TTC to cut service on some routes starting Nov. 21 when COVID-19 vaccine policy takes effect
CBC
Toronto's transit agency says it plans to reduce service temporarily on specific routes starting Nov. 21 to cope with labour shortages expected from its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy.
In a service update on its website, the TTC said the reductions will happen on Line 2, Bloor-Danforth, one streetcar route and 57 bus routes. Full details can be found here.
"Provisions have been made to protect service on the busiest corridors in the system during the busiest periods," the TTC said in the update.
Subway service on Line 2, Bloor-Danforth, starting Nov. 22, will be reduced during all periods from Monday to Friday. In the daytime, service will be reduced from every three to four minutes to every four minutes. In the evening, service will be reduced from every six to every seven minutes to eight minutes.
The TTC has said employees who are unvaccinated or haven't declared their vaccination status by Nov. 20 will be placed on unpaid leave until they receive all their required vaccine doses, or Dec. 31 — whichever comes first. The policy officially takes effect on Nov. 21.
Shabnum Durrani, spokesperson for the TTC, said the transit agency expects unvaccinated workers to get immunized due to the policy.
"As people become fully vaccinated, they will be coming back to work. We will be working to increase service," she said.
But TTC riders, an advocacy group of transit users in Toronto, says the cuts will negatively affect Toronto residents, causing disruption for working people.
The group noted that the TTC did not make an announcement but instead chose to release its plan quietly through a service update on its website.
"TTC cuts are not an option. Cuts will cause chaos for working people who depend on the TTC every day to get to work, school, and groceries," TTC riders said in a statement on Tuesday.
The advocacy group said the transit agency has had months to get ready for an anticipated labour shortage but has been operating "just enough" service due to underfunding.
"The TTC should be trying to win back riders. Cutting service now will have long-term negative consequences for the climate and every Toronto resident, because those who can afford to will switch to cars. Riders need reliable, frequent service and lower fares now, not cuts."
TTC Riders said the cuts represent a "total failure of leadership" from the city, provincial and federal governments. It urged Toronto Mayor John Tory to extend the TTC vaccine mandate deadline and for all levels of government to extend transit operating funding on an emergency basis.
The group added that the transit agency could implement regular testing, a hiring blitz and continued education about vaccination instead of reducing service.
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.