TTC not yet answering questions after latest subway shutdown, chair left ‘frustrated’ | CBC News

The TTC has yet to provide further details about a fluid spill that shut down a section of the Line 2 subway for several hours Monday, leaving thousands of commuters scrambling — and the TTC board’s chair says riders weren’t shy when voicing their displeasure about the situation. 

Coun. Jamaal Myers told CBC News Tuesday that he received many messages from people about how this closure — the latest subway disruption in recent days, including a bike on the tracks and a fire at Bloor-Yonge station — affected them.

“I just was very frustrated that we weren’t providing the level of service that our customers should expect,” he said.

Myers added he has gotten a general overview from the TTC as to what happened and why the spill took so long to clean up, but he is still waiting for a full investigative report, and will have questions during the board’s next meeting on Thursday.

“I share everyone’s concern [that] these types of … incidents seem to be more frequent than previously,” he said.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green denied an interview request about the issue Tuesday, saying he didn’t have any additional information to share. Subway service was shut down between Broadview and St. George stations for much of Monday after an overnight work car spilled fluid on the tracks.

Damian Baranowski was one the riders caught in Monday’s closure. He told CBC News it took him two hours to get to his destination, which left him having to work late to cover off the time he missed.

“I just lost faith in [the subway] for that day,” he said, adding that waiting for shuttle buses while standing shoulder to shoulder with other frustrated commuters was “really uncomfortable.

“It just felt really crowded, like really packed, everyone was on the sidewalk … I was getting pushed from all sides,” he said.

Mayor Olivia Chow also mentioned shutdown while speaking with reporters Tuesday morning, saying that members of her team use the TTC to get to work every morning. They too are left crossing their fingers and hoping they won’t be stuck in the middle of another shutdown, she said.

“When [an] announcement comes across the PA system, usually half the time … you can’t really hear it very well — and yesterday, getting to work on time was close to impossible if people are on Line 2,” she said.

Coun. Gord Perks, meanwhile, called Monday’s shutdown a symptom of a larger problem, namely the provincial and federal downloading of costs to municipalities.

“We can chase around to see whose head needs to roll, or we can look the central problem squarely in the eye; which is the City of Toronto [and] its agencies, like the TTC, have been asked to hold the city together with Scotch tape and string for so long that we can expect these kinds of problems to keep happening,” he said.