TTC proposes using savings from LRT delays to hire more frontline personnel as winter looms

The TTC says it wants to use savings from the delayed openings of the Finch West and Eglinton LRTs to hire up to 178 new personnel to improve safety on the network as the winter months approach. 

In a report going to the TTC board next Tuesday, the transit agency recommends diverting roughly $10.3 million to hire 130 additional customer service agents and 30 more supervisors for subway stations, and on bus and streetcar routes. 

The hiring would "vastly increase the visible presence of TTC staff across the system," the agency said in a new release Wednesday. 

At an accompanying news conference to endorse the recommendations, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said the new personnel could help reduce incidents of violence as the onset of colder weather puts increased pressure on the transit system.

"The TTC must be a safe option to get around the city," Chow said, noting that improving safety and service on the network were core promises of her mayoral campaign.

"That sense of safety is precious, but it is fragile," she said.

TTC CEO Rick Leary, who joined Chow at the news conference, explained that the city's 75 subway stations have about 130 total entrances and that more frontline staff would mean workers could be deployed to more of those locations. 

Leary says there are already about 85 customer service agents "in the pipeline" that could be on the job by November and December, if the board approves the recommendations. Postings for supervisor roles have also gone up, he said.

"The key is to have more people in place for this coming winter," he told reporters.

City councillor and TTC Chair Jamaal Myers, who was also at the news conference, said the recommendations came from an extensive review of ongoing efforts to boost safety amid a spate of high-profile violent incidents that have shaken customer confidence in the agency.

The review found "in general" there has been a decrease in the rate of offences against customers and employees and lower rates of major crimes relative to the city as a whole, Myers said. But he also noted riders "reported that staff presence was the most important feature to enhance a sense of safety."

Myers said the TTC is also continuing with its hiring of 50 new special constables, the funding for which was included in the 2023 municipal budget.

Meanwhile, part of the available funding would go toward adding six "temporary shelter buses." The buses will be used to transport people using the subway network to keep warm during the winter months to Union and Spadina stations, where they can be connected with outreach workers who will try to find them space in a shelter, according to Leary.

Both Leary and Chow acknowledged that the city's shelter system is already running at full capacity, turning away on average 200 people per night because there are no available spaces. When asked by a reporter if more spaces will become available before the winter, Chow was blunt.