Mitzie Hunter issues comprehensive five-point TTC safety plan

People need to feel safe and be safe, mayoral candidate says

​Toronto – Mitzie Hunter says as mayor she will implement her comprehensive, five-point TTC safety plan to ensure people feel safe and are safe.

“People will not return to using transit if they don’t feel safe and secure,” says Hunter.

“We need people to feel safe and to actually be safe. My five-point TTC safety plan will achieve that.”

Hunter’s five-point, comprehensive plan, includes:

​●      Social workers paired with transit officers: De-emphasize sole focus on enforcement by transit officers and emphasize public safety. Hunter would pair transit officers with social workers to address the needs of vulnerable people experiencing homelessness, mental health and addiction issues. Working with Toronto Police Service we can get police officers patrolling inside and outside TTC stations when they do their community patrols so there is a greater visible presence.

 ●      Community ambassadors: Launch a community ambassadors’ program in addition to law enforcement on subway trains. Ambassadors would be drawn from neighborhoods close to the stations. Their first job will be to do a safety blitz which would see them walk about their local transit stations and conduct a safety audit. 

 ●      Glass sliding doors: Transition to installing glass sliding doors on all subway platforms for enhanced safety. This both prevents people from being pushed onto tracks but is also a suicide prevention measure. It will be expensive, but modern transit systems around the world are doing this, so we need to begin an affordable transition to this innovation, starting with the busiest stations.

 ●      Listening to riders, public information and data collection: We need to listen to riders to address their concerns. We need to data track people who get transition assistance so we can track progress. We also need to collect and publish crime stats to track progress and increase public confidence. We need to tell vulnerable people how to get help and we need to let people know how to be safe and how we are taking steps to increase safety.

 ●      Listening to TTC staff and employees and their representatives: We need to talk to TTC staff and make sure they are safe and feeling safe. We need a transit system that works for everyone. That means a transit system people want to use and meets their needs. We need more riders, not fewer, and that is why this is not a time for service cuts while we are trying to attract more people, and not make the system less accessible, particularly in already underserved areas of the city. 

 “I am the only candidate with a detailed, comprehensive, five-point plan to increase TTC safety,” says Hunter. “People need to feel safe and be safe and that is what I will achieve as mayor.”

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Contact:

Charmain Emerson
charmain@culturedcommunications.ca