​People Are Sharing TTC Safety Tips Amid Recent Violence & Calling Toronto 'Gotham City'​​

Toronto residents are getting fed up with recent reports of violence on the TTC and are starting to speak out and look out for one another.

Several TikTok videos are going viral as the discussion around TTC safety grows, and many are weighing in to offer their best tips.

It all follows several more recent incidents, including the stabbing of a woman on a streetcar and the swarming-style assault on TTC employees on a city bus this week, which has transit union leaders and Toronto's mayor calling for sweeping changes.

There have been five incidents of violence in the TTC in the last six days.

"I can't be the only one who is terrified to take public transit in Toronto right now," said Melworeit in a TikTok posted on Tuesday in reaction to a woman in her 20s being stabbed multiple times in what was a random attack. "Things have gotten really bad in the last year."

She shared some tips from a friend who she said works for transit security.

"He recommended standing against the wall and not wearing headphones," she said. "It's awful that we have to be this vigilant, but better safe than sorry."

Another video offers a range of TTC safety tips, like where to find the emergency power cut button at each station that cuts the power to the tracks, where the emergency buttons are on the subway, and what to do if you ever fall onto the subway tracks.

And while several people are offering this helpful advice, others can't help but focus on just how troubling these recent incidents of violence have been and how it's making them feel.

"I always say Toronto's Gotham City like as a joke, but it's not a joke anymore," said Miaormia in a TikTok video of her own. "It's literally dangerous to take the TTC now. I'm about to walk."

In the comments, people echoed their own fears of taking transit and of even walking around the city these days.

But the reaction that seems to have hit everyone in the feels is one that sums up just about everything that's going on in Torontonians' lives these days that was posted earlier this week.

"It's only Tuesday, we're expecting a snow storm tomorrow, we haven't seen the sun in weeks, eggs are no longer affordable and every other second someone is getting killed or assaulted on the TTC for no reason," reads the text caption of the five-second video from _littlemissbritt that tallied roughly half a million views in its first 24 hours.

At an official level, Toronto Mayor John Tory has called for a National Mental Health Summit with leaders from all levels of government to address the recent violence taking place in the city.

The president of ATU Local 113, the union representing transit workers in Toronto, is calling for the creation of a national transit safety task force to address the issue.

"Our members are terrified," said Marvin Alfred in a statement. "Torontonians are too scared to take public transit.”