The Subway and Provincial Uploading

Dear TTC Colleagues,

As you know, the Province of Ontario is studying the possibility of “uploading” the subway. Exactly what that means will be determined over the next 12 months – the timeline the Province has set to study this issue.

The TTC’s subway network is a valuable and complex asset. The suggestion that its rolling stock, yards, carhouses, tunnels, signals, stations, ventilation, electrical, drainage and all other interdependent systems can be somehow easily transferred or uploaded is simply not the case.

Each of us at the TTC takes our role in the delivery of public transit to the people of Toronto and the entire GTA very seriously. The daily miracle we all contribute to each day to ready our service and embark on safely moving our daily 1.8 million riders across this city is incredibly complex, requiring thousands of dedicated women and men.

I will work with the City to help the Province fully understand and appreciate precisely how the subway network is maintained, managed and funded. I will also share with the Province how our expansion plans are managed, reminding everyone of the depth of skill and expertise that resides within the TTC.

Three major expansion projects are underway, in fact, and at various stages right now: Scarborough Subway Extension, Relief Line South (where geotechnical drilling is taking place), and the Yonge Subway Extension. TTC staff and contractors are working diligently on tunnel, engineering, systems and station designs.

Finally, the TTC Board and Toronto City Council have invested hundreds of millions of public dollars in expansion, as well as systems for the existing subway.

Yes, this is complex and vitally important everyone understands that. I will keep you posted on this important matter as it develops.

Richard J. Leary          
Chief Executive Officer
September 17, 2018