Shootings in the TTC are quite rare, but lesser acts of violence involving both passengers and TTC staff are relatively common.

Thursday's shooting occurred at Osgoode station at 10:37 a.m., leaving one young man wounded by two bullets.

On March 28, 2008, the TTC recorded its first shooting ever inside a subway car.

"These incidents are incredibly few and far between," Coun. Adam Giambrone, the TTC's chair, told CTV News on Thursday, referring to the shooting.

But here are some incidents from the subway in the past week alone:

• Three suspects robbed a 16-year-old boy at Donlands Station on Jan. 16
• Someone tried to rob a 14-year-old boy at the Glencairn subway station on Jan. 16
• A 19-year-old woman reported being sexually assaulted while on a TTC train passing through 53 Division, which covers midtown Toronto, on Jan. 13

Brad Ross, director of communications for the TTC, told ctvtoronto.ca that statistics about criminal occurrences on TTC property would have to come from the Toronto Police Service.

Const. Tony Vella, a Toronto Police spokesperson, told ctvtoronto.ca that such statistics would have to come from the TTC.

Ross did say, "It is a public transit system that is open to all. Criminal incidents do occur on the transit system."

The TTC has 103 special constables who ride the transit system "doing two things -- serving and protecting," he said, adding they work closely with police.

Some other duties include crowd control during the morning rush and checking for counterfeit metro passes, he said.

But some passengers observe that they rarely see special constables, especially during the times when criminal activity is most likely to occur.

"They're there. They wear blue uniforms ... you may not see them, but they are there," Ross said.

Some officers do ride the subway system at off-hours and others travel by car to be dispatched to hotspots, Ross said, adding they stay mainly to the core of the city.

Other security measures

Ross noted the TTC has extensive video cameras and designated waiting areas within subway stations with special lighting and direct communications to the collector's booth.

There are passenger alarms on subway cars. Security cameras should be completely rolled out across the TTC's entire fleet  by the end of February, he said.

"So there are a number of measures in place on the system today, to help customers, to protect customers, to give them a better sense of security when they're riding the system," Ross said.

Passengers aren't the only ones affected by criminal activity. TTC drivers experience about two assaultive incidents across the system on a daily basis -- including punches, spitting and threats, he said.

The new security cameras -- which don't monitor drivers -- should hopefully result in more people being prosecuted when they commit crimes on TTC property, either against drivers or passengers, he said.

Ross couldn't say whether they are actually working in deterring criminal behaviour, but that is the hope.

Despite the shock of Thursday's shooting, one Toronto transit watcher didn't sound that alarmed.

"I think the TTC is an extension of Toronto streets, really," James Bow of the Transit Toronto blog told ctvtoronto.ca. "They are for the most part, safe, but not 100 per cent safe."

People at his online community are talking about it in the wake of Thursday's shooting, but it isn't normally a top-of-mind issue among them.

Mostly, "it's when the next train's going to be," he joked. But growing the TTC is another big topic.

Some people do debate whether the TTC's special constables should be part of the actual police. Some suggest that the model of some U.S. cities -- making the subway a separate precinct or division -- be followed here, Bow said.

With files from ctvtoronto.ca's Sandie Benitah