My beef with the TTC

April 12, 2010 3 | By Parvinder Sachdeva

“Finally, a bus after forty-five minutes,” I said to the driver.

I had been waiting for a bus on a stormy Saturday afternoon under the ineffectual TTC shed for a span of time during which at least three buses should have passed by. When one finally arrived, I was ready to forget this incident but made it a point to mention it to the driver. What happened next, however, was unforgettable.

The driver just nodded his head. The idea of an apology never crossed his mind. With no sign of regret or shame, he happily handed me the transfer slip and showed me the telephone number where I could file my complaint.

“Go complain here,” he said.

Customers are reminded to mind the service gap. Courtesy of Miguel Syyap

Great! He just gave me another incident that I can add to my book called “101 Bad Experiences with the TTC.” My existing list consists of drivers stopping the bus in the middle of the route for a Tim Hortons coffee, a ticket collector yawning his way through the day, a sleeping booth operator, a driver taking a detour to drop his favourite customer to her desired location and the far too many hints of racist behaviour that I see every day, only to be outnumbered by the incidents of the TTC’s inappropriate approaches towards customer service.

But it’s obviously no secret that I’m not the only one having a bad time with them.

In many situations, TTC drivers fail to realise that they are the writers of our fate. They control our ability to reach an interview on time, our ability to make a good first impression and can make or break our day. What they do realize is the fact that many people, including myself, have no other option but tom take the TTC.

And they thrive on our helplessness.

Just the other day, my professor mentioned to the class that a TTC operator who works overtime makes more than he does. It just makes me happy to know that people are finally being rewarded in the rightful way. After all, TTC drivers teach us some truly valuable life lessons; they teach us that life can be hard, cruel, inconsiderate, insensitive and unmerited. This is certainly more valuable than what the professors teach us, isn’t it?

The idea of an apology never crossed his mind. With no signs of regret or shame, he happily handed me the transfer slip and showed me the telephone number where I could file my complaint.

Now, since the TTC has failed to learn anything from its past I would like to put forth my suggestions:

First, ban Tim Hortons from operating any store on bus routes because their irresistible coffee forces TTC drivers to stop for a doubledouble.

Second, invent or hire robots to operate the vehicles. That way we won’t have to experience the disappointment of dealing with emotionless humans with zero consideration for anybody but themselves.

Third, if you have to hire humans,
hire some of the minimumwage-
earning sales staff from Wal-Mart or Sears who treat customers with better respect and dignity. Really, if you can’t do that, at least ask your staff to learn from them.

Fourth, stop paying your employees such ridiculous pay checks. It makes them feel like they own all of us.

Lastly, if you can’t do any of the above, and I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to considering in the incompetent staff and management of the TTC, do something, anything, that won’t make my daily commuting experience so horrible.

Comments

April 13, 2010 at 12:31 am | by Mark

After reading your article… i’m a little disappointed at your approach. Yes i understand that there were specific unfavorable events that you encountered, but try to look at this from the other perspective.
If a bus driver is 45 minutes late, during a storm… can one say that had you been driving that day, that you might have been 15 minutes late to wherever your traveling to. That bus, being larger travels a little slower (initial acceleration), then every few hundred meters has to stop somewhere, to either let people in or out. A 5km stretch on an average 60km/hr road might take a car around 5-10 minutes, but a bus, your looking at 15-20. Add more buses to the route some might say… but do you know the average cost of a bus? upwards of a million dollars per vehicle, then fuel, then maintenance. Its just not economical to keep extra buses in situations like that. As for stopping in the middle for coffee breaks? Can i ask you a question… how many times have you left class in the middle of a lecture to get a coffee? or how many times, in the middle of work have u gone for a quick 5 minute coffee break? why drink coffee at all? it just helps a person stay awake. Those drivers are carrying passengers… try driving for 4 hours straight without taking a break, the same route, with hardly anyone to talk to, no music/radio. It bets boring, and boredom leads to a person feeling sleepy. I’d rather have a ttc driver, get down, grab a coffee, take 10 minutes and drive safe, than have a sleepy driver.

As for ttc drivers being apologetic when they’re late… what can you do? they’re late, thats it, what if theres an accident and all lanes are blocked and the buses are held up (which happens), whats to say.
I am not totally disagreeing with you… yes there have been cases where i’ve been a bit angry at them as well, hints of racism, rudeness, i’ve experienced the bunch myself. But, if you’ve ever lived in any other major city, i can tell you this, our level of service, and i’m talking actual day to day travel (i’ve lived in San Francisco and New York) not a “travel once” and evaluate, is actually one of best.
Another thing i agree upon in this article is the wages these employees get paid. Although they are high, they shouldn’t decrease them too much either. there should be certain limitations. Another perspective is that, if ttc is to fire people based on their wages, why would anyone work there either. Think of the people who have worked for ttc for over 20 years, should they deserve the pay check their getting. Firing employees for new low wage employees is not the solution. Service would decline immediately as employee moral would decrease. “why work so hard for a company that u cannot progress in”.

I’ve lived in toronto for almost 7 years, and i’ve been commuting on it since. Yes, there have been times when i’ve hated the service, but overall i cant help praise this organization. The amount of times i’ve had too much to drink and not have enough change, only to see a ttc employee tell me, hey bud, dont worry about it, u just get home safe. Just last week, at around 2am, i requested the driver to stop in between stops and he did it for me, and i’m a guy. And the time where i misplaced my transfer and the driver said, np, dont do it again while handing me another slip.
“he happily handed me the tranfer.. number to call”
Theres a reason hes happy… the ttc system to update msgs to bus drivers is relatively slow. For example, if i am on yonge and steels and theres an accident on bayview and steels, and the bus needs to take an alternative route, the driver wont be notified at least an hour later, thus ruining his time/ fixed schedule. In fact, i once had a driver who told me that if more people complained and called that number, the service would improve 10 fold… and as a matter of fact, i did call and complain.
oh boy, this is a long comment… i’ll end it awkwardly and say, i disagree, although not entirely with your perspective on this issue.

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April 28, 2010 at 9:47 pm | by mark

shame on them! they need to stop @*$%ing disrespecting people. whoever keeps doing this diserves a nasty backhand.

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June 6, 2010 at 10:40 pm | by Tamy

One comment to the stopping for breaks: so what if they need to go to the washroom? They’ve been driving for that entire route. What if they really need to go and they’re not near the end of the route? I’ve had plenty of bad experiences with TTC employees but replacing them with robots? Some of them are nice and all of them are making a living. Furthermore, what about passengers who have questions regarding where to go? Surely a robot driver can’t be programmed to handle all of that.

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