TTC Easier Access: 2025 Recap

Every year, in December, I review the entire list of TTC bus stops to see which ones have been made accessible. I have never really wrote about my findings, but I think it would make an interesting blog post.

January 1, 2025, was the date that our province was supposed to be 'fully accessible', through the Accessibilities for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). I don't think it takes much to realize we haven't reached that goal in many aspects. TTC, unfortunately, is not fully accessible, and it probably won't be for a few years. Nevertheless, some progress has been made this year.

I will recap all improvements that TTC has made to accessibility on the subway and bus network. Please note that I will not take a look at the streetcar network as I am unclear on how different types of streetcar stops are deemed accessible or not. Maybe this is something I can look at next year...

TTC Easier Access (Subway)

TTC's Easier Access program is currently in Phase 3. At the beginning of 2025, a total of 57.5 stations were considered accessible (the .5 relates to the fact that Spadina Station is accessible for Line 2, but not Line 1). Two new stations were made accessible in 2025 - Rosedale and High Park. As of writing, the temporary elevators at Warden are nearly ready to be opened, but who knows if they will be by the end of the year. 

Given the requirements outlined in the AODA, TTC has made some temporary changes to provide alternative accessible service. Notably, this included the new bus route 149, which provided an accessible alternative for the western portion of Line 2, as Islington, Old Mill, and, when introduced, High Park, did not have elevators.

I note that there continue to be reliability issues with elevators. As of the time of writing, five elevators at four stations are not operational. Two at Bloor-Yonge, the busiest station in the system, is kind of crazy, and the other three stations are busy as well. I can see many trips where a person has to content with two elevators being out of service.

I also note that TTC fails to communicate when stations are not accessible online, and they do not provide alternatives. Nowhere on, say, Christie Station's webpage is there a line explicitly stating that the station is not accessible.

Additionally, Line 6 opens tomorrow. All 17 new stations on this line are accessible. While it does improve the percentage of stations considered to be accessible, the goal of Easier Access is to make every station accessible, and not just a specific threshold. Nevertheless, we leave this year with 76.5 out of 87 stations accessible.

Predictions

Based on the above timeline summary chart for Easier Access Phase 3, updated to July 2025 (prior to the opening of Rosedale's elevators), I predict the following stations will be made accessible in 2026:

• Warden
• Christie
• Summerhill
• Greenwood

Maybe I'm being cynical but I feel there will be delays at College and Lawrence. I hope I am wrong! We will see next December.

Additionally, Line 5 is expected to open next year, and all 22 of its new stations will be accessible.

Bus Network Accessibility

While every TTC bus is ramp-equipped with fold-up seats, and thus considered accessible, not every stop is. Inaccessible stops can be found at all corners of the city, for a number of reasons. Some stops are near buildings fronting close to the sidewalk, others lack a hard surface, and others are located at steep angles. TTC has a program for improving stops by adding wider concrete pads to accommodate a folded-out ramp. The website does not post statistics, so this is a manual exercise for me.

At the beginning of 2025, approximately 950 stops were considered to be inaccessible. This was approximately 11% of the TTC's approximately 8650 stops within the City of Toronto. I do not include stops served by TTC routes contracted by YRT or MiWay, as they are not part of the TTC network. Additionally, I do not count does subway stations - the Greenwood Station stop on route 31 is marked as inaccessible because the station, but the bus platform is accessible from street.

This year, 12 stops were made accessible, 33 inaccessible stops were removed, and 23 inaccessible stops were relocated. While 68 stops is a good number, I have concern with some of the outright removals - while some make sense due to proximity to other stops, where they likely would have been removed anyways, I do have issue with some. For example, the removal of sb Bathurst at Heathdale feels like an easy win to make the route accessible, but significantly increases walking distances. Whether increasing walking for people with mobility issues fits into the intent of the AODA... it's up to y'all to decide!

The westbound stop at St Clair and Midland, serving routes 9, 102, and 902, was moved from the nearside to the farside, where space permitted a wider concrete pad.

14 new inaccessible stops were 'added' this year. This includes two stops on route 164 Castlefield, which is providing service on a road that never had it before. Some of these new stops, however, appeared on the list despite never having been on prior. What changed? Who knows.

In total, there is a net change of -53 inaccessible stops, with the total number of inaccessible stops settling around 897.

One other issue is that, while stops are marked with a blue sticker on the pole, passengers inside the bus have no idea if a stop is accessible. In Montreal, stop announcements include this information:

Prochain arret: Remembrance/du Chalet. Cet arrêt est non-accessible aux personnes en fauteuil roulant.

This could be adapted to TTC quite easily and would improve communication of accessibility information.

A few years ago, I wrote about the worst TTC stops, although that may as well have been titled "least accessible TTC stops".

Interesting Findings

The most improved route this year is route 35 Jane. Three of the four inaccessible stops southbound, and one of the five northbound was made accessible this year. The total number of inaccessible stops on route 35 Jane has went from nine to five. Go Jane Street!

The longest stretch of inaccessible stops remains unchanged. The stretch on the 47 between Rogers and Castlefield features eight inaccessible stops in a row. This includes three transfer points, at Rogers, Eglinton, and Castlefield. This stretch is very hilly, and property lines run up close to the street. That said, it wouldn't be impossible to fix. The picture below is nb Caledonia at Summit. The 47 has to enter this right-turn lane to serve the stop. What could be done is the right turn lane removed, and the sidewalk widened, so that the bus can service the stop in the through traffic lane.

The second-longest inaccessible stretch, on route 71 from Rockcliffe/Caesar to Lambton/Weston, is also unchanged.

Concerns

I have previously mentioned two issues with stops. One, at Greenwood Station, the bus stop is listed online as inaccessible just because subway service is. Two, stops randomly are marked as inaccessible when they never have been in years prior. Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Online, the stop on nb Victoria Park at Pachino is marked as not being accessible. However, the stop pole features the blue sticker denoting accessibility, and there is clearly enough width on the concrete pad to fold-out the ramp.

On the other hand, eb Sheppard at Don River Blvd is shown as accessible online, and the pole features the blue sticker, but it quite clearly is not. The concrete pad is nowhere near wide enough, and the stop is at an awkward angle.

The biggest problem with reaching 100% accessibility on our bus network is that TTC doesn't even know which stops are accessible and which are not. They can have a program to improve concrete pads, but if they don't know where they are required, how can we reach accessibility?

I too am limited when I do this update. I follow what the website says, but I'm not checking every stop on Streetview, or going out and measuring the width of the concrete. My list is possibly as inaccurate as TTC's, although I do note when a stop's inaccessibility is questionable.

I think TTC needs to have a small team of maybe three people on a one year contract, who go out and measure every bus stop and compile a list. It's a lot of work, but it is necessary work. It creates a data list whereby plans to improve accessibility can be made appropriately, and effectively. As seen with the Caledonia/Summit example, some of these are really low-hanging fruit that could be improved in a weekend.

How do other agencies do for accessibility?

Other transit agencies are really opaque on accessibility. Durham Region Transit doesn't list online which stops are accessible, and their stop poles feature no information to communicate this. Unfortunately, this tends to be standard in the GTA.

MiWay publishes a yearly accessibility report. In it, they specify exactly how many stops are inaccessible and how many they improved over the year. In 2024, 36 stops (1.2% of the total) were completely inaccessible, and 277 (9%) had slope-related issues. While the straight inaccessible total is a much lower rate than TTC, Mississauga is a suburb with wide rights-of-way that can easily accommodate concrete pads. Toronto has many older parts of the city that have to be contended with.

Related to subways, TTC's accessible station rate of 57.5 out of 70 is significantly higher than Montreal's 30 out of 68 stations. Accessibility in the Metro has been slower given that each station has a unique design. While TTC has every station under active construction, STM doesn't even have plans for all the stations. Even when they are under construction in Montreal, 'active' is not what I would describe it. The works at Edouard-Montpetit would be more accurately described as 'glacial'.

Conclusion

The province of Ontario has not met its accessibility requirements as laid out by the AODA. While TTC is progressing work to make all stations accessible, the bus network lags behind because of incomplete data. Especially as work wraps up on Easier Access, I am curious to see what the TTC proposes for their next phase of accessibility.