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TTC Offering Free and Extended Subway Service on NYE

Posted by Chris Orbz / December 7, 2007

18 Comments

Late Night Subway
The TTC has announced that they will be offering free after-midnight service for New Year's Eve as well as running subways until 4 a.m.

It's always struck me as somewhere between curious and reckless that the TTC discontinues subway service before the last calls for alcohol are served in bars around town and has long seemed to me like a half-hour worth of schedule policy that strongly encouraged drunk driving amongst those feeling dizzy, brazen and stubborn downtown at 2 a.m.

That's a separate rant, but at least they recognize that people will be out drinking on December 31st, even if they haven't yet noticed that people are out drinking most other nights too. It's been the norm for the TTC to offer extended hours for NYE, but what hasn't happened in quite some time is that they're waiving the fares.

The TTC last offered free New Years rides in the late 1970s, discontinuing the freebie for lack of funds, and while Adam Giambrone claimed last year that a free ride like this could cost them between a half million and a million buck, he's now expecting it to be a loss of around $80 000 and says the TTC is looking for sponsorship to offset that amount.

Photo: St. George Subway Station at 3:30AM, Nuit Blanche 2007 in Toronto by blogTO Flickr Pool contributor reflex6002.

Discussion

18 Comments

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Jerrold / December 7, 2007 at 10:44 am
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FINALLY! Great move, TTC. Best thing you've done in years.
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David E / December 7, 2007 at 10:52 am
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I remember the problems the TTC had with the free NYEs.

Drunks falling down stations stairs, people being sick here and there. Open alcohol in subway cars was yet another problem.

Everyone knows of the Yonge Night Vomit Comet. Well, that extends to the entire system when it goes free. You see,
the ignoramuses come out of the woodwork and spoil it for the rest of us.

All the aggravations that the TTC had were all they needed to cancel it after 1976 or '77.
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Sameer Vasta / December 7, 2007 at 10:58 am
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David, let's hope that people are a little more responsible this year so this practice proves to be a positive one for the TTC and is sustainable for the future.
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Rajio / December 7, 2007 at 10:59 am
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Wait, what? hold the phone! did the TTC hire someone with common sense finally?!
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Matt / December 7, 2007 at 11:02 am
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This is brilliant - where on earth did this come from?
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uSkyscraper / December 7, 2007 at 11:21 am
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Congrats! Worth every penny in terms of publicity and morale.
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Katie / December 7, 2007 at 12:04 pm
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Kudos to the TTC, for once!! (echoing Rajio's comment... finally some common sense!)

David - while I agree to an extent, and I hope it doesn't turn into the picture you're painting of NYE pasts... I'd *MUCH* rather have the ignoramuses on the subway than on the road...

(Even though I won't be in T.O. for NYE anyway... but still... I'd rather not be reading about the deadly tolls on the road the next day)
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Laurence / December 7, 2007 at 12:33 pm
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The thing is, I don't think it's going to do much. If kids from the 905 want to drive in and party in Toronto for NYE, drink and drive home, they're still going to do it. I don't see any of the spoiled car-crazed idiot kids leaving their cars behind just cause the subway's running, and they're the ones who cause 95% of drunk driving incidents.
You'll probably end up having a lot more drunkies on the subway who would otherwise be taking a cab. It'll just mean less business for them.

Drunk drivers are dumbasses who drive drunk no matter what. Sensible folk would make alternate arrangements and they do that all the time to begin with.
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Mark Dowling / December 7, 2007 at 12:42 pm
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No doubt people will complain if a sponsor does show up, like with Nuit Blanche...

I think the beer companies should step up here - pronto.
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Jam / December 7, 2007 at 12:43 pm
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Fantastic step! I love the idea - it would be interesting to see how many people use this service compared to previous years.

Question:
$80,000 ? - why didn't this happen for "Scotiabanks" nuiteblanche?
That would have defnitely promoted ridership.
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K / December 7, 2007 at 12:44 pm
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Laurence - have you ever tried hailing a cab on NYE? It's pretty much close to impossible to get one. I remember a snowy NYE about 7-8 yrs ago where people were running out into lanes of traffic and jumping in front of cabs on University in their attempts. I now stick within walking distance of home or stay at a friend's house. And this past snowy Saturday it took me a good half hour at College and Bathurst to get a cab, who at first was trying to tell me that he couldn't take me because he was shifting off.

Oh and I'd love to see where you got your 95% from. Is that an actual study or are you just making things up to show how much you hate suburban kids?
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Kat / December 7, 2007 at 12:50 pm
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I think part of the subway ending before the 2am last call is a carryover from when last call used to be at 1am, which I am old enough to remember. The TTC keep saying that they need a certain amount of hours of no service to perform maintenance so that's why they won't extend service any later. But I agree, an extra hour of subway service and frequent streetcar service would make a huge difference in trying to get thousands of people home after the bar.
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Sameer Vasta / December 7, 2007 at 02:00 pm
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Laurence, while I agree that a lot of 905ers will still have to drive to get to Toronto, this will allow them to park at places like Kipling, Kennedy, and Finch (parking is free after 3pm) and take the subway in and out of town. Hopefully a 35 minute ride on the subway on their way home (instead of just being able to walk to their car) before getting to the parking lot will help them realize that they're no condition to drive. It's amazing how much lucid thought can happen in a long ride.
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Jerrold / December 7, 2007 at 02:22 pm
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Also, I'm sure that for some people, an $10 cab ride from Kipling or Finch or Kennedy or whatever makes more sense than a $30 cab ride from Queen and John.
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JJ / December 7, 2007 at 09:15 pm
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Thanks for the vote of confidence, Laurence! I'm one of those "kids from the 905" you're talking/generalizing about, and if you'd just remove your stuck-up head from your ass for a minute, perhaps we can assure you that if the TTC actually had longer hours of service, many more of us would leave our cars at a TTC lot to save us the trouble of driving into the insanity of the downtown core. Gonna keep this short -- with that 95% stat, looks like I better get back on the road soon to help meet your drunk-driving quota.

Signed,
One of your beloved "spoiled car-crazed idiot kids" from the 905 :)
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wally / December 9, 2007 at 09:49 pm
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THIS YEAR, TTC - NEXT YEAR, TAXIS!!
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Mark / December 10, 2007 at 05:29 pm
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I think it is great that the TTC is doing this. That said, I am surprised that for an organization that seems to be in the red every year and begs for more money at every turn, would not charge fares on what is potentially their busiest night of the year. I mean does anyone every actually complain about spending an extra $2.75 to get home safely? Especially after a few drinks? No, what gets people into cars when they are drunk is not having an alternative. Like as someone else said waiting 2 hours for a cab and no subway service

I think the bigger issue is their hours of service the other 364 days of the year. Why not charge full fares on New Year's Eve and extend subway hours to 3AM every weekend?
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Chris Orbz / December 28, 2007 at 10:40 pm
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So apparently Capital One decided to throw in the money to cover this. (In related news, fares will increase to cover the costs of the TTC picking up the Capital One money.)
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