CEO's Report August commentary

I would like to begin this month’s commentary with a recap of the early results of our FIFA World Cup 2026™ service plan, which were presented to the TTC Board at its July meeting. The TTC saw four million event-day trips taken on routes serving Toronto Stadium (BMO Field) and Fan Festival events at Fort York and The Bentway, including a 42% year-over-year ridership increase on match days.

The TTC also attained customer satisfaction and sense of safety scores exceeding 90%.

Our success was secured through unprecedented planning, readiness, World Cup 2026™ and operational effort. Months of planning, testing, exercises, significant investments in staff, service, security, customer support, and incident response resulted in safe, reliable transit during the FIFA World Cup 2026™, while maintaining service for everyday customers. A final report to the Board on FIFA lessons learned is planned for early 2027. We also carried the learnings from the FIFA World Cup 2026™ forward and have applied them to our operational support for other major events, including the Toronto Caribbean Carnival and the CNE.

The CEO’s Report for August is focused on subway service through the end of June. Subway demand grew by 5% year-over-year and 2% month-over-month, driven by the combined effects of World Cup-related travel and the ongoing return-to-office recovery in downtown workplaces.

Subway ridership reached 6.9 million weekly boardings. On-time performance exceeded the 90% target across all subway lines, including 97.1% during morning and afternoon peak periods, while 100% of service availability was achieved over the same period.

Subway reliability increased on Lines 1 and 2 as crews continued to improve track switch performance through enhanced maintenance practices, joint inspections, and quality assurance activities.

Technical upgrades to trains on Line 1 were completed, improving onboard system performance and reducing delay minutes. Work is underway to integrate these upgrades with the Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system. At the same time, Signal crews continue to enhance asset reliability by deploying ground fault detectors, event recorders, and axle counter diagnostics systems. These are connected to the operations network and are designed to improve remote monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities.

We recently announced that Hitachi Rail will install its SelTrac CBTC system on Line 2, a modern signalling system that will increase capacity and reduce signal related delays. The technology is already used on major transit systems around the world, including New York’s Flushing Line, London Underground’s Four Lines Modernization program, and Singapore’s North-South and East-West Lines.

The technology will be designed, tested and delivered from Hitachi Rail’s Canadian headquarters in Toronto. The Scarborough office is home to its global signalling competence centre and employs more than 1,100 people, including a large, highly skilled engineering workforce, and supports the delivery of projects across Canada and internationally. Work on the project will begin this year, with initial design and engineering activities continuing through 2028. Implementation will take place in phases, with project completion scheduled for 2037.

Subway assets, including trains, fare gates, and PRESTO machines, all exceeded their performance targets through June. Subway elevator and escalator fleets both achieved their overall availability and reliability targets.

Across the network, for Period 6 (May 24 to June 27) revenue ridership was 0.9% below budget and passenger revenue was 3.5% above budget, while average weekday boardings grew by 4% year-over-year to 2.53 million. The increase was primarily driven by spectator demand to Toronto Stadium and FIFA Fan Fest™ and other local celebrations.

Overall ridership and passenger revenue have generally trended below budget in 2026, driven by economic conditions, a decline in population growth and severe weather events, as well as increased work-from-home during FIFA World Cup.

Ridership continues to show positive growth across the network, with average weekday boardings increasing month-over-month on every mode. Streetcar ridership reached 281,000 weekday boardings, up 5% from the previous month and 16% year-over-year, while subway ridership remained strong at 1.1 million weekday boardings, up 4% from last year. Bus ridership continued to hold steady at 1.1 million weekday boardings, matching last year’s levels net of LRT service changes, and light rail boardings increased 2% month-over-month to 99,000. Despite these encouraging ridership trends, year-to-date conventional ridership remains 3.9% below budget and 1.3% below the comparable period in the prior year. Year-to-date conventional revenue is 1.9% below budget, resulting in a $10 million year-to-date budget shortfall, although revenue remains 1.3% above the same period last year.

Finally, starting on September 1, TTC customers will automatically receive free rides after 47 paid trips in a calendar month through the new monthly fare capping program.

Fare capping is about making sure that every rider receives the maximum value every time they use the TTC. Customers can simply tap and ride, knowing they will receive the best available fare and never pay for more than 47 rides in a month when they use the same PRESTO card, debit card, credit card, or mobile wallet device.

With the introduction of monthly fare capping, the following passes will be discontinued as of August 31: Youth, Adult, Senior and Fair Pass Transit Discount Program TTC monthly passes, Youth 12-Month Pass, and Senior 12-Month Pass. Adult 12-Month Passes and TTC Post-Secondary Monthly Passes will still be available.

Customers must tap each time they board a vehicle or enter a station, even if the monthly fare cap has been reached. This ensures Proof-of-Payment is captured on their card or device if a Provincial Offences Officer inspects a customer’s fare.

Fare capping is an important step in our efforts to make transit more affordable, convenient, and customer-focused. For more information, please visit ttc.ca/farecapping.

Mandeep S. Lali
​Chief Executive Officer
​August 2026