TTC told to look at its response to extreme weather after 10 days of snowy commuter frustration

February 24, 2025 Canuck

The TTC has been asked to look at its response to extreme weather events.

On Monday, about 10 days after Toronto was hit by the first of two major snowstorms, the TTC Board greenlit an urgent motion from TTC Chair Coun. Jamaal Myers and Coun. Josh Matlow.

It asks TTC staff to look into some of the issues that have plagued the transit system since the storms rolled into the city, including large banks of snow piling up around transit stops, issues with the above-grade portions of Line 1 and 2, and parked cars blocking streetcars.

The City of Toronto reiterated in its update on Monday that removing the 50-plus centimetres of snow that fell on Toronto since Feb. 12 could take up to three weeks.

In the meantime, commuters have faced unplowed sidewalks, mounds of icy snow around transit stops, streetcars stopped dead by parked cars jutting into their paths, and subway and bus delays.

It’s not good, says Matlow, who told reporters on Monday that “it’s time for [the snow] to be gone.”

“I don’t believe Torontonians should have to climb a mountain of snow when they are simply trying to get to their TTC stop,” he said.

‘We have to do something different,’ says TTC CEO

TTC CEO Greg Percy said Monday that his staff have been working hard to keep the system running in the snow, racking up overtime costs in the last 10 days that run “in the high hundreds of thousands” of dollars.

He said the combination of heavy snow and consecutive days of extreme cold have presented a serious challenge.

“Snow at six centimetres an hour is unheard of in Toronto, for sure” said Percy, referring to the peak snowfall rates during last Sunday’s blizzard.

While defending his staff’s work, Percy acknowledged that “we have to do something different” to deal with problems like drivers repeatedly parking in the path of TTC vehicles.

Take this alert, which went out to streetcar commuters over the weekend, warning that not one, but all streetcar routes were facing the same problem at the same time.

Customer will experience 30 minute longer than normal wait time on all streetcar routes due to multiple motor vehicles blocking streetcars on various locations.

—@TTCnotices

“We need to increase fines, pull cars away, something,” said Percy.

At present, the fines for parking along a snow route, which includes all streetcar routes, go up to $200.

“That is just selfish behaviour,” said Matlow of the drivers blocking tracks. “The $200-fine right now isn’t cutting it.”

List of asks for city’s transportation manager

Matlow has taken aim at the city’s 2021 approval of $1.5 billion worth of snow removal contracts as a big part of the problem this month.

The contracts went largely to two companies in a deal that was pushed through quickly in a vote after councillors were warned there would be a safety risk for citizens if it wasn’t approved immediately.

CBC Toronto began reporting on issues with the snow clearing service the companies provided the following winter.

In a snowy lot, with some pavement showing, a plow moves snow toward a container. It is day time — Drone images of a City of Toronto snow dump last week, where snow cleared from roads is stored and melted. So far, more than 100,000 tonnes of snow have been removed from city streets and dumped elsewhere. (Grant Linton/CBC News)

“I believe the contract the city approved a few years ago was the wrong contract,” Matlow said Monday. “It was $1.5 billion for a performance standard that is way too low for a city of our size.”

In addition to his motion for the TTC, Matlow has also sent weather-related requests to Barbara Gray, general manager of transportation services for the City of Toronto.

In it, he requests she come back to council with a list of best practices used in other winter cities, a review of the state of the city’s winter equipment and a look at the viability of bringing more winter services back under city control.

Matlow has pointed to cities like Montreal as an example of how other cities are able to quickly remove snow from their streets, instead of pushing it to the side to freeze into hard-to-navigate snowbanks that further narrow streets.

Warmer weather means melting snow

In an update on Monday, the City of Toronto said that more than 100,000 tonnes of snow have been removed from the city so far, with clearing prioritized for main streets with transit routes, areas with hospitals, sidewalks and school bus loading zones.

This week is set to bring temperatures above zero, including highs of four degrees on Monday and Tuesday.

In response, the city said its sending crews to “inspect and clear catch-basins in low lying areas” in order to prepare for melting snow and possible flooding.

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