The TTC has released its final ridership estimate for the Toronto Raptors parade day, estimating that there were 2.154 million riders on the historic day in the city.

The Raptors parade and celebration departed from the Princes’ Gate at Exhibition Place on Monday, June 17, with fans cheering on the NBA Finals champions as they made their way to the celebration at Nathan Phillips Square.

In the TTC’s chief executive officer’s report posted on Thursday, the final ridership estimate for the parade day was a 35-per-cent increase from ridership on a normal Monday.

According to the report, upwards of one million spectators attended the parade, with around 100,000 fans filling Nathan Phillips Square.

The report says that the number of customers carried on the TTC broke the organization’s all-time single-day record of 2 million people, which was set during the 2002 World Youth Day papal mass at Downsview Park.

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Previously in June, the TTC said there was about a 70-per-cent increase in rides, as compared to a normal Monday. According to the TTC’s preliminary estimate, 2.7 million rides took place on the Raptors’ parade day.

On the day of the parade, three TTC subway stations — Queen, Osgoode and Dundas — were forced to close temporarily. The report posted on Thursday attributes the stations’ closures to overcrowding.

“Downtown Toronto was a crush of people, and although we were required to close a few stations ... from all accounts our staff did extraordinary work under extremely challenging circumstances,” reads CEO Richard Leary’s report.

On a typical weekday, the TTC carries around 1.7 million riders, according to the report.

With files from Gilbert Ngabo

Emma Sandri is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @emmarosesandri

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