That day was July 24. Broken and loose bolts caused the Scarborough RT to derail, sending five people to hospital and resulting in a single delay of 423 minutes at Ellesmere Station. The Scarborough RT was forced to shut months ahead of schedule.
Ellesmere station Jul. 24
423 mins
Bloor Station fire Apr. 25
360 mins
Average subway delay
3 mins
Well there you have it, a year in delays. Here are some overall highlights
no. of delays
84,637
minutes delayed
1,306,541
worst month
November
worst day of the week
Wednesday
worst time of day
3-5pm
worst hour
4pm
Where did we get the delay data?
All delay data (unless otherwise stated) is from the TTC via Toronto Open Data.
How are delays measured?
A delay is any event that causes a service stoppage. Delay length describes the amount of time a vehicle was held. For example, if a vehicle is held for 7 minutes by a moving protest, the delay is 7 minutes.
Delays are not measured cumulatively, meaning that the delay is only counted once at the stop the inciting incident occurred. For example, if a delay occurs at the first stop on a route, it is only counted there, even if subsequent stops are affected.
In situations where there are significant gaps or delays, unscheduled vehicles may be deployed to fill the gaps. This means long delay times may not reflect actual rider experience.