‘What happened on Mother’s Day should never have happened’: TTC Board Chair pitches motion to streamline transit, road closures

A Toronto Transit Commission sign is shown at a downtown Toronto subway stop Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy

TTC Board Chair Jamaal Myers is acknowledging that the past few weeks have been “tough” for Toronto commuters amid rolling transit and road closures as he pitches a plan for better coordination.

The Scarborough North councillor made the comment before a TTC Board meeting Wednesday, and said the motion will direct the transit authority to formally work with the city, Metrolinx, and Toronto police, to get a better sense of what closures and events are planned on any given day to avoid headaches for commuters.

He said Mother’s Day was the “most prominent example” of those agencies not talking to one another, when sections of the TTC were shuttered, the Don Valley Parkway was shut down, and widespread road closures were in effect, amid other planned disruptions.

“What happened on Mother’s Day should have never happened. And my motion is the first step in fixing this,” he said, noting that people trying to get to their families on May 10 struggled to do so due to the closures.

“It didn’t have to be this way.”

Last weekend, there was another service suspension on the TTC’s Line 2, and the DVP and Gardiner expressway were both closed on Sunday.

Coun. Myers said that although “a lot” of coordination already exists when planning for road and transit closures due to repair work or large events, his motion will make the process “significantly and noticeably better.”

Asked why a more formal coordination process doesn’t already exist between the TTC and those agencies, Myers said: “I can’t answer that in terms of why this wasn’t already the case. I would have assumed the same thing, but it wasn’t, so we’re fixing it.”

Myers went on to say that the motion is more important than ever as the TTC braces for two million additional trips over six weeks during the FIFA World Cup, Pride Month, and a host of other events taking place in the city.

The motion carried.

Following his comments, the TTC announced that service will be increased on various routes ahead of the soccer tournament on June 7. That includes temporary overnight streetcar service near and around BMO Field (dubbed Toronto Stadium during the competition) and Fort York (where the Fan Festival is being held).