Like thousands of others working at Canada鈥檚 four major banks, Rebeca Batres will soon have to commute four days a week to the office as their employers widen their back-to-work mandates this fall.
Batres doesn鈥檛 mind the extra time working with colleagues in the same place, noting that tellers at the branches “never stopped going to work in-person.”
But because she doesn鈥檛 have a car, Batres relies on public transit to get to work. She said she likes taking the streetcar, but it can get bogged down in traffic. Though the subway and a GO train to Union Station are options, both are quick to get crowded and prone to unexpected delays.
She fears what might happen if employees in other industries also have to start working more days from the office.
“Traffic is going to be increasing,” Batres said, adding she has already noticed longer delays and more crowding since the pandemic. “I feel that we could do better 鈥 we could do better in terms of the actual planning for our transit system.”
Rebeca Batres is a banker facing a return-to-office mandate. She said she’s looking forward to being back in the office but is dreading the commute: “We could do better in terms of the actual planning for our transit system.”
R.J. Johnston 色色啦 StarMajor 色色啦 companies are ordering their employees to work in the office more days of the week as they rein in pandemic-era hybrid arrangements.听Four of Canada’s major banks, including the one where Batres works, are requiring staff to work from the office at least four days a week starting next month, while聽Rogers employees听补苍诲听Ontario public servants聽will have to head in for a full work week. The moves by some of the province鈥檚 biggest employers could have a snowball effect, with more businesses following suit.听
By 2026, that could mean at least 100,000 public servants required to work in-person five days a week, and as many as 200,000 financial services workers into the city four to five days a week.
More commuters, more congestion
As more employees return to the office, that will mean more drivers on the city’s聽already congested roads聽and more passengers on the city’s strained transit system. The TTC is already facing a聽gargantuan state-of-good-repair backlog聽that has led to planned closures nearly every other weekend,聽slow zones across the subway system听补苍诲听unexpected delays, all of which have thrown a wrench into commutes that have been on the rise聽since the pandemic,聽.
Across Canada, the number of workers who are commuting to the office has increased for the fourth year in a row. In 色色啦 specifically, more commuters are returning to the TTC and GO 鈥 nearly a quarter of commuters took public transit in May 2025, according to StatCan.
Hundreds of thousands of workers heading back to the office across Ontario over the coming months 鈥 whether they like it or not.
Hundreds of thousands of workers heading back to the office across Ontario over the coming months 鈥 whether they like it or not.
Average commutes times for 色色啦nians have been on the rise over the past two years, sitting at 34.9 minutes鈥攖he longest commute time among Canada鈥檚 largest cities, according to StatCan data for May 2025.
“All of this is just weighing on people as they try to decide how they’re going to get around as the return-to-work mandates from the Ontario Public Service, from the banks and from other employers start to really click into gear,” said Matti Siemiatycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute at U of T.
There are a lack of good alternatives available to help alleviate congestion on the roads: “What you need is other options that are safe and affordable and reliable,” he said, adding that is not what many TTC riders experience.
More 色色啦 employers are asking workers to return to the office. Is this the end of remote work?
A wait-and-see approach
In other cities, return-to-office mandates have led to crowded trains and prompted transit agencies to run more service.听In Washington, D.C., when return-to-office mandates for federal workers went into effect in February, the Washington Metro saw its聽, and subsequently added more service.听
聽has yet to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, with only 76 per cent of pre-pandemic ridership on subways, 72 per cent on streetcars and 86 per cent for buses.听
Asked if 色色啦’s transit system was ready for an influx of return-to-office commuters, the TTC said in a statement it always increases service in September, for the return of school.听
Spokesperson Stuart Green said that with back-to-office mandates, the TTC expects most ridership increases will come on Mondays and Fridays. It expects commuters, who mainly come in on Wednesdays, to begin taking transit on other days of the week, where ridership remains relatively low post-pandemic.
The TTC “should be able to accommodate an increase in peak demand within existing service,” said Green. “If there are any unexpected ridership bumps, we have the ability to provide extra service.”
Longer term, Green said the TTC will monitor the impact of return-to-office and “integrate any additional requirements into our 2026 budget ask.”
Across the GO network, service has been increasing every year since 2023, with ridership at 94.7 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. GO ridership in July actually聽聽since the pandemic.
Metrolinx did not answer questions about how it would specifically increase service if there were an unexpected number of new riders as a result of back-to-office mandates increasing.
GO spokesperson Andrea Ernesaks said only that “GO Transit and UP Express services are aligned to match customer demand, meeting the evolving commuter patterns of our customers.”
That includes increased weekday GO service on the Stouffville Line and more GO Bus service to post-secondary schools beginning on Aug. 30, Ernesaks said, with Metrolinx adding more than 300 weekly train trips across the GO network since 2013.
“We always closely monitor ridership and will continue to adjust our services based on customer demand and need,” she added.听
A system at capacity
The city’s transit system should be able to handle increased ridership, for now at least, transit expert Steve Munro said.
The subway system is the most constrained, especially Line 1 where slow zones and passenger-related delays have hindered its rush hour service, said Munro.
“You might be able to absorb (increased ridership) within the existing system resources,” Munro said, “but don’t count on that forever.”
Longer term, the TTC’s current infrastructure can only handle so much, without having to buy new subway cars or buses, he added.
Whether or not return-to-office ridership will overwhelm the system depends on how many workers who haven’t been commuting suddenly start taking the TTC again, Munro said.听
Focus on reliability
As more transit riders are expected to take the TTC, Siemiatycki wants to see better leadership on transit, especially from聽the TTC and its new CEO, Mandeep Lali.
“Part of how you attract people back is with service quality, because the service quality, in addition to less service, has also just become unreliable and in some cases, uncompetitive with other alternatives,” he said.
Customer satisfaction, as tracked by the TTC, is still down from pre-pandemic levels. Its customer satisfaction score, measured through a survey of riders, sat at聽.听, satisfaction levels for riders were at 75 per cent, with most complaints about the timeliness of service.
“What we need now is the virtuous cycle, we need the cycle to go upwards,鈥 said Siemiatycki. 鈥淲e need more people to come back, which then drives more revenue, which drives more service, which then drives more ridership.”
Batres has specific ideas on how to help the TTC drive that virtuous cycle, including creating a single dedicated lane for streetcars, better communication on delays or even just more reliable service.
As she prepares to go in at least four days a week, what she really just wants is a less stressful daily commute. Delays 鈥 like a streetcar ride during February’s snowstorm that lasted two hours 鈥 mean more time away from her two kids, which can be especially stressful for a single mother.
“It was always a challenge as a single mom,鈥 said Batres. 鈥淧eople don’t realize the impact that it had to my mental health, to my overall health, knowing that my kids were waiting for me.”
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