Commuters in Toronto have may have had to face delays on the subway system while trying to get to work - or home - on a tight time schedule. Unfortunately, in a city the size of Toronto, on a system the size of the Toronto Transit Commission's, it's inevitable that circumstances sometimes conspire to temporarily stop the subways from running.

In some of those occasions, a medical emergency or medical distress among individuals using the system requires prompt action by Emergency Medical Services, which leaves TTC officials with a dual responsibility to make sure medical care is prompt while keeping the subways running.

The idea of balancing the critical need to move people efficiently along the TTC transit system while also allowing prompt and efficient medical attention by EMS officers has prompted a new pilot project that will have a paramedic stationed at the Bloor-Yonge subway stations during the morning and afternoon rush-hour periods.

The paramedic will respond to emergency calls for ill or injured passengers and deploy right from the station.

It's a practical and thoughtful response to the growing numbers of delays related to medical emergencies on the system.

Toronto Transit Commission Chair Adam Giambrone noted last week that increased efficiency of a system occasionally knocked off schedule due to the growing incidence of medical emergencies was the primary goal of the new partnership. In the context of matching transit needs with medical services to minimize disruptions while also providing timely and critical care, this program couldn't come at a better time.

And it's not as if the station-based paramedic would be working without the necessary resources. Ambulances will still be dispatched over ground to emergency calls to complete the circle of medical care, but the paramedic would be the first responder and begin applying necessary care in the station while the ambulance is being dispatched.

Overall, the TTC AND EMS supporting this pilot project deserve credit for bringing it to the system. But if there is any question surrounding the plan it might be this: What took you so long?

Passes and parking...

It must be difficult for those Metropass holders who have enjoyed free parking at TTC lots in recent years to be told they'll have to start paying early next year.

While we sympathize, it's hard to ignore the inherent imbalance for others who pay the same Metropass fee but who don't drive.

At the most basic level, free parkers with Metropasses are effectively being subsidized by others.

Better to even the playing field and have the TTC plough that important revenue into extending services to the outlying areas so that commuter lots are even less in demand.

Fair is fair.