If the TTC works to rule I will be...

[DavidJamesTO]

Somewhere unions forgot to do what they were supposed to do--look out for their employees in the face of danger or poor circumstances. You were proud to work for your living and willingly helped out other union members because you knew they'd help you out if things were bad for you. Unions lost that; now it's 'Gimmie gimmie gimmie and if you don't I'm going on strike!' I think that may be starting to change, though. The months-long garbage strike in Windsor, which ended in a stalemate or a union loss (depending on who you ask), showed that unions can't go on this way forever. Eventually workers will have to be content with what they have.

 

[SunriseChampion]

You can't compare all unions in canada to the useless TTC union. in some industries unions are needed more now than ever sadly.

Perhaps I am generalising a bit but I find it hard to conceive of a union being necessary in this day and age. Show me slave labour conditions for citizens in any industry and I'll agree with you.

 

[BMO]

This is true, a good Human Resources department could do just as an affective job, such as overseeing workplace safety. working rights, etc without strikes.

 

[GraphicMatt]

Unions still play a critical role - the issue is that while they've lost some power and influence in the private sector (where they're needed more) they've gained tremendous influence over the public sector.

I guess the plus side is that at this rate they're essentially going to bust themselves in a few years, as voters aren't going to put up with this kind of BS.

 

[kandaman]

As a driver for the TTC I can tell you a lot of service issues is do to lack of management/tools. There have been days I have fallen 20-40mins behind schedule and no one from CIS bothered to contact to me. When you see bunching its not just traffic and weather conditions causing it. The TTC has poor line management, they assign one or two supervisors to manage a line with 30+ buses at peek hours. How can 1-2 supervisors monitor a line with 30+ buses on 3-4min headway's at rush hour. Most of the time the supervisors get fed up and let the drivers deal with it on their own which of course leads to bunching. We use an ancient line management hardware/software using outdated unreliable cellular technology to track the buses/streetcars. The CIS unit is so crappy you have to bang the headset several times to hear anything out of it assuming its even tracking/working. As for coffee breaks well it all depends on your shift. If you do late reliefs or night buses there are NO scheduled breaks. I do a late relief on finch there is a total of 5 min "recover time" through my 8 and a half hour shift. The TTC has assumed late relief and night bus/streetcar drivers do not need to use the washroom or eat. I can hardly blame the public for getting upset since they don't know the details of scheduling. I'm not going to defend whats happening out there but you have to see the whole picture. Regardless of where you work there's always going to be good and bad employees. I'm sure all of you have some lazy co-workers.

 

[BMO]

As a driver for the TTC I can tell you a lot of service issues is do to lack of management/tools. There have been days I have fallen 20-40mins behind schedule and no one from CIS bothered to contact to me. When you see bunching its not just traffic and weather conditions causing it. The TTC has poor line management, they assign one or two supervisors to manage a line with 30+ buses at peek hours. How can 1-2 supervisors monitor a line with 30+ buses on 3-4min headway's at rush hour. Most of the time the supervisors get fed up and let the drivers deal with it on their own which of course leads to bunching. We use an ancient line management hardware/software using outdated unreliable cellular technology to track the buses/streetcars. The CIS unit is so crappy you have to bang the headset several times to hear anything out of it assuming its even tracking/working. As for coffee breaks well it all depends on your shift. If you do late reliefs or night buses there are NO scheduled breaks. I do a late relief on finch there is a total of 5 min "recover time" through my 8 and a half hour shift. The TTC has assumed late relief and night bus/streetcar drivers do not need to use the washroom or eat. I can hardly blame the public for getting upset since they don't know the details of scheduling. I'm not going to defend whats happening out there but you have to see the whole picture. Regardless of where you work there's always going to be good and bad employees. I'm sure all of you have some lazy co-workers.

very well put, I think all of us can attest to being lazy at least once and a while at work, I don't really think it is so much the stopping and going for a break that bother's the passengers, but more that the drivers usually don't notify the passengers that they are going for a break IMHO. Just seeing a driver stop the bus, when you're late without an explanation does test one's nerves.

 

[kEiThZ]

It's not just things like headways (which nobody blames the drivers for), or the cleanliness of the system (riders have some blame here). It's things like rude comments or the gruff manner of a lot of front-line employees (there is no excuse for this...I don't care how many rude customers you get, there's no excuse to be rude back in a CS position), lack of consideration sometimes (when you take off while that 70 year old lady is trying to catch the bus...and it happens far too often), not giving passengers warning or info when you are going to take a break, insisting on taking your break when the bus is behind schedule, etc. A personal anecdote...I have always made it a point (where the stops aren't busy) to get off at the front and thank the bus driver. It's extremely rare these days that I get a response.

Those are all issues directly related to the perfomance of an operator's duties. And only operators can fix them. You are sorely mistaken if you think that management is to blame for everything. They have their fair share of issues. But the public can distinguish between their problems and yours.

 

[kandaman]

You cant wait for every single person running for a bus. Like you said before there is a schedule. Its not as simple as people make it out to be. Try doing this for 8-10hrs aday you simply can not pickup everyone or thank the hundreds of people who get off and on your bus (please dont take it personal). For every good you do in this job someone will find a negative against you (as we have seen in the media lately). I have had costumers file complaints against me for stoping and picking up people at unmarked stops or requests stops for men. I even had complaints of people missing their connecting bus because I waited for said "70 year old lady." Theres a lot of factors when operating a transit vechile. Yes peoples complaints do get checked and reported. We hear it from the boss who questions us as to why we did it and his response to our answers is: "you shouldnt be doing these things their against TTC policy, if we get any more complaints like this its going to be a 3 day unpaid suspension." Even though you think your doing something good, someone will find away to ruin it. I'm not saying this happens all the time but when it happens to you once you just follow your job to a T.

I can understand your frustation but you make it seem like we are all like that. Dont take everything personal, some operators just want do their job to a T (no special stops, thank yous, helping strollers, etc...) and go home. I know thats not enough for some people but those very same guys never get called into the office or have complaints against them because like I said their just doing their job.

In the end this is what I signed up for by choice. I take it with the good and the bad.

 

[BMO]

if only more of the operators were like you kandaman

 

[SlickFranky]

if only more of the operators were like you kandaman

Thankfully most are exactly like that. And by 'most', i mean nearly all. The 'gruff' interactions are heavily outnumbered by the 'friendly' interactions...and both are dwarfed by the number of 'neutral', 'just doing my job' interactions, which is all I really need from them.

 

[kEiThZ]

Thankfully most are exactly like that. And by 'most', i mean nearly all. The 'gruff' interactions are heavily outnumbered by the 'friendly' interactions...and both are dwarfed by the number of 'neutral', 'just doing my job' interactions, which is all I really need from them.

I'd say most are neutral, some (like maybe our friend here) are great. However, it only takes one bad apple to spoil your day.
It's not fair that they all get judged so, but that's life in customer service.

I find it equally unfair that a lot of the employees treat everyday customers rudely with the excuse that they get some rude customers pissing them off. As if that makes it acceptable.

I have never said being a bus driver easy. But in my observation, there seems to be an attitude among a lot of TTC operators that it's just a job. On another forum, one TTC operator described passengers as "freight that talks back." And I would suggest that most of the public feels that this is exactly how the TTC treats passengers, from the management at the top down to the individual bus driver. Sure not all of it is because of operators (kandaman pointed out some good examples of management failures). But then not all of it is because of management either. And the public will hold both to account (just watch giambrone's election campaign). A lot of the talk from operators lately though, seems like they are trying to shirk ALL responsibility for poor service. And that not going to make the public any happier.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I greatly appreciate hearing it from your point of view, kandaman.

Personally, I think that the public's perception of TTC employees and their problems with them are hugely overstated. I really don't get where they find all these problems with TTC operators and collectors. I just don't see it during my use of TTC services. I greatly appreciate the service they provide and how difficult it might be some times.

That being said, the TTC employees' union mentality I despise (as I do with pretty much all unions in this country).

 

[cassius]

For the most part, whenever I take the TTC the customer service is fine. Usually I get the "it's just a job" drivers, and that's perfectly fine for me. Occasionally I get friendly drivers, which is a nice change and I always thank those drivers as I enter. But there's a couple of drivers along Queen that just have a way of putting passengers into a bad mood from the moment they step on.

I recall about 2-3 months ago on the westbound Queen streetcar, the driver was purposefully missing some stops pretending like he didn't see the people waiting at the stop. It wasn't an express streetcar, wasn't a short turn car, just a regular half-empty Queen car. He literally just blew past 3 in-service stops during my short journey and at 2 of the stops people had starting to walk out to catch it. Very dangerous to those people. I couldn't believe it and really should have reported it.

Still, it's really only those exceptions that seem to stick out. But the exceptions I do see seem rather extreme to me.

What I will congratulate many streetcar drivers on is how they'll honk their horn to make a point for drivers that ignore the requirement to stop when doors open. Or if a driver goes passed in an unsafe manner when the car is coming to a stop with passengers getting ready to board. It definitely gives the impression that the driver is looking out for passenger safety.

 

[kandaman]

I'd say most are neutral, some (like maybe our friend here) are great. However, it only takes one bad apple to spoil your day.
It's not fair that they all get judged so, but that's life in customer service.

I find it equally unfair that a lot of the employees treat everyday customers rudely with the excuse that they get some rude customers pissing them off. As if that makes it acceptable.

I have never said being a bus driver easy. But in my observation, there seems to be an attitude among a lot of TTC operators that it's just a job. On another forum, one TTC operator described passengers as "freight that talks back." And I would suggest that most of the public feels that this is exactly how the TTC treats passengers, from the management at the top down to the individual bus driver. Sure not all of it is because of operators (kandaman pointed out some good examples of management failures). But then not all of it is because of management either. And the public will hold both to account (just watch giambrone's election campaign). A lot of the talk from operators lately though, seems like they are trying to shirk ALL responsibility for poor service. And that not going to make the public any happier.

I remember when I was a rookie one bad customer would put me in a bad state of mind. As you progress in this job you learn to adjust your emotions. You grow a thick skin. Unfortunately it only takes one rotten customer to create a rotten employee and some operators never learn from that, they keep the same poor attitude through their career. The best advice I received was from a great customer when I was a rookie doing the islington night bus. There was a snow storm that night my bus was practically empty I could hardly see where I was going and the road was covered in at least 3-4 inch of snow. The bus was crawling at 20/kmhr (rain, wind or shine were out there). I picked up a customer with his dog at islington and eglinton. He had no bus fair because he was some what homeless, he was just looking for a ride up to lakeshore. When he got off he told me: "I know its not easy doing what you do but the people will find away to destroy your spirit, please dont let them." I didn't know what he was talking about then but I do now. Unfortunately some operators stay biter forever.

 

[kEiThZ]

Forget for a second that you're a bus driver. The tales you relate could be said of any customer service job. I have seen workers at a fast food restaurant give a homeless man an entire meal for the price of the french fries. I have even seen department store managers give steep discounts on clothing to people who obviously appeared to be hard up. There are good people in customer service everywhere just as there are bad ones.

The difference, however, is what happens when people in customer service positions get bad customers. That's the real test of your mettle and your much vaunted "service". For those other employees, they can't yell or argue back. Heck, they aren't even allowed to be rude back. But on the TTC, you get drivers and collectors who are rude for absolutely no reason at all. How is it my problem if you got a rude customer before me? McDonald's would not tolerate such behaviour from its employees. How long would they stay in business if they're employees were merely indifferent, let alone outright rude? Now why should taxpayers tolerate such behaviour from even a single TTC operator who's paid a specific wage premium exactly because he/she has to put up with crap from misbehaving members of the public. There's a reason why a TTC collector makes 3 times what a Walmart cashier makes and has half the workload or why TTC bus drivers make double what school bus drivers make. With that premium I don't want excuses about how you're jaded because you have to put up with bad customers. You are being paid more than fair compensation to deal with that crap.

If there are employees that stay perpetually "bitter", I'd suggest that they are not a good fit at the TTC, and particularly in a position where they are dealing with the public. Keep in mind that the TTC is not just important to residents, it is vital to the public image of the city. For a lot of tourists, sometimes the first and last interaction they have with this city are with TTC employees. Being rude or apathetic, even if it's 1% of the workforce can be devastating to our public image. You are supposed to be an ambassador of this city. I really don't care if you're having a bad day. Suck it up. You're job is as much to always have a smile on, as it is to drive a bus. That's what being in customer service industry is all about. And that's what even most genuinely nice TTC employees fail to comprehend sometimes.