CEO's Report: October Commentary

As we move into the final quarter of 2025, this month’s CEO’s Report takes a closer look at the TTC’s accessible-conventional bus fleet – a pillar of our transit system that continues to serve Toronto with resilience and reliability.

In 2024, our fleet of over 2,300 vehicles carried nearly 208 million riders across the city, covering close to 170 million kilometres. The bus network, in particular, remains the TTC’s workhorse – connecting communities, supporting mobility, and adapting to the evolving needs of our riders.

Navigating Service Challenges
​Since 2019, we’ve steadily increased scheduled service hours to reduce crowding and improve the customer experience. However, road congestion continues to challenge our efforts, causing a five per cent loss in service effectiveness. In response, we’ve added strategic running time to help offset slower traffic speeds and are working closely with the City on transit priority measures aimed at improving speed and reliability.

Reliability Under Pressure
​In August, bus on-time performance remained steady at 76 per cent, reflecting persistent challenges from traffic congestion and operational delays. Congestion continues to be the most significant external constraint on reliability, contributing an estimated 8,800 additional service hours per week – surpassing the total of 117,920 unplanned delay minutes reported during the month.

To address these pressures, several initiatives are underway. Adaptive supervisory coverage and tighter monitoring of vehicle departures have been implemented, with early signs of improvement. Notably, pilot projects on routes, such as 7 Bathurst and 24A/924 Victoria Park, have shown promising results in reducing bunching and gapping. These efforts include stricter on-time criteria, where early departures are no longer counted, and targeted Operator education to improve departure discipline.

Looking ahead, a detailed update on pilot performance – particularly on Bus 7 Bathurst and Streetcar 512 St Clair – is planned for fall 2025. In the meantime, teams are closely monitoring crowding and service levels, especially on routes with on-time performance below 90 per cent, to ensure adequate capacity is maintained.

To sustain progress, continued support is needed in two key areas: congestion mitigation and improved co-ordination around unplanned diversions. These partnerships will be critical to unlocking further reliability gains across the network.

Industry-Leading Asset Performance
​When it comes to vehicle reliability, our fleet continues to outperform expectations. Across all vehicle types, our buses are achieving Mean Distance Between Failures (MDBF) well above North American standards. Clean Diesel, in particular, is showing exceptional results, demonstrating industry-leading reliability across our entire bus portfolio.

Mandeep S. Lali
​Chief Executive Officer
​October 2025