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Token Debacle

Re Metropasses, automatic machines aside, why do people insist on lining up for them at busy downtown stations? There's almost never a lineup (or at least, of this scale) at stations outside the downtown core.

Like, if you work at King and live at Dundas West, get your Metropass at Dundas West. Duh.
 
ganjavih said:
As is the case in most civilised cities, you shouldn't have to depend on a person to enter a subway system. Let's get some friggin' token/weekly pass/metropass vending machines already!
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Just about every North American rail system does this that I have used, except Toronto, Montreal and MUNI.

And let them take all forms of payment - credit, debit, cash. Perhaps limit credit and debit for day passes, tickets/tokens of 5 or more and all weekly/monthly passes.

But maybe we will have to wait if the TTC will go with Presto. I also like how most systems have a 7 day or 30 day pass, not monthly passes, so if you buy on a Wednesday, the 7 day pass is good through the next Tuesday. It isn't rocket science.
 
Your Daily TTC Update:

October 31st, day before new passes needed, 4:45pm, Union Station.

0/3 Token machines in service
1/2 Metropass Kiosks in service
30 People in each line

Sweet!
 
Part of the annoyance of it all is inconsistency.

The collector at St. Patrick yesterday afternoon wasn't even limiting the sale of tokens, so I grabbed 10. But yesterday morning at St. Clair West the collector wasn't selling any at all.
 
Is there any reason why there is such a long time between the announcement of a rise in prices, and the actual rise. If they did the announcement, and then put the price rise in effect within a week, there really wouldn't be as much time of inconveince.

I know, as a consumer of the TTC, I'm shooting myself in the foot by asking for them to rise prices quicker, but given the trouble over the past month, I'd rather have the option to buy my tokens sooner than having to put up with the trouble.
 
Is there any reason why there is such a long time between the announcement of a rise in prices, and the actual rise. If they did the announcement, and then put the price rise in effect within a week, there really wouldn't be as much time of inconveince.

I know, as a consumer of the TTC, I'm shooting myself in the foot by asking for them to rise prices quicker, but given the trouble over the past month, I'd rather have the option to buy my tokens sooner than having to put up with the trouble.
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Even this suggestion is better than the weeks-long drama we've been experiencing. This is straight from the Soviet management school.

St. Clair West is a very special case. The station looks like something out of a distopian future. The single fare collector sitting on a stool is often not there, and to compensate the powers that be have blessed us with a token machine that accepts $20 bills !

The system needs a house cleaning. There at present is nothing that connects management to the people who use the system - they are directly connected to politicians.
 
GregW, my response to that, from an earlier reply:

299 bloor call control. said:
Either way, the decision to increase fares was made in September. First and foremost, new tickets need to be printed, and a 1 1/2 month lead time in getting them done isn't bad. Add on to that the need to distribute these tickets to every single ticket vendor in the city is a daunting task as very seldom does every vendor have to be restocked at the same time. Secondly, since all Metropasses and Weekly Passes have to have the price printed on it, it could be assumed that the October passes were already in production by the time the fare increase was voted on, thus, they had to push to the November batch of Metropasses for the new price. It's also fairness... it's not really fair to raise the fare in a meeting and have it implemented a week later. You gotta give everyone a chance to get ready for it, and one of the ways people get ready for it is by hoarding tokens. In other means (for example's sake) it means daycares that use tickets to take kids out on trips can have enough time to get new tickets and cost them right in their own budgets. It's complex and far beyond just the waiting in line. Frustrating, yes, I agree, but c'est la vie.
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The TTC is no entirely at fault here- we don't have governments in place, regardless if Liberal, Conservative, NDP or whatever, that is willing to actually invest in public transit. The TTC does not help itself though- the fact that there are 6 guys working the booths at Dundas is a perfect example. Or 4 TTC time keepers on King St.. Ultimatley, there is a certain level of well, unprofessionalism assosciated with the TTC and that shows in their stalling tactics with regards to the SmartCard. Tokens will remain for years and years to come, I promise you.

What will it take to get really have a great transit system in this city? Will money solve the problem?- doubtful. Will more political interest from all government levels help?- probably, but to what extent will they go in order to create a solution, especially if it means a solution for Toronto?
 
MarcG said:
St. Clair West is a very special case. The station looks like something out of a distopian future. The single fare collector sitting on a stool is often not there, and to compensate the powers that be have blessed us with a token machine that accepts $20 bills !
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Dystopian future... I like that. Basically says "this is what all stations will look like in the future if transit funding and management don't get fixed".

Anyway, there is a guy selling tokens in the booth at the Heath Street entrance. The 90 bus is dropping everyone off there these days (any historic examples of an automated entrance getting manned and bus connections routed there? Or of buses dropping passengers off and picking them up at opposite ends of a subway platform?). He was the guy who I referred to as not selling any tokens yesterday (but still selling tickets and passes).
 
The TTC is no entirely at fault here- we don't have governments in place, regardless if Liberal, Conservative, NDP or whatever, that is willing to actually invest in public transit.
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Wait a minute... Seventeen billion dollars?!
 
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