Will the TTC ever sink to this level?
JNist: Good read on that NYC Subway link. I remember alot of this because I saw much of it first hand. The writer describes the changes made to improve the NYC Transit system in the 1980s but I would like to see something written about the 1970s when cities in the US were being abandoned for the suburbs - the term was "white flight" and infrastructure as an example suffered due to plain neglect as an example. NYC - and its transit system - suffered seriously in the 70s - in everything from the subway graffiti and outright vandalism epidemic which began in earnest in 1972; The general attitude of many people was negative towards the city in the mid 70s-a prime example was NYCs fiscal crisis and that infamous NYDN headline-(US President) "Ford To City-Drop Dead". NYC was hitting rock bottom in the later 70s-prime examples include the paranoia over the Son of Sam murder spree and the riots that broke out after the blackout in the Summer of 1977. To me the epitome of how bad things had gotten was the literal abandoned ruins of entire neighborhoods in areas such as the South Bronx.
The 80s started out as bad as the 70s had gotten to be-but the powers-that-be in NYC knew that if things did not change that the city could be in literal danger itself-in everything from the crime problem to neglected infrastructure. NYC Transit began gradually getting things together and really benefitted when David Gunn was brought in to head NYC Transit. He declared literal war on graffiti and other vandalism as examples and his goal was to get the house in decent running order-which was accomplished by the end of the decade into the 90s.
I remember visiting Toronto and just enjoying using the TTC from my Summer 1979 first time trip to my 1990 last long visit. The TTC had a reputation for running a well-maintained and clean system. One thing I recall is how well-kept the 1953 Gloucester Red cars were-I remember one day on that 1990 trip waiting at Wilson station-a train of Red cars came out of the yard and I recall two young women seated nearby were dissapointed and they talked to each other about how much they disliked those Reds-I felt like saying to them something about how well-kept they were and that cars that were newer in NYC were nowheres near as well maintained-but I didn't. I noticed that changes may have been coming on the TTC-I recall riding in a subway car that had hard seats on the Yonge line-I wondered if it was a test.
In the 90s to today did the TTC have any sort of problem with graffiti and were hard seats installed on any more subway cars? As some mentioned that the TTC has steadily raised its fare on a regular basis. On my first 1979 trip the fare was 60 cents cash or two tokens for one dollar. Can and does the TTC have support to allow the fare to remain constant today or do they have to increase fares with inflation to stay afloat-and how much do the Province and Canadian Federal Government must contribute to keep things stable-or is that strictly a City of Toronto problem?
I hope that the TTC NEVER alllows itself to get anywhere near as bad as NYC Transit had gotten-I feel that Toronto would never let it happen.
ST: Let me clarify something about Chicago's CTA-I heartily disagree on that comment about the CTA "always being in dire straits" - The CTA has for the most part held its own-the exception being the RTA fiscal crunch in the early 80s and the current fiscal crisis-resulting in a major fare increase effective September 16th I believe-a peak hour rail ride will be $3-and the current condition of the system-it is hard to believe that the CTA is in trouble now worse in my opinion than ever before-problems like track slow orders limiting train speeds as an example. My uncle worked for CTA as a motorman from 1958-1986 and I saw first hand some of the good and bad of the CTA.
The CTA-and the Chicagoland area-and for that matter Illinois-suffers to an extent from a divisive "Us VS. Them" mentality-The 6-county area that Chicago is in contains two thirds of Illinois' total population-with Cook County alone-which Chicago is the county seat-40 percent right there of the State.
Many outside Chicago see the city in a negative sense and sometimes the City suffers because of it-also the City-Suburb rift is very problematic also. Add to that the political aspect-a Democratic majority city with many Republican majority suburbs and that only adds to the divisiveness.
For CTA info and history-a great site is from Graham Garfield of the CTA is:
WWW.CHICAGO-L.ORG/ Comments and observations from LI MIKE