TTC riders are in for short-term pain in exchange for some — hopefully — long-term gains to the city’s transit infrastructure.
On Monday, the TTC’s board of directors approved staff plans to move forward with significant subway and streetcar line closures this year to give maintenance crews more time to complete long-overdue repairs.
On Line 1, TTC staff will go ahead with plans for 16 weekend closures along certain sections of the subway, 114 early closures and one full-day shutdown. On Line 2, 22 weekend closures, 103 early closures and 10 late openings are expected this year.
In total, the partial subway shutdowns will occur over 28 weekends — more than half of all weekends in the year.
TTC officials said some of the work on both subway lines can happen simultaneously.
Streetcar riders won't be spared from transit headaches in 2025.
Toronto’s streetcar routes will also be affected by 24 full diversions and 77 nightly diversions planned over the course of the year.
“We know any closure, diversion or service disruption is an inconvenience for our customers … but they are absolutely essential if we are to keep the system safe and reliable,” said Fort Monaco, the TTC’s chief infrastructure officer, during Monday’s board meeting.
“The TTC relies heavily on closures and diversions as they offer us the time needed to renew assets,” Monaco added.
Toronto’s subway system closes nightly from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., and from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Sundays.
Normally, work crews have just 90 minutes per night to complete repairs because it takes time to get to the affected area, according to Monaco.
A full weekend closure provides crews up to 50 hours of uninterrupted work from Friday night through Monday morning, allowing multiple work crews to do their jobs — the equivalent of about five weeks of regular night work, per the TTC.
Councillors and citizen members of the TTC board were broadly supportive of the move but expressed frustration that the city’s public transit infrastructure has been so neglected that it now necessitates a drastic response.
“We can't fix the subway line if we don't close things, right? It's inevitable and obviously creates a bit of disruption but, hopefully, Torontonians can be incredibly forgiving on that,” said TTC commissioner Fenton Jagdeo.
TTC board chair Coun. Jamaal Myers said the system repairs fell by the wayside due to “funding constraints.”
“I just hope the board can support this as we take the necessary steps to do the work that needs to be done and that’s unfortunately been neglected,” Myers said.
Myers also probed TTC staff about why weekends are selected for closures, as ridership patterns have changed post-pandemic.
“Why are we still closing on the weekends when the weekends are busier than some of the weekdays?” he asked.
Weekend, evening and midday ridership growth has been so strong in recent years that the TTC’s 2025 budget prioritized more spending to bolster service during those times.
Monaco said staff are continuing to evaluate whether weekend closures are the best path forward.
“We’re going to look at different ways of doing things,” he said. “Does Saturday and Sunday make the most sense, or does Sunday and Monday make the most sense?”
