ttc delays toronto

Someone in Toronto made a video of all the TTC delays they were caught in last year

What do you get when you add up 31 TTC subway delays over the course of just one year in Toronto? 

A really depressing supercut, it turns out. Torontonian Erick Espinosa edited all the subway delays he was personally caught in during the entire year into a minute-long Instagram video, cataloguing the date, time and location of each. 

"Last year the TTC scheduled a total mixture of 73 planned weekend closures, early closures and late openings. That number dropped to 61 to accommodate such things like events and rescheduled maintenance," reads the caption of the Instagram post.

"2019's number doesn't include the delays and closures as a result of mechanical issues, fires, injuries on track level, weather, security issues, etc. Based on open data info from January to October, there were 345 unforeseen 15 minute + subway delays."

I got caught in 31 subway delays and closures in 2019. Last year the TTC scheduled a total mixture of 73 planned weekend closures, early closures and late openings. That number dropped to 61 to accommodate such things like events and rescheduled maintenance. In 2020 you can anticipate 166. 2019’s number doesn’t include the delays and closures as a result of mechanical issues, fires, injuries on track level, weather, security issues, etc. Based on open data info from January to October, there were 345 unforeseen 15 minute + subway delays. 🚇 We all have our opinion on transit. Can Toronto do better when it comes to subways? Are you hopeful we’ll see improvements in the years to come? . . . . #Toronto #TTC #Transit #TorontoTransitCommission #Subway #SubwayDelays #2019 #TorontoNews #TO #The6ix #TorontoTransit #Ridingtherocket #Commute #TorontoTraffic #TorontoCommute #torontocommuters

A post shared by Erick Alexander (@iam_erickalex) on

If you commute in Toronto using the TTC, unfortunately transit delays can be a near-daily occurence

"I took the videos because I wasn't sure if I was just being a typical Torontonian and just complaining about yet again something else or was I really getting caught in non stop delays," says Espinosa. 

"But after documenting and crunching the numbers, I realized that they were pretty high. And I'm not hopeful this year will be any easier with 166 scheduled closures. It's only January 7th and I've been caught in two so far during rush hour."

Comments on the video make suggestions as to how the number of delays could be reduced. "At a minimum, they could avoid closing transit on the same weekends the city closes expressways or other major arteries, grinding the entire city to a halt. You'd think someone could do that," notes one commenter.

To which Espinosa replies: "Like on Thanksgiving weekend when they shutdown a portion of line 2 AND closed the DVP from Friday to Monday morning. Both isolating a portion of residents on the Danforth."

The video may not make its way into the hands of TTC officials or influence their decisions, but at the very least it's a grim reflection of the way all those delays of just a few minutes add up over time.

Lead photo by

Damien D


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