TTC: Other Items (catch all)

[DSCToronto]

I made note of that one in my post; of course the presentation itself is not yet online.

Yes, you posted the URL, my post added the explanatory part of the TTC announcement so that UTers could get better idea of what the presentation will deal with more easily - I assume the full presentation might be posted after the meeting.

 

[Northern Light]

From the TTC CEO's Report there was a brief blurb about the pilot effort to refresh/cleanup six stations last year.

The piece implied they saw an increase station cleanliness scores on their surveys of up to 15 points, bringing the score into the high 80s, well above the norm.

The suggestion is that this effort will continue, but no list of stations was given.

In respect of last year's efforts, they posted a before/after of one part of Spadina Station (Line 2)

I mean, its fine......but this doesn't strike me as one of the worst looking bits in the system in the before photo, by any means. IS the new bolder border and dark slats really that big a positive?

I'm not opposed, I like the idea of the program......but thinking of Spadina, I've been in there, this year, and they still don't have the light temperature the same across all the light fixtures in the bus terminal.... just sayin...

 

[SubHuman]

... Interesting they could not apprehend 3 people who went into the tunnels...

It was three people doing it together? Well, I think that's a new and unusual circumstance, right up there with the Pokemon guy a few years ago.

 

[nightstreak]

From the TTC CEO's Report there was a brief blurb about the pilot effort to refresh/cleanup six stations last year.

The piece implied they saw an increase station cleanliness scores on their surveys of up to 15 points, bringing the score into the high 80s, well above the norm.

The suggestion is that this effort will continue, but no list of stations was given.

In respect of last year's efforts, they posted a before/after of one part of Spadina Station (Line 2)

View attachment 711521

I mean, its fine......but this doesn't strike me as one of the worst looking bits in the system in the before photo, by any means. IS the new bolder border and dark slats really that big a positive?

I'm not opposed, I like the idea of the program......but thinking of Spadina, I've been in there, this year, and they still don't have the light temperature the same across all the light fixtures in the bus terminal.... just sayin...

Cleanliness isn't the first problem I think of when I think of how a station feels. The system wide missing ceiling slats gives a sense of disrepair no matter how clean the floor is. What is the deal with that? How hard can be it be to replace the slats when they're removed for access?

 

[Northern Light]

Cleanliness isn't the first problem I think of when I think of how a station feels. The system wide missing ceiling slats gives a sense of disrepair no matter how clean the floor is. What is the deal with that? How hard can be it be to replace the slats when they're removed for access?

The intent of the pilot was also to address all customer-facing finishes.

***

You know I was going to write a whole long piece on the slats and the issues, but I'll spare everyone. While there are challenges, more than you'd think; the TTC makes it look much more difficult than it needs to be.

***

But on that, I can't resist dropping a bit of info I came across not so long ago....

The CSAs in stations (formerly collectors), use to have the keys for the escalators, so they could re-start one that was stopped due to a prank, or for a reason that was not mechanical or such.

You'll love this..........they've taken the keys away from the CSAs who must now request someone from the elevating devices/escalators section to come by and turn the thing back on. Causing delays of hours or longer.

SMH

 

[turbanplanner]

The intent of the pilot was also to address all customer-facing finishes.

Laughs in Queens park!

 

[nightstreak]

The CSAs in stations (formerly collectors), use to have the keys for the escalators, so they could re-start one that was stopped due to a prank, or for a reason that was not mechanical or such.

You'll love this..........they've taken the keys away from the CSAs who must now request someone from the elevating devices/escalators section to come by and turn the thing back on. Causing delays of hours or longer.

SMH

Look, I'm pro-union but some of the union demands to preserve role integrity makes me roll my eyes. These things just make everything worse for everybody. Let me guess, a station manager can't pick up a newspaper from the floor or clean a quick spill because it'll take work away from the unionized janitors?

 

[urbanclient]

Look, I'm pro-union but some of union demands to preserve role integrity makes me roll my eyes. These things just make everything worse for everybody. Let me guess, a station manager can't pick up a newspaper from the floor or clean a quick spill because it'll take work away from the unionized janitors?

Slippery slope, soon you'll have the TTC CEO picking up litter when he can, and sweeping the floors when he feels like it. Stealing away jobs from custodians who love doing more manual labour....

 

[Northern Light]

Look, I'm pro-union but some of union demands to preserve role integrity makes me roll my eyes. These things just make everything worse for everybody.

Agreed.

Let me guess, a station manager can't pick up a newspaper from the floor or clean a quick spill because it'll take work away from the unionized janitors?

I don't know that for a fact, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least. I was told by an operator, that buses no longer have a small broom tucked in the back, so drivers don't have anything to address spills. (someone on a bus I was on had leaky dish soap and I told the operator and suggested it was a slip n' fall risk)............he said, the only option he had was to take the bus out of service. I managed to prevail on him to go to the employee washroom and come back with a couple of handfuls of paper towels, whereupon he did his best to clean it up.

Good on him; but shame on the TTC for making it so difficult.

 

[Northern Light]

Slippery slope, soon you'll have the TTC CEO picking up litter when he can, and sweeping the floors when he feels like it. Stealing away jobs from custodians who love doing more manual labour....

The two best TTC GM/CEOs of the last 2 generations, David Gunn and Andy Byford both had that habit, and staff were forever impressed, to see 'The Suit' actually picking stuff up and putting it in the garbage.

No one ever saw Rick Leary do that.

 

[nightstreak]

Laughs in Queens park!

The only clean station on the network is Bessarion... because you know... (IYKYK)

The two best TTC GM/CEOs of the last 2 generations, David Gunn and Andy Byford both had that habit, and staff were forever impressed, to see 'The Suit' actually picking stuff up and putting it in the garbage.

No one ever saw Rick Leary do that.

I'm happy to see station cleanliness being taken seriously. It addresses the perception of the TTC as a "poor man's commute", which if handled correctly helps improve ridership. It's a return to Andy Byford's way of thinking, which I welcome.

I had started a thread to discuss the new CEO's tenure which marked the start of a new era for the TTC but people got pissy so I left it alone.

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Look, I'm pro-union but some of the union demands to preserve role integrity makes me roll my eyes. These things just make everything worse for everybody. Let me guess, a station manager can't pick up a newspaper from the floor or clean a quick spill because it'll take work away from the unionized janitors?

No joke, this is in fact the case. Years ago my Dad was reamed out by his shop steward when he would pick up some trash in his bus during a break. And when Byford did it apparently the union did *not* like that either. From the outside looking in it seems like sheer stupidity but it is what it is.

 

[nightstreak]

No joke, this is in fact the case. Years ago my Dad was reamed out by his shop steward when he would pick up some trash in his bus during a break. And when Byford did it apparently the union did *not* like that either. From the outside looking in it seems like sheer stupidity but it is what it is.

If I were Andy Byford and the union gave me shit for picking up a newspaper off the floor, I would pull them to the side in a private conversation so I wasn't embarrassing them publicly, then I would tell them in my friendliest British accent:
"If your union members were performing their duties with pride and care, I wouldn't have had to pick up that newspaper from the floor. Have a lovely day."
*Andy picks up a candy wrapper and tosses it in the bin as he walks away with a friendly smile*

 

[Bordercollie]

Are we still running subway trains at 30kmph in open cut sections?

 

[Archii]

Are we still running subway trains at 30kmph in open cut sections?

* as someone who travels bloor-eglinton essentially every day, a few notes:

1. Currently, morning of the 29th, normal speeds (aside from SOGR slow zones).

2. However, speed restrictions - with no communication from the TTC, I might add - are still introduced with the slightest precipitation (no matter the type) and often when it is just wet outside from a melt. I’d say this happens at least 2-3 times per week given this winter’s weather (anecdotal, so take with a grain of salt). Sometimes, although thankfully not recently, this lasts for days after, even when no new precipitation comes.

3. Note: it is not just the outside sections but also all neighbouring sections of underground track. This means that the entire journey from bloor to eglinton becomes one giant slow zone (yes, including that fully underground section between Summerhill and St Clair) whenever the above conditions apply. This has been going on longer than most current SOGR slow zone that are in place in that section of track, so this doesn’t seem to be related to concurrent slow zones.

4. Really, how hard is it to communicate this? I’ve sent then quite a few suggestions/complaints over this winter (spread out ) and either get no response or a copy and paste from the TTC’s slow zone page (which makes no significant mention of these weather slow zones).

5. During heavier snow (not necessarily even the bad storms we’ve been getting this year), I’ve clocked trains running 20-25 instead of 30, again with no meaningful communication.