TTC is planning ahead for extreme weather events

Major storms can affect TTC commutes, so the transit commission is developing a plan to better protect their subway infrastructure above ground and clean stops for buses and streetcars.

The plan seeks to minimize disruptions, enhance overall service, and ensure safe and efficient movement of people, regardless of weather conditions.

Stuart Green, the TTC's senior specialist media relations, said they begin implementing the plan this summer.

“In the summer we will implement the plan for extreme heat days, if there is flooding expected or heavy rainstorm, and also in the winter for heavy snow,” he said.

Green says the plan has four levels based on the predictions from Environment Canada. If Environment Canada calls for a mild or moderate weather scenario, it will fall under levels one and two.

“Every level has its expectation of extreme weather conditions. If we get into something that we saw in mid-February, that will be a level three or four scenario,” he said.

As warmer weather moved into the region, the city is sending crews to inspect and clear storm drains in low-lying areas, helping to prevent potential flooding, according to Toronto’s website.

The city’s snow removal operation began on Feb. 19 following extreme weather that socked Toronto. It focused on priority areas such as main streets with public transportation, hospitals, emergency services, sidewalks, and school bus zones. This around-the-clock effort included clearing snow from roads, bridges, and other areas with limited snow storage capacity.

But Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said on Feb. 24 she wasn't satisfied with the pace of snow removal.

“In my personal observation, the number of calls to my office, what I’m hearing from the councillors, what I’m hearing on the street, the people getting hurt, injured, they can’t get out. This is not working well,” she said.

Green said the city has asked the TTC to enhance its plan around situations such as cars blocking streetcars.

“On a typical day we will have one or two reports of cars blocking streetcar tracks. In the last couple of weeks since that snow fell, we had like 100 a day,” he said.

Talks have already been ongoing between the city and the TTC on improving service. One of the challenges the TTC faced during the winter storms was that trains were stuck in their yards, Green said.

“Some of our trains got trapped because the switches got snowed over and then they froze over. So, we had people out there manually shovelling snow out from the tracks to get the train out,” he said.

Overall, the plan worked quite well, but Green admits there is always an opportunity to learn and see what can be done better next time.

“One of the things we can do is making sure cars get towed quicker if they are blocking streetcars, or how we can deploy our staff, or getting more staff to manage things like the above cut of the subway,” he said.