Having just made the move to Markham from Scarborough, I now depend on the YUS instead of the BD for my commute. Fortunately I signed up my work email to the TTC mailing list and was able to find out about the incident early. I took the GO Train and got home 15 minutes faster than if I took the subway (but I'm still sticking with TTC because it's cheaper and the Metropass is too much of a convenience for me).
*****
I think before we think up solutions on how to fix this kind of situation,
we as passengers need to hold TTC accountable for service delays and stoppages. It seems like the TTC gets away scot-free every time an incident like this happens - after a day and an apology, the TTC and passengers go their separate ways as though nothing ever happened. The TTC is never held accountable for anything under this system.
At the dinner table last night my family was talking about this, and someone brought up the idea that the TTC should give passengers a refund. While reading the Chinese page about Hong Kong's MTR on Wikipedia, I found this...
On Feb 14 2007, there was a fire on board a commuter train on the KCR West Rail Line (now part of the MTR) during the morning rush hour. The train had to be evacuated and service on the line was stopped for 40 minutes.
To compensate the passengers who were affected, KCR (the operator of the line) offered free rides on the West Rail Line between 9am and 1pm on Feb 21, exactly one week after the incident. Also, a discount of $10HK (currently $1.30 Cdn) was given on the West Rail monthly pass ( for the following month (March).
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hk/港鐵#2000.E5.B9.B4.E4.BB.A3 (in Chinese)
Maybe this is what TTC should do after a major delay that paralyzes a subway line during peak hours. Translating what KCR did in that incident to this week's incident,
the TTC should open up the YUS for free rides next Wednesday evening, and offer a discount on December Metropasses.
I think by hitting the TTC where it hurts the most (ie. the farebox) will the TTC actually wake up and face the issue of service stoppages and delays. I think a Facebook group advocating this is better than any "Boycott the TTC" group.