Taking the “Better Way”

[rusty_armour]

It’s always such a jolly adventure travelling to work on the TTC. This morning as I walked into Eglinton Station, I saw a woman yelling, “There are no trains! No trains!” As I was on TTC property, I assumed the woman was a nutjob and exchanged a mutual eye roll with a woman who had just entered the station as well. When I reached the northbound platform, a train was sitting there, so I assumed nothing was amiss. Of course, the TTC announcer waited until after the train started moving to inform everyone that there would be no subway service between Lawrence and Finch because there had been an “incident on the tracks” at York Mills Station. Silly TTC announcer. We’re not complete idiots. We know that an “incident on the tracks” usually means that someone has jumped in front of a train. Anywaaaaay, we were informed that the train would be turning back at Lawrence and returning to Eglinton Station, but that shuttlebuses would be travelling from Lawrence to Finch. As I had absolutely no intention of standing in a huge crowd of people hoping to squeeze on to the fourth or fifth shuttlebus that came along, I re-traced my route back to Eglinton Station to catch a Lawrence bus to Don Mills. If I’d known earlier (e.g. before boarding the train), I could have just taken a bus in the first place and saved myself ten minutes. Oh, well. The TTC will have its little games.

The fun and laughs continued on the bus platform as a large number of people milled around trying to figure out what bus to take. I found this confusing as I was sure the shuttlebuses were leaving from Lawrence Station, not Eglinton. I suppose it’s possible that these people were also trying to avoid the sheer hell that is shuttlebus service. However, would it have killed them to consult a route map instead of jumping on every bus that pulled into the station to ask the drivers if they were going to Sheppard? And, yes, now I’m forced to concede that most TTC customers are complete idiots, so I guess the TTC is somewhat justified in treating its patrons as such.

In the end, I was 40 minutes late for work. Of course, if I had gone with my other travel option, I wouldn’t have made it to work at all, so I suppose I should be grateful. Yes, compared to walking to Markham, the TTC is the “better way”.

Comments

[puckrobin.livejournal.com]

When I used to travel from Keele to Scarborough Town Centre (nearly the entire length of the city -- for those non-Torontonians) every day seemed to bring a new breakdown, shuttlebus, or some other delay.

This morning, I was a 20 minutes late because of TTC wackiness. I know the feeling.

Obviously, many TTC patrons are idiots -- just look at their garbage/recycling area. Every single bin has the same mixture of newspapers (those not left on the floor for us to trip on), coffee cups and water bottles. They can't follow the signs with handy diagrams. Or today, when we had to evacuate the train at Ossington. The first people off the train just blocked the doorway. They didn't want to let anyone else off. (Which is pretty much how they board the train too.)

I've noticed when shuttlebuses are deployed at Ossington station (thankfully not today), no one has any idea where they will show up. There are no signs to be posted, no helpful people in maroon jackets shouting instructions -- just a crazy, anarchist mob ready to push all other patrons into traffic.

But I'm told it's much better than the New York subway.

Allen

[rusty-armour.livejournal.com]

Yeah, any commute from (or within) Scarborough sucks. And considering the distance you used to travel, you'd probably know more about breakdowns and shuttlebuses than anyone should have to know. I'm sorry you were also late yesterday because of the TTC.

From what I heard from a co-worker who did brave the shuttlebuses at Lawrence Station, there was similar chaos as the kind found at Ossington Station. There were no clear instructions on where to stand, and people were just gathering in mobs. Of course, there were no helpful people in maroon jackets to provide any kind of assistance.

I think you're right about many TTC patrons being idiots. I'm often amazed at the number of people who can't read simple signs or follow the most basic instructions. I think there's also a degree of laziness and selfishness in the behaviour of some people. I always get ticked off at the number of people who insist on rushing inside the train when the patrons inside haven't had a chance to get out yet. However, my number one pet peeve at the moment is people who take up seats with their bags -- during rush hour, no less! This guy on the Don Mills 25D was doing just that yesterday morning when the bus was packed. However, he seemed willing to move the bag when I glared at him.

How depressing is it that the New York transit system is worse than ours?