TTC chair Karen Stintz announced the scrapping of the TTC’s bus service Monday as a new contract with private bus service Metro Transit would start next month.
The announcement comes after two and a half years of service delays.
The new contract will be the TTCs first since Metro Transit entered the system in 2017.
It will be one of several TTCs contract changes as the TTC works to replace a fleet of buses that has been on the road since 2011.
The TTC has also announced it will be reducing the number of vehicles it has on the street by half.
The number of buses has been increasing by 1,400 per year since 2014, the TTC says.
Metro Transit has had a fleet on the streets since it was first created in 1998.
In the meantime, the agency has been struggling to find enough drivers to handle its growing number of customers.
A TTC spokesperson said the TTC will make changes to its bus fleet and hire more drivers over the next three years.
The spokesperson added that the TTC is also working to increase the number and range of service options for riders.
A total of 1,935 TTC buses have been on service since April 2020.
In March, the transit agency said it was reducing the fleet to 100 buses, a reduction of almost 60 per cent from its current fleet.
The last TTC bus to leave the TTC depot in April 2019 was a bus carrying students from the Scarborough Town Hall.
The buses have also been on a bus tour of the Toronto Islands.
The transit agency also announced in September that it would be taking a year off in 2021.
