Opening day on April 2 drew a massive crowd of 48,000 Blue Jays fans to downtown Toronto.
Imagine the size of the crowd a weekend home stand against rival Boston Red Sox will draw. Now imagine it with the TTC crippled. Welcome to this weekend.
The Blue Jays will take on division rival The Boston Red Sox in their opening weekend series starting Friday, April 5, and going to Sunday, but for those hoping to take the subway to the Rogers Centre, plan ahead. The University line, from St. George Station to Union Station, will be closed for maintenance.
Jessica Martin, a communication advisor for the TTC, said “we have a subway closure scheduled for the Blue Jays’ home opener weekend on the 6th and 7th of April. We do take these events into consideration when we plan closures. We do realize there is never a good time to shut down the subway, but these upgrades are necessary.”
To fans intent on making it down to the games TTC advises that you leave home with plenty of time to take one of the many shuttle busses being made available.
Mark Charmbury is one fan who plans on battling the crowds to get to the game. Charmbury, a native of Saskatoon, moved to Toronto to become a season ticket , and hopefully bear witness to Toronto’s third World Series win in 2013.
Transit delays aside, Charmbury says it’s time for true fans to step up: “The Jays showed they were all in, it was time for me to step up as a fan and go all in.”
Charmbury’s dedication as a fan is not limited to just moving to Toronto. Due to the TTC closures Charmbury has decided to take matters into his own hands on how he’s getting to the game and avoiding the congestion.
“The closures will be an issue for me. It’s about a two hour walk from my house, I’ll just walk the two hours. But, the TTC is a very viable way for people to get to the games, so it may have an impact on attendance for sure.” Charmbury said.