Toronto Transit Commission accessibility

Accessibility for people with disabilities on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) system is incomplete but improving. Most of the Toronto subway system was built before wheelchair access was a requirement under the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA). However, all subway stations built since 1996 are equipped with elevators, and elevators have been installed in 30 stations built before 1996, including 1 station that was expanded in 2002, Sheppard–Yonge). Over half (44 of 75) of Toronto's subway stations are accessible. In 2014, the TTC began introducing new low-floor vehicles on its streetcar network which will replace the vehicles in the current fleet over a four-to-five year period. In December 2015, the TTC retired its first lift-equipped accessible buses, which were introduced in 1996, making all 170 bus routes 100% low-floor accessible.[1]

Subway

Vehicles

Sample active route map on display with the interior mockup of the new Toronto Rocket subway car

All subway cars, the T1, and Toronto Rocket, offer level boarding for customers with wheelchairs and other accessibility needs. They have priority seating identified in blue, and flip-up benches at designated wheelchair locations in each car. The location of these can be found by an exterior accessible icon beside the door, or on the Toronto Rockets, an additional exterior blue light beside the door.

The T1 series subway cars were the first trains to have:

  • wider doorways,
  • no centre line vertical stanchion bars.

All trains offer automated audible-only station stop announcements, the Toronto Rocket subway cars have twice the accessible seating compared to the T1 subway cars. The Toronto Rockets have visual displays (showing the next stop along with arrows pointing to which side doors will open on at the next stop) and electronic route maps to assist customers who are hearing-impaired and also verbally announce the side doors will open on at the next stop.

Stations

Accessible stations are equipped with elevators, wide fare gates, and accessible doors. The TTC provides a phone number, 416-539-LIFT, which provides a recorded message listing any elevators which are out of service.

  • All five stations on Line 4 Sheppard, opened in 2002, are fully accessible and equipped with elevators.
  • Two of the five stations on Line 3 Scarborough are fully accessible, while one station is partially accessible:
  • Lawrence East is partially accessible. The southbound platform is at street level and considered accessible.

Planned elevator installation

In a 2015 report the TTC stated that its target of having all stations accessible by 2020 will not be met, and that it cannot make all subway stations accessible by 2025 unless full funding is made available by governments. In March 2017, TTC CEO Andy Byford reaffirmed the agency's commitment to meeting the 2025 goal, pointing out that at one point in its plan, seventeen stations will be under construction simultaneously.[4] The completion plan for elevators in remaining stations is as follows:[5]

  • 2018: St. Patrick (construction in progress)
  • 2019: Dupont and Royal York (construction in progress)
  • 2020: Bay, Chester, Runnymede, Wellesley (construction in progress[6]), Wilson, Yorkdale (construction in progress[7])
  • 2021: Keele, King, Lansdowne (construction in progress[8]), Sherbourne
  • 2022: College, Donlands, Spadina (Line 1)
  • 2023: Castle Frank, Christie, Greenwood, High Park, Lawrence, Summerhill
  • 2024: Museum, Old Mill, Rosedale
  • 2025: Glencairn, Islington, Warden

The remaining inaccessible Line 3 Scarborough stations appear to have been removed from the plans, as Line 3 is expected to be replaced with an extension of Line 2 Bloor–Danforth.

Buses

Blue indicator lights on both sides of the route sign indicate the bus is low-floor and wheelchair friendly

Since the retirement of the last lift-equipped Orion Vs on December 4, 2015, all 170 bus routes have been 100% low-floor accessible,[1] using low-floor buses (Nova Bus LF Series and Orion VII). Not all stops along an accessible route are accessible (in particular, many subway stations where buses terminate are not accessible).

The TTC's low-floor buses are identified by blue lights located on both sides of the front route display.

Wheel-Trans

Wheel-Trans bus

The TTC provides Wheel-Trans, a door-to-door accessible transit service, to registered clients who are unable to use the conventional transit system. In some cases, Wheel-Trans buses connect customers from their homes to accessible subway stations allowing the rider to use the conventional system for a portion of their journey. The service was created in 1975 as the challenges for people with accessibility needs became more public, and at a time where the entire surface system ran high-floor (inaccessible) vehicles and subway stations did not have elevators.

Streetcars

As a result of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, which requires all public transport services in Ontario to become accessible by 2025, the TTC began to make its streetcar system wheelchair accessible on August 31, 2014, when the first two new low-floor Flexity Outlook streetcars entered service on the 510 Spadina line. The new streetcars have also been used on the 509 Harbourfront since March 29, 2015; on the 514 Cherry since June 19, 2016; and on the 512 St. Clair since September 3, 2017. The new streetcars will be rolled out to all other streetcar lines as more arrive and enter service, replacing the CLRV and ALRV streetcars by 2024.

Former TTC manager David Gunn has criticized the new streetcar order: "Oh, and they’re not accessible. The floor height is about a foot. You won’t be able to load a wheelchair on the street. There will be ramps, but the floor height is going to be about a foot. The ramps will be too steep."[9]

As of October 2018, the following routes are served almost exclusively by the wheelchair-accessible Flexity streetcars:[10]

  • 504 King
  • 509 Harbourfront
  • 510 Spadina
  • 512 St. Clair

Visual impairments

Service animals are allowed on the TTC during all hours of operation.

All stations have yellow warning strips with bumps at the edge of the platforms, and most have tactile floor tiles that assist persons with visual impairments in locating elevators and other accessibility features.

All vehicles are equipped with automated audible stop announcements. Surface vehicles and Toronto Rocket trains also have visual LED stop displays.

In 2015, the TTC announced tests of a new External Route Announcement (ERA) system for buses (similar to the system already in place on the commission's Flexity streetcars), that will indicate the route, direction, destination or next major stop as a pre-boarding announcement.[11] The announcements will be made through a speaker located on the outside of the vehicle, near the front door when the doors are opened. All TTC vehicles will be equipped with this system by the end of 2016 in compliance with ODA requirements.

References

  1. 1 2 "TTC All 170 TTC bus routes now 100% low-floor accessible". Toronto Transit Commission. December 5, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  2. 1 2 https://www.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Commission_reports_and_information/Commission_meetings/2017/April_20/Reports/9_2017_Accessibility_Plan_Status_Report_BR%2018389.pdf
  3. 1 2 "Accessible Transit Services Plan - 2012 Status Report". TTC. Retrieved March 1, 2015. Table 1: Elevator and Easier Access Installations Completed To Date
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4SjM_Ep-s
  5. ↑ "Station Completion Schedule". Easier Access Program. TTC. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
  6. ↑ "TTC celebrates opening of new Coxwell Station elevator tomorrow". www.ttc.ca. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  7. ↑ "TTC celebrates opening of new Coxwell Station elevator tomorrow". www.ttc.ca. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  8. ↑ http://www.ttc.ca/Service_Advisories/Construction/Lansdowne_EA.jsp
  9. ↑ "TTC Makes Dumbest Decision Ever - Former Head Warns". Theglobeandmail.com. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  10. ↑ "TTC Service Changes Effective Sunday, October 7, 2018". Steve Munro. 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  11. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 29, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
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