A TTC bus crosses Donald Ave. in Toronto on Mar 27.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Safety incidents on Toronto’s transit system fell in the first month that additional, temporary safety measures were in place, new data provided by the Toronto Transit Commission show.
Some 80 police officers working on overtime were dispatched to patrol the transit system at the end of January, an effort to respond to several high-profile incidents of violence. Security guards and community safety ambassadors were also added.
In the TTC chief executive officer’s April report, the data show there were 111 reported offences in February against riders, which include assault, theft, mischief and harassment. This declined from 136 offences in January – a drop of 18 per cent, although February has three fewer days. The report notes offences per day also decreased.
The report doesn’t provide a further breakdown for each type of offence, but said they decreased across the board from the month prior. There were 99 reported offences against employees, a slight dip from 103 in January. Ridership levels were on par over the two months with average weekly boarding around 2.2 million. The number of incidents remains minuscule in comparison with the number of boardings.
The number of offences against customers was 2.15 per one million boardings for February, decreasing from 2.72 in January.
The report will be discussed by the TTC board Thursday as the city continues to grapple with public-safety concerns and violence on the transit system.
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Two weeks ago, 16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes was fatally stabbed, in what police called an unprovoked attack, while sitting with a friend on a bench inside the Keele subway station in Toronto’s west end. His death has pushed transit safety to the fore across the city, including the coming mayoral by-election.
Days after the death of Mr. Magalhaes, transit and police officials presented to city council actions being taken to address safety concerns. The increased police presence ended in mid-March as the service returned to on-duty patrols. The overtime service cost about $1.5-million monthly.
The TTC’s temporary measures, including the addition of 20 community safety ambassadors and 50 security guards, remain in place until at least the end of the month.
TTC chief Rick Leary has said these measures could be extended beyond April, or additional actions could be taken. Last month, Toronto city council nearly doubled the spending authority for Mr. Leary to $15-million in order to respond to public safety, with the money coming from the TTC reserve. The TTC is also hiring 55 special constables this year, with nine starting this month.
In the April report, Mr. Leary doesn’t specifically say how long the measures will be in place but that they will remain “as long as they are needed.”
Nominations for Toronto’s June mayoral by-election opened April 3 and many of the high-profile candidates released platform planks related to public safety over the past week.
Former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders has said community safety would be his top priority. In a video released on social media Saturday, Mr. Saunders took issue with the direction of recent city councils and argued violence has been “normalized” on TTC and in communities. He has yet to release a specific policy related to public safety, but has said police funding needs to continue in conjunction with programs and support for mental health, addictions and homelessness.
Candidate Ana Bailao, previously a three-term councillor, has said she would focus on ensuring there is cellphone service on the underground subway system as soon as possible for all riders. Rogers, Bell and Telus aren’t using the existing network that allows for cell coverage on portions of the tunnel system and on subway platforms. Ms. Bailao said, if elected, she would move the city’s cellphone contracts from the three major providers – amounting to more than $30-million in business – unless they get on board.
Brad Bradford, Mitzie Hunter and Josh Matlow also released platform planks related to public safety last week. Both Mr. Bradford and Ms. Hunter have pledged to install screen doors on all subway platforms to separate riders from the tracks while waiting for a train to prevent people from falling or being pushed onto the tracks.
Mr. Matlow said he would launch a $115-million community health and safety fund, with money redirected from the police budget, to expand mental-health crisis teams that specialize in de-escalation on the TTC, as well as add more shelter spaces and increase access to mental-health and addictions counselling.