The TTC says it will add buses on some routes to support its aging streetcar fleet beginning in January. (CBC)

The Toronto Transit Commission says its streetcars are so packed that in the new year it will start running buses to help alleviate overcrowding.

The TTC is already behind schedule in awarding a contract for 204 new streetcars. The contract was expected to be awarded last summer, but it was put on hold when the TTC said none of the bids it received was satisfactory.

But the delay also means the TTC is having to make do with 30-year-old streetcars that are prone to mechanical problems. That means fewer vehicles during rush hour and greater expense to keep the others running.

For commuters like Lynn Hinds it means long waits for a streetcar, and when they do arrive they're sometimes full.

"Four will pass by in 10 minutes," she said. "Then one won't come for 15 minutes."

Faye Brown, who takes a different streetcar line, says during rush hour people are packed into the vehicles cheek by jowl.

"It's not safe. Too many people, and some people are very irritable … they fight they fuss … they don't want anyone to squish you, you know."

TTC chair Adam Giambrone said each streetcar is checked to make sure it complies with provincial safety guidelines before it rolls out. But with older vehicles problems are more frequent.

"If they're not safe they don't go out," said TTC chair Adam Giambrone. "What that means is if they're not safe and they're not going out you then begin running short of streetcars."

For example, Giambrone said, the heaters in some of the streetcars can be a problem. "On a snowy day sometimes the dashboard heater isn't working, so you have to pull it out of service because the operator can't see out the windshield."

Giambrone hopes to have new vehicles on order by April, but that is also dependent on federal and provincial funding.

But even if the $1.25-billion order is put in by April — nearly 12 months later than first proposed — the new streetcars won't arrive until 2012.

So starting in January, according to Giambrone, the TTC will start running extra bus service along busy streetcar lines to help reduce the overcrowding.