The TTC will institute several service changes for the 2026/27 Holiday period running from December 20 to January 2, 2027.
The difference in service level can be seen in the number of peak buses AM and PM for the 2025 holiday period and the corresponding 2026 period. There are fewer peak buses and scheduled hours in the 2026 Holiday period compared to 2025, and the drop from the late Fall schedules is more substantial this year.
The numbers are summarized below, and details are in tables following the “more” break.
| 2025 | 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AM Peak Buses | |||
| November/Fall 2 Period | 1,447 | 1,471 | 24 |
| December/Holiday Period | 1,438 | 1,346 | -82 |
| PM Peak Buses | |||
| November/Fall 2 Period | 1,585 | 1,583 | -2 |
| December/Holiday Period | 1,546 | 1,479 | -67 |
| Weekly Scheduled Hours | |||
| November/Fall 2 Period | 200,894 | 199,236 | -1,658 |
| December/Holiday Period | 194,944 | 188,604 | -6,340 |
Some of the changes are typical seasonal responses to lower demand both from commuter and student trips. However, a disquieting phrase in the descriptions for many of these changes is “due to workforce considerations”. This raises the question of whether the shortage of operators is temporary and will be reversed, or if we are seeing longer term service cuts due to budget-driven understaffing.
I asked the TTC about this and they advised that there is a lot of vacation time concentrated in the holiday period. Services will be restored in January.
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