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The TTC Metropass, 2008 Edition

Anth said:
It's Yonge at Merton (just south of Davisville--you can see the Ethan Allen on the NE corner).

Been on vacation a while now, but I'm pretty sure at that point of the trip you're staring at a concrete wall...
Click to expand...

I'm not going to say that the scene in the ad is possible, but it's plausible.
 
On Yonge Street, a Special Constable car is visible parked in that ad. I think the scene is possible, though I never noticed the quasi-cops actually interacting with the public in normal situations. They just do their own thing. That's the biggest "lie" about the ads.
 
Related...

Does Transit Card Design Matter?

Also, if you read the comments you'll come across this interesting one...

Great timing! I just moved to Toronto a few days ago (I’m from Montreal and have been living in Vancouver, Taiwan, and until last week, Paris) and upon purchasing my first Metropass with which to set out and discover the city with, I found myself grimacing down at the gaudy little troll of a card, feeling a bit disappointed. To my surprise when I looked up, the TTC attendant was grimacing back at me. Welcome to Toronto.

But the Metropass is part of a larger issue.

Now I’m not a Toronto hater at all. I’ve lived in enough cities to recognize that Canadians have great cities and that the Toronto bias is just senseless Canadian tribalism. As I discover the city, I find myself really loving it, but I do come away with a vague feeling of having moved to a second rate metropolis. Not because Toronto is second rate, but simply because this city seems to be somewhat challenged in the realm of presentation and the Metropass is part of that. I paid $109 for something that looks like it was dreamt up at for a grade six computer class project in Sarnia or something. I see similar poor design choices all over the city, from the city’s own Toronto logo to the horrible TTC emblem and colour choices. Toronto is an enormous, functional, impressive, and often beautiful city, but it lacks any cohesive sense of aesthetics. I find myself often wondering if I now in fact live in 1998 or 1983. It’s confusing.

By far the worst offender though is the TTC. The TTC is a brand and it’s a business as well as a public service. It has an important responsibility as an iconic part of great city to present itself as a functional and appealing alternative to full automobile domination. How the TTC presents itself has real effect on quality of life in the city and on the decisions people make for their daily commute. It has an effect on business and tourism as well. I often see my own hometown, Montreal, featured in magazine or websites because it’s a really stylish place to live. I’m a bred Montrealer but I’ll readily say that that Montreal is often shamelessly ugly and startlingly tacky, but it has much better presentation of itself as a brand than Toronto and it has confidence. (and better bagels and poutine)

Toronto is full of inspired young people, many of whom are obsessed with issues of design, public space, transit, bike lanes, etc. Toronto is a great city which is on the cusp of being an iconic one. The city needs to tap its vast local talent. The TTC needs to poke it’s head up and see how the world has changed while it’s been sleeping.

**(the TTC website is horrible!! It’s like a time warp. I had to rip out my ethernet cable not to get sucked in! ….close one.)

Comment by Atanga
January 9, 2008 @ 10:35 am
Click to expand...
 
What are people complaining about?
The TTC Metropass is much better looking than many passes I have seen on other transit systems. Has anyone seen London's Oyster card? It is one half blue, one half white with the Oyster logo on it.
Anyone seen NYC's Metro card? Boring yellow, flimsy, paper-like.
The TTC's Metropass is just fine. The design isnt much different than it has been for several years. Yes, there is a photo image, but beyond that there really isnt much change.

Oh, and I for one like the TTC Logo.
 
The look of the metropass is a disaster of stretched fonts with no layout. I'd gladly take something clean and minimal like the oyster card. I think it should be something really clean using the ttc font (not stretched) with a nice alignment of elements. Include some backgrounds which could include local artists to make each month different to help counterfeiting.

Here is a quick idea without the proper fonts of course but just keep it really simple. Maybe make the card transparent where the 2008 or month is and a nice simple ttc logo in the corner. Keep any instructional copy on the back neatly laid out.
ttc.jpg
 
Jayomatic said:
The look of the metropass is a disaster of stretched fonts with no layout. I'd gladly take something clean and minimal like the oyster card. I think it should be something really clean using the ttc font (not stretched) with a nice alignment of elements. Include some backgrounds which could include local artists to make each month different to help counterfeiting.

Here is a quick idea without the proper fonts of course but just keep it really simple. Maybe make the card transparent where the 2008 or month is and a nice simple ttc logo in the corner. Keep any instructional copy on the back neatly laid out.
ttc.jpg
Click to expand...
heh. reminds me of the old blue jays font.

nice job.
 
haha. Nice guess, it is! Used the old bluejay font instead of the newer one but I would rather use the actually ttc font but I didn't have it on my home computer.
 
Jdot said:
What are people complaining about?
Has anyone seen London's Oyster card? It is one half blue, one half white with the Oyster logo on it.
Click to expand...

Minimalism works very well for Apple, and at least the Oyster card is consistent with the rest of London Underground's visual branding.
 
I think the TTC might be going with putting a TTC-related background for each month's Metropass, so I guess eventually we might see some with subway station wall textures that look like Spacing's subway buttons.

I think it's a refreshing look for the Metropass, until the month when TTC decides to use Dundas station's banana yellow as a background.
 
more like acid yellow. that color burns my eyes.
 
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