Sharon Yetman's Subway Safety Plan (Better barrier for subways 'an obsession')

[DavidH]

And let's be realistic. It's not just Sharon. There are other people coming at the TTC with other proposals. Sharon needs to stand out as someone who should be given more detailed attention, and without the sorts of details that have been asked for on this forum, and a more professional presentation, she's not going to do so.

That's just reality. How many of us would give one hour to a someone we don't know just because that person says they have something to share with us?

 

[kEiThZ]

^ Exactly. And government agencies get unsolicited offers all the time. If they are worthwhile, they would consider them. I suspect this one couldn't get over the bar. I am not suggesting Sharon does or does not deserve a meeting. Just saying that if she wants one her brief has to be professional. At least on par with all the other unsolicited offers the TTC gets.

 

[afransen]

I've known executives at Fortune 500 companies and it wasn't all that different for them. That's just how the top job works. It does not mean they aren't well informed. Usually they are dedicating 2-3 of their daily time blocks to an issue everyday. For example, a general might have a 30 minute Afghan SITREP brief daily. It does not mean he's dedicating 10 mins to the issue. What an executive may not have a lot of time for is new info if his schedule is packed. There is no way the staff at the TTC then would allow a rambling presentation anything like what Sharon's been like here. And if the proposal comes in without data, with pics of toy trains and figurines, would the staff really want to burden their execs with it? The TTC is a billion dollar corporation with a budget bigger than some provinces and most cities. I would hope their executives are as busy as the generals and project managers I've worked for.

30 minutes daily is quite different than 10 minute blocks.

In my experience (working for a company that turns over more dollars than either the TTC or the DND), when the president is being briefed on major decisions that my team is faced with, he doesn't just drop by for 15 minutes. He's actually challenging our assumptions and satisfying himself that we've considered all the options. I don't think it's a bad idea for an executive at that level to spend an hour or more to understand a plan for several hundred million in capex.

Of course, these executives must be very careful with their time, but rushing from 10 minute meeting to 10 minute meeting seems like an illusion of effectiveness. If the exec doesn't want to take the time to understand an issue before rendering a decision, it should not be brought to their level, anyway. This is what steering committees are for.

 

[DavidH]

I don't think it's a bad idea for an executive at that level to spend an hour or more to understand a plan for several hundred million in capex.

Of course, there is a huge difference between a CEO spending an hour reviewing an internal proposal and spending an hour on an external unsolicited submission. The latter is certainly possible but would not be granted without lower-level review that it is worth the CEO's time, and this is where Sharon is not getting over the bar.

 

[afransen]

I agree. As I said a couple posts ago:

"These kinds of things would normally be vetted by middle management before being brought to the top, anyway."

 

[kEiThZ]

30 minutes daily is quite different than 10 minute blocks.

I didn't say they spent 10 mins on an issue. I said their time was blocked off in 10 mins blocks. This means that minor issues get 10-15 mins. Major issues get several blocks. And there are recurring meetings and such.

Of course, there is a huge difference between a CEO spending an hour reviewing an internal proposal and spending an hour on an external unsolicited submission. The latter is certainly possible but would not be granted without lower-level review that it is worth the CEO's time, and this is where Sharon is not getting over the bar.

Exactly. And this is what Sharon can't seem to understand. The Staff Officers who work for a general or the aides who work for a minister or the assistants who work for an exec aren't going to block an executive's time just so he can spend half the presentation saying, "So what's that figurine? And how do your numbers work again? And so what is that pipe over there?"

I am sick of people assuming that just because an entity is in the public sector, that they automatically have a right to demand a meeting with its staff or executives. If you want a meeting, be professional, do your briefs properly and expect to be grilled. Sharon wants special treatment because she's a 'housewife' fighting the big bad TTC. If she was a transit advocate who didn't want to sell something but just wanted to give her idea to the TTC, I might agree. But since she wants to sell something I see no reason why she shouldn't be treated the same as every other unsolicited proposal in the pile.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

Sharon,

At stations such as St. Andrew where there is a centre platfrom the space between the main supporting wall/column and the platform edge is generally no more that 4 feet. If you take up nearly 2 feet of the yellow platform line for the controlled flow; How do you then maintain a safe and free flowing platform for riders? There will be less than 2 feet between the wall and your barrier.

Also how do you stop riders from entering via the exit doors aside from calling them silly salmon swimming upstream? Turnstiles? One way doors? How does that affect the capacity of your system in terms of passenger flow?

 

[subway safety]

"Separated Passenger Flow"

Now you all know why I needed a meeting with TTC.

What did you all think of the "experiment" at the Yonge / Bloor Station?

As the "inventor" for passenger flow efficiency and train flow efficiency, for a single sided platform, I would have done thing entirely different. I leave my explanations to any professional meetings that await me.

It's too bad TTC would not consult with the inventor of this new innovation. Nobody really knows how ridulous their attempt was, except from my point of view of knowing the "right way". One day they will actually learn what they are missing. I have now 20 years of security for them to one day actually seek outside help (not from an consultant firm who knows nothing about "separated passenger flow", because worldwide this technology is no where to be found).

I guess the proof was in the pudding today as everyone for the most part felt controlled, bullied and frustrated. People "human walls" do not work. All transit riders have enough human confrontation and close counters to deal with, they don't need more.

I have gone away since I was working on my US Patent. I now am covered for North America. For now it is just a matter of choosing my strategy, time and put my feet up and finally rest from all my work.

the Dragons Den gal.

 

[Jonny5]

http://www3.ttc.ca/News/2009/November/26_11_09_suicide_statistics_.jsp

Found via Torontoist.

 

[nfitz]

A bit less than two attempts a month in recent years; not quite as high as we've been lead to believe.

Hopefully this doesn't lead to any increase in attempts. The chilling aspect is that many survive. Perhaps if in releasing this, they also publicized at how unsuccessful a technique this is, stressing the loss of limbs, etc., of those who survive (a majority some years), perhaps that would decrease attempts by those who are not looking to spend the next half-century in a wheel-chair.

 

[subway safety]

Subway safety

For those reading today's Toronto Sun Article....
..........150 DEAD on the TTC.

I would like to comment something very important.....
.......

YOU DO NOT NEED AUTOMATIC TRAIN CONTROL IN ORDER TO HAVE PLATFORM SAFETY.

Councillor Giambrone has not been property been informed by TTC the very technology I brought them back in July 2008.

Infact I addressed a letter to all the TTC Commissioners advising them that ........'YOU DO NOT REQUIRE AUTOMATIC TRAIN CONTROL FOR Platform Safety.

I now am getting myself some extremely impressive meetings.

Things are soon about to change. I am confident that TTC can be a "GREAT WAY".

Nobody again ought to be subdued to an unsafe environment.

What's wrong with this picture. 150 People DEAD, no one is accountable for this. No one accountable for an 'INHUMAINE ENVIRONMENT".

Yet one kitty dies ....purely by accident. This trap was in the ceiling not intended for use. Yet five top executive are handcuffed and go to jail.

Further ironey, This wonderful organization with great integrity and love for animals do their work with the intend and passion to save animal life that was going to die anyway.

They go to jail for one kitty. ??????

And all of this was even before a trial.

SOMETHING PRETTY BACKWARDS IN OUR WORLD......??????

My year and a half groundwork is finally starting to pay off.

the Dragons Den gal.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Isn't that 150 dead number the total over ten years or so? The TTC's subway moves more than 900,000 people every day, that's over 328 million subway rides every year.

In 2005 alone 2,923 people in Canada were killed on our roads, where we have about 22 million licenced drivers and over 20 million passenger vehicles on the road.

 

[hbl33]

Isn't that 150 dead number the total over ten years or so? The TTC's subway moves more than 900,000 people every day, that's over 328 million subway rides every year.

In 2005 alone 2,923 people in Canada were killed on our roads, where we have about 22 million licenced drivers and over 20 million passenger vehicles on the road.

TTC suicides are rather unthinkable sightings. Be happy that we are not living in suicide-happy nations like Japan.

 

[andomano]

It's interesting that there isn't an increase of subway suicides since the construction of the Luminous Veil on the PE (bloor/danforth) Viaduct in 2003.

These just seem to be the statistics of the week, might I add.

 

[adma]

Particularly given the sensationalist impression of the Sun cover ("150 DEAD", yeah, sure, like there was just some big accident of some sort)