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In the long term, as the agency has warned in the past, the TTC needs more than $2 billion over the next five years ($11.9 billion over the next 15 years) to maintain the current reliability of the system.

“These numbers make me want to vomit,” said Fenton Jagdeo, a TTC board commissioner on the strategic planning committee, after a Ìýon the TTC’s financial situation on Thursday.

“It’s a big hole,” John Montagnese, executive director of finance for the TTC, told the committee.

Montagnese’s gloomy presentation to the TTC committee showed that the TTC is in dire need of long-term, sustainable funding, and that without it, service and reliability on Canada’s largest transit system could soon fall apart.

Another report, , warns that bus service could be “significantly impacted” without buying new buses and replacing old Wheel-Trans vehicles. For the subway, $73 million over the next five years isÌýneeded for what the TTC says are the current levels of “continuous, safe and reliable service delivered by TTC subway trains,” according to the report.ÌýAnd for streetcars, a lack of funding for track replacement could mean more slow zones, diversions and sudden closures,Ìýthe report warned.

A separateÌýreport on this year’s finances going to the TTC board next week shows that the agency is forecasting a $36.5 million budget shortfall by year’s end.Ìý

Most of that, according to the report, is attributable to lower-than-expected ridership — a trend that will ripple into the agency’s 2026 budget as well.

However, TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said “it’s important to point out that there’s still half a year left and things can change rapidly.

“We know, for instance, the return-to-office mandates should yield additional revenues beyond what we forecast,” Green said. “And management continues to seek out opportunities across the organization to find efficiencies without impacting service or maintenance.”

“This isn’t sustainable long term,”ÌýKaren Thorburn, executive director of corporate initiatives told the strategic committee at Thursday’s meeting. “This is not something that the TTC is going to be able to solve wholly on its own.”Ìý

Thorburn added that the transit agency is pushing the federal and provincial governments for more consistent, long-termÌýfunding to help cover the budget shortfall it faces.

Decades ago, the provincial government covered a portion of the TTC’s operating costs — at a time when the system was smaller — but in 1998 then-premier Mike Harris cut that subsidy. When the pandemic decimated ridership, the transit agency received $400 million in emergency aid from the federal and provincial governments.

The TTC still receives some funds from higher orders of government, but those funds are mainly for specific programs, like the new Line 2 cars or the Bloor-Yonge capacity improvement project.

The strategic planning committee is also looking at other ways to increase ridership and revenue, including a fare-capping program and a fare increase, as it prepares to make submissions for the transit agency’s 2026 budget.

Despite the concerns of the TTC committee members, a spokesperson for Mayor Olivia Chow said she “will not reduce service levels or raise fares,” adding the mayor “believes that improving service, reliability and safety is key to attracting riders back to the TTC.”

A spokesperson for OntarioÌýTransportation Minister Prabmeet SarkariaÌýtouted the Ford government’s transit expansion projects, but did not respond to questions about a provincial subsidy for transit operations.

The ministry “will continue to work closely with the City of É«É«À² and the TTC as we move forward with our plans to transform the Greater É«É«À² Area transportation network,” said spokesperson Dakota Brasier.