TTC plans to redirect downtown access with potential lineup on New Year’s Eve

Transit users planning to head in or out of Toronto’s downtown on New Year’s Eve and early on New Year’s Day should expect changes to how they the subway system and could face queues on the streets, the City of Toronto is warning, as it battles overcrowding issues.

The TTC said in a statement on Friday it would be restricting access to Union Station‘s TTC stop, directing people to enter the station via the Brookfield Place doors on Bay Street, south of Front Street.

The transit agency said police and city staff would monitor the entrance and could force people to get in line to get into the station at peak points.

“If the TTC station becomes overcrowded, customer flow will be managed from outside, potentially requiring customers to line up on Bay Street before being admitted,” the TTC said.

TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said the move was decided by the City of Toronto after two consecutive years of overcrowding issues at Union Station, which connects Line 1 of the subway to GO Trains, the UP Express and VIA Rail trains.

He said the TTC was “simply accommodating” the change.

A City of Toronto spokesperson said 250,000 people went to the official New Year’s celebrations in the downtown on the shores of Lake Ontario last year and there had been worries about crowding and traffic as attendees return home.

“New plans include enhanced staffing and wayfinding in and around Union Station, queuing for people riding transit and other enhancements,” they told Global News.

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Free rides on both Metrolinx trains and the subway is in operation again to usher in 2025, as it has been in previous years.

The city said the changes, and potential queuing system, are to “support a safe experience for those planning to attend the New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations.”