The TTC says a safety plan it implemented two years ago after a rash of fatal bus and streetcar crashes has successfully reduced the number of deadly collisions involving its vehicles.

According to a report on the agency’s Safe Service Action Plan that will be presented at the TTC board next Wednesday, from the start of 2015 to the end of 2016 there were six deadly crashes involving buses or streetcars. In the four years before that, there were 21 fatal collisions.

Of the six fatal crashes in 2015 and 2016, the TTC determined that only one was “preventable,” a term the agency uses to describe a crash it was responsible for.

Since 2010, fatal bus crashes have declined from a rate of 0.06 deaths per million miles to 0.02 per million in 2016, according to the report. The rate for streetcars declined from 0.25 per million miles to 0 in 2016.

Rick Leary, chief service officer for the TTC, said the plan has been “a huge success.”

“We’re not saying we’re done. We still have issues,” he said. But he pointed to the low number of preventable fatal collisions in the past two years as a major improvement.

“I’m really thrilled about it,” he said.

TTC CEO Andy Byford initiated the strategy at the start of 2015, at a time when the transit agency’s safety record was under scrutiny.

In the final four months of 2014, five people were killed by TTC buses or streetcars, including 14-year-old Amaria Diljohn-Williams.

That same year the TTC came under fire thanks to several videos posted online that showed bus operators running red lights.

As part of the safety plan, the agency introduced a slew of changes that Leary said have affected everything from workplace culture to recruitment, training, and route scheduling.

Among the changes was a revamped driver training curriculum that includes more time “in the seat,” as well as more night driving.

Leary said streetcar operators now have to spend 60 hours driving the vehicles before they’re allowed to start regular duty. Before the change, there was no minimum driving time.

The TTC also implemented a 25 km/h speed restriction for streetcars passing through intersections. “Streetcars can’t stop on a dime,” Leary said.

An internal communication campaign advised employees to “operate to conditions” and be careful around traffic congestion, construction, and bad weather, while a software tool was developed to help managers identify drivers whose records indicate they might be at risk for a crash.

In developing the plan, Leary said TTC managers had face-to-face interviews with all 6,000 bus and streetcar operators.

In response to their concerns, the agency relaxed schedules on some bus routes to ensure drivers weren’t rushing.

The TTC even sent its constables out with radar guns to conduct “speed audits” and identify when its operators were going too fast. Driver speed was also tracked using GPS.

Leary couldn’t provide a cost for the program, but said that most of the initiatives were carried out within the TTC’s existing budget.

Of the three fatal bus crashes since 2015, the TTC determined none of them was the agency’s fault. They included two collisions caused when car drivers rear-ended stationary buses. The third happened when a car driver collided with a TTC bus and then hit two pedestrians, killing one of them.

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The only preventable crash in the previous two years occurred when a streetcar operator struck a pedestrian in 2015.

In that case, an 80-year-old man was hit while crossing St. Clair Ave. West near Arlington Ave. The streetcar operator was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian and careless driving.

The other two streetcar collisions in 2015 were deemed non-preventable and involved a pedestrian and a motorcycle driver respectively.

Streetcars weren’t involved in any deadly crashes last year.