Service on several TTC routes across Toronto will be reduced starting Sunday because of staff shortages caused by the transit agency’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy.

The cuts take effect Sunday and include 57 bus routes, one streetcar route, and the Bloor-Danforth subway line.

Shelagh Pizey-Allen is CEO of TTC Riders says this is unacceptable.

“We’re talking about in some cases 50 percent service cuts on some of the routes,” TTC Riders CEO Shelagh Pizey-Allen lamented, “And these are widespread, all the way from Burnhamthorpe Road in Etobicoke to Highland Creek in Scarborough. This is going to cause chaos for working people in Toronto.”

But TTC Spokesperson Shabnum Durrani says service will still be predictable and reliable.

Word from the transit agency, frequency of service on some bus routes will only be reduced by a minute or two, but riders along other routes will see wait times double.

On the subway, Line 2 will see daytime service pared back from every three to four minutes to every four minutes on weekdays, evening service will be reduced to every seven to eight minutes rather than every six minutes.

TTC staff have been given until November 20th to be vaccinated against COVID-19. As of October 27th, about 88 percent of TTC employees had confirmed their vaccination status. At that time, some 2000 employees had not disclosed their status to their employer.