While 2011 ended with a tale of lovemaking on the TTC, 2012 started with a tale of war.

A brawl erupted on a Bloor subway car around 2 a.m. Sunday, as it pulled out of Yonge station. When the train opened its doors at Sherbourne station, the fight spilled onto the platform and was captured by rider Justin Kozuch on his phone.

One bystander expressed shock that transit workers didn’t intervene, but the transit commission says responding to criminal activities on the subway is a police responsibility.

“An assault or a fight is a criminal activity,” said TTC spokesperson Brad Ross.

“We certainly wouldn’t expect our subway guard or operator to get involved. That is a police responsibility. They’re trained to deal with those types of situations.”

Police said they received a call about five to 10 people fighting on the eastbound platform of the Sherbourne subway station. But by the time officers arrived on scene, everyone had fled.

Chloe Tejada, 27, said she was getting on an eastbound train at Yonge station with her boyfriend when the fight broke out in one of the cars.

“There was a girl saying some guy had punched her and she wanted to get at this guy and hurt him and his friends,” said Tejada. About 10 people were involved in the brawl, she added.

Several bystanders who tried to intervene were thrown to the ground, said Tejada, including her boyfriend.

“I was really scared because I thought that I could get hurt,” said Tejada. “It just seemed like they were raging against everyone, even people that had nothing to do with the fight.”

The train stopped at Sherbourne, where it remained for 10 or 15 minutes as the brawl spilled out onto the subway platform.

Tejada said she did not see any police arrive and the quarreling parties eventually left the subway platform.

“I was just really shocked over the lack of response from the TTC and wondering how they could let this go on,” Tejada said. “What if someone had a gun? People could have been really seriously hurt.”

Ross said the transit commission’s responsibility in situations like this is to hold the trains and call police and transit enforcement.

“If there was any report of a gun aboard any TTC vehicle, you can bet the police would be there very, very quickly,” Ross said.

He said there were 10 transit enforcement officers on duty at the time of the incident, but they would have been at busier stations such as Kennedy, Kipling, Finch, Downsview and Union. It would take the officers some time to arrive.

“We have a responsibility to attend, but resources are thin,” Ross said

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Transit enforcement officers issue tickets for trespassing or fare evasion. They are able to make an arrest if they witness criminal activity.

In mid-December, an intoxicated couple began having sex in a car on the University subway line. When they were booted off at Spadina station, they continued their tryst on the platform. Police charged the pair with public intoxication and lewd behaviour.