TTC and EMS team up for subway paramedic pilot project

The Toronto Transit Commission and Toronto Emergency Medical Services are teaming up to provide an EMS paramedic in the subway system during the busy morning and afternoon rush hour periods. The paramedic will be accompanied at all times by a TTC supervisor.

The 19-week pilot project will result in fewer subway delays and reduced response times for medical emergencies on board trains or in subway stations. In 2007, the TTC had 1,241 incidents of customer illness or injury, resulting in an average subway delay of just over two minutes.

TTC Chair Adam Giambrone and Toronto EMS Deputy Chief Mike Neill will announce the new pilot project on Tuesday, August 26 at 1 p.m. at the bloor station (southbound side).

The TTC moves 460 million people every year – about 1.5 million riders every weekday. It is the third largest public transit system in North America servicing some 4.5 million people in the Greater Toronto Area.