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<\/p>\nMore than half a decade after the COVID-19 pandemic emptied Toronto\u2019s buses, subways and streetcars, the city\u2019s transit agency is still struggling to recover and hit its ridership targets.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Transit Commission<\/a> has frozen fares for three years, slowly ramped up service and opened a new rapid transit line, but ridership is still lower than in 2019 and falling below expectations.<\/p>\n According to the agency\u2019s 2026 budget document, hopes that more mandatory return-to-work orders would result in more passengers were misguided.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite employer policy changes in Fall 2025 requiring more in-office workdays, no significant ridership increase has been observed,\u201d the document found. \u201cIn fact, Fall 2025 ridership slightly declined versus expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n The agency said any ridership growth from office returns had been damaged by layoffs, non-compliance and plummeting numbers of international students.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n Instead of increasing this year, ridership on the TTC has fallen well short of its budget expectations, even dropping below the numbers for 2024.<\/p>\n It means the agency is still struggling to recover from work-from-home, habit changes and new commuter patterns caused by the pandemic. That\u2019s a ghost the GTA-905 cities of Brampton and Mississauga shook years ago.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n A recent report from the TTC\u2019s CEO found that, as of October, rides were six per cent lower than the budget had predicted and 2.4 per cent lower than the year before. They stood at 78 per cent of pre-pandemic figures.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore on Toronto That update included a slew of poor performance measures for the system. While subways were 91 per cent on time, streetcars performed at just 61 per cent on time and buses at 74 per cent.<\/p>\n Boardings were down six per cent for buses, up four per cent for subways and steady for streetcars.<\/p>\n Customer satisfaction sat at 66 per cent overall, a five per cent drop on the year before. It dropped 10 per cent for streetcars in 2025 compared with 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cIt concerns me greatly that ridership isn\u2019t meeting projections \u2014 it also doesn\u2019t surprise me, given the reality of how more people since the pandemic have been working from home,\u201d Coun. Josh Matlow said.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cPeople also want a system that is safe and reliable, and the number of delays and interruptions \u2026 has a direct impact on the experience that riders have and then people make choices that are better for their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tProposed Alberta separation referendum question approved\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Get](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765813388_386_national.jpg\")
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