The CEO’s report says that there were 145 violent acts against passengers in just December

New data shows that the number of violent incidents against Toronto public transit riders went up 46% last year compared to 2021.

According to a report released by TTC CEO Rick Leary on Wednesday, there were 1,068 violent acts against passengers in 2022. Of those, 245 happened in the last two months of the year alone. There were 734 incidents the year before. In 2018, there were 679 incidents before the COVID-19 pandemic.

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In a statement released on Thursday, Stuart Green, a spokesman for the TTC, said that the agency is worried about the rise in violence against passengers.

“Safety is the most important thing we do, and every year the TTC moves hundreds of millions of people without any problems.” “But we can’t and shouldn’t assume that,” Green said in the statement. “We worry about attacks on our customers and employees, just like everyone else.”

The numbers that were released this week come after a number of high-profile events happened in the past year, including people being shot and killed.pushed onto subway tracks, lit on fire, shot at with BB guns, stabbed, swarmedand many other attacks. The report says that in December, there were 145 violent incidents, and in November, there were 100. They include fighting, robbing, stealing, causing trouble, and harassing.

Green said that steps have been taken by the transit agency to deal with the rise in violence.

“The recent rise in these serious, high-profile crimes is why we are working closely with the City of Toronto to send out more staff teams with expertise in addiction, mental health, housing, and security,” he said.

“These teams take a balanced, responsive, preventative, and caring approach.”

Toronto Transit Commission signage is pictured on Jan. 26, 2023. Police will increase their presence on public transit after a surge of violent incidents on the TTC.

The report says that even though TTC safety is still a concern, ridership is still below what it was before the pandemic.

“As of the week ending February 10, total weekday boardings reached 2.20 million, which is 68% of what they were before the COVID pandemic.” “This is a record since the pandemic,” the report says.

In January, the TTC said it would hire 50 security guards and 20 community safety ambassadors. At the same time, the Toronto police said they would send 80 officers to work on the transit system.

Leary wrote in the report that the TTC cares most about the safety of its customers and employees.

In a comment, he said, “We are still committed to working with the City of Toronto, our unions, and other stakeholders to find ways to make the TTC safer.”

A woman in her 20s has been stabbed multiple times on a Toronto streetcar on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. A suspect was arrested and the victim taken to hospital with what police say are “life altering” injuries.

In the report, it says that the TTC has a plan to stop assaults. The plan calls for:

  • There will be more special constables all over the TTC network.
  • More Streets to Homes workers to help and reach out to people without homes.
  • There will be more TTC maintenance and transportation managers around during peak service. They will move around the subway network to make sure that service is safe and reliable.
  • increased cleaning of vehicles in the middle of the day during rush hours to keep the environment clean.
  • working with the city and police to make short-term and long-term plans to improve community support and response to incidents.
  • Special constables keep an eye on the statistics to find problems.

The TTC said that its special constables will do more “high visibility patrols” in subway stations in 2022. The TTC also said that it is getting ready to hire 55 more special constables in 2023.

The report says, “These jobs have been approved as a top priority.”