The chair of the TTC offered an apology to frustrated riders Wednesday -- not for the upcoming fare hike, but for the chaos along the Yonge subway line after a construction mishap shut down train service for six hours.
Tens of thousands of subway riders flooded Yonge Street, some waiting hours to board a shuttle bus to get home.
"[We] apologize for all the delays. There's really no way to deal with hundreds of thousands of people converging on one transportation corridor," TTC Chair Adam Giambrone said.
The incident wasn’t actually the TTC’s fault, though. Outside contractors working on Jackes Avenue, near St. Clair station, accidentally cut into the subway tunnel, prompting the TTC to bring in engineers and halt train service between Eglinton and Bloor stations.
A company called Linkline had been hired by Enbridge Gas to do the work. Enbridge has apologized and is working with the Ministry of Labour to figure out how the error occurred.
"We will be looking for the people responsible to cover the costs [of the delay]," Giambrone added.
On Wednesday, TTC spokesman Brad Ross explained what had caused the problem.
"They were doing road cuts with road saws, not realizing that the tunnel was just below them...They cut deep into the tunnel and we are now concerned that that slab of concrete they've cut could fall into the tunnel."
The trains were still for the entire afternoon rush -- between 2:30pm and 8:30pm.
"Wednesday night was pretty regrettable," admitted Mayor David Miller.
"But I was pleased to see the TTC act pretty quickly to solve the problem."
Patience ran thin on Yonge Street, where police prohibited all traffic except for the 70 or so TTC shuttle buses that carried about 300,000 people up to Eglinton.
"It was a nightmare," recalled one rider.