Winter Storm Snow Removal Update

The Major Snowstorm Condition and Significant Weather Event declarations remain in effect to assist crews in removing snow as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Snow piles can create challenges for safe travel, parking and businesses, and the parking restrictions help expedite cleanup efforts.

Snow removal operations continue around the clock and today and overnight crews will continue to remove snow from popular cycling routes on Bloor Street, Davenport Road, Yonge Street, Danforth Avenue and Huntingwood Drive.

The City has completed clearing more than 95 per cent of Toronto’s school bus loading zones, with the remainder in downtown and East York to be cleared over the next few nights. Snow removal in school locations can only be done overnight for student safety.

Since January 15, snow removal has been completed on 812 kilometers of roads, sidewalks and bike lanes, which has resulted in 188,120 tonnes of snow moved to snow storage sites.

Approximately 150 surge staff are assisting with snow removal operations today.

With snowfall in the forecast later this week, crews are preparing equipment and materials for salting and plowing.

⚠️ Top 311 service requests

311 answered approximately 4,400 calls yesterday, achieving a 72% service level, with call volumes down 31% from the prior week. Winter-related issues dominated demand, representing 54% of service requests, led by sidewalk snow clearing. Urgent winter requests (136) primarily impacted residents with mobility challenges, while snow clearing for bus stops and bike lanes continued to trend upward.

Today at 9:30 a.m.:
• 610 calls answered with a service level of 50%
• High volume on Tax, Utility Billing and VHT is impacting the Service Level due to the automatic phone calls by Revenue Services /tax calls. Average time to answer under 2 minutes.

Responsiveness and Service Levels – February 3 end of day
• ~4,400 calls answered at 311 with a service level of 72% on the main line
o ~3,400 calls on the main line (~31% decrease from the previous week)
o ~1,000 Tax, Utility Billing and VHT calls answered yesterday
o Average Speed to Answer of 42 seconds and Average Handle Time of 5:18 minutes

Service Requests, Inquires & Trends – February 3 end of day
• ~2,600 service requests created and ~3,100 general inquires
o ~1,400 (54%) winter-related requests being sidewalk snow clearing still at the top with 563 requests. Most impacted wards continue to be Davenport (166 Winter SRs), Beaches-East York (163 Winter SRs) and Toronto-Danforth (130Winter SRs).
o 136 winter SRs were tagged as urgent, mainly from residents who cannot use their mobility device due to snow.
o 36 bus stops snow clearing were created. ~400 created since January 25, 66% already completed.
o 126 bike lane winter maintenance requests were created yesterday being the top 3. ~570 created since January 25
o Tax, Utility Billing and VHT related inquires were at the top.