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TTC: Other Items (catch all)

Amare said:
It's funny because, it seems like the minute a trickle of rain falls down all hell breaks loose on the TTC. Of course these two incidents are completely unrelated to the inclement weather, but nevertheless that's generally what seems to happen anytime there's inclement in the city.
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I was walking over a TTC subway grate along university earlier. You could smell a minute burning odor around 2 pm.
 
Andy Byford rumored to be leaving MTA-

What Happens to the Subway Repair Plan if the Guy Who Created it Quits His Job?
Plus: Chunks of debris fell from the elevated 7 train tracks again, so the MTA will finally put some protective netting underneath. Times Square has been car-free for 10 years now, and many are wondering if we'll ever get another pedestrian-only zone. And you suburban commuters really get creative with your train time!

By James Ramsay
Andy
Stephen Nessen/WNYC
Several sources told We The Commuters that Andy Byford, the head of New York City Transit who was hired a year and a half ago to turn our subways and buses around, is about to quit his job.

Byford himself told us he just signed a lease on a great new apartment, he loves his job, and he'll "be here until that job is complete."

But when Gov. Andrew Cuomo was asked about this on the Brian Lehrer Show this week, he took nearly two minutes and one follow up question to say he had "confidence" in Byford. And even then, he couched it by saying he had confidence in the heads of Transit, Metro North and the Long Island Rail Road.

Contrast that with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who said this week without hesitation that he wanted to be Vice President of the Andy Byford fan club.

So, whether Byford stays for the next 10 years to see his Fast Forward plan all the way through, or if he quits next week to spend more time in that sweet apartment, where does that leave us, the riders who just want our subways and buses in better shape? I asked We The Commuters reporter Stephen Nessen to answer some of those questions.

If Byford quits, how much of his subway repair plan will keep humming along without him?

There's what called the Subway Action Plan, which has been underway since 2017 and has been credited with speeding up trains and improving reliability. But it was Byford himself who set an aggressive targets for New York City Transit of reducing 10,000 delays a month. After hitting that target for nearly half a year, he recently upped it to 18,000 a month.

He also created a program to speed up subway trips by focusing on repairing signals and getting train operators to stick to the schedules. It's not clear that this pace — or focus on how the subways are operated — would continue without Byford.

I know Byford has said that adding and repairing station elevators is a major priority. Will that still be the case if he leaves?

The fact is, prioritizing elevators or elevator repairs had not been a strong point at the MTA. The governor embarked on a $1 billion plan to improve dozens of subway stations, but it didn't include installing a single elevator.

Byford put elevators expansion into his Fast Forward plan, and pledged 50 new stations would have elevators in five years. But, there's nothing legally binding that would force the MTA to make good on his pledge. In fact, the last time the MTA was legally forced to install elevators was 1979, when a judge ordered 100 accessible stations by 2020. Right now, there are 125.

There are also currently four lawsuits pending over the MTA's lack of accessibility. Plaintiffs are essentially seeking legally binding language that would ensure elevators are installed, regardless of who's in charge.

What's the future of our bus system if he resigns?

Speeding up buses has also been one of Byford's focus points. Ben Fried with Transit Center told me that Byford wasn't the only person at the MTA who cared about improving the bus network, but he came in with a plan, like getting all-door boarding and expanding Select Bus Service.

"To have a person who made that commitment leave the agency before it happens, it would not bode well," Fried said.

Cuomo hired Byford, who was a lauded transit chief in other cities before this, to turn New York's public transportation system around. What's the governor's endgame here, if the rumors are true that he's alienating his own hire to the point of making him quit?

It could be just as simple as, Cuomo would like to take the credit for turning around the subway system.

It’s a bit of a head-scratcher for people who have been following transit closely, since the governor embarked on a long disinformation campaign trying to convince New Yorkers that he doesn’t control the subways. Now, he’s going out of his way to show how much he controls the subways. You can look to his swooping in on the L train tunnel repairs as one example. More recently, Cuomo has been wading into the highly technical field of modern subway signaling. He’s thrown shade at Byford’s plan for modernizing signals using CBTC signals (which is what the L train and 7 train use), saying that’s 1980s technology.

If Byford succeeds, that would mean the subways are running up to international standards, buses are frequent and fast, and the system is fully accessible. Ben Fried told me that if Byford is forced out, "it would be tough to attract someone of Byford's caliber to this position if for some reason he's compelled to leave."

So, seems like you would do as much as you can to support Byford. But that's why you’re not Governor Andrew Mark Cuomo.
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Richard White said:
Webster got sacked for not doing Fords bidding, Byford jumped ship when Tory started to get stupid with Smart Track.


Nobody wants to work in Toronto anymore.
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I think Byford moved to New York because it was a more challenging job with more $$$ and he had stayed here for 5 years. If one works with politicians I think you know (and are not surprised by the fact) that they will try to screw things up and I am sure Andy was expecting it here and is certainly getting it in NYC
 
DSC said:
I think Byford moved to New York because it was a more challenging job with more $$$ and he had stayed here for 5 years. If one works with politicians I think you know (and are not surprised by the fact) that they will try to screw things up and I am sure Andy was expecting it here and is certainly getting it in NYC
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Can't blame him for leaving for a better paying job in a much larger city, especially after spending 5 years here battling the stupidity and regular interference from politicians.

I miss him. I feel like the TTC has regressed back into the cushy union mentality it had before he came in and shook things up. The new CEO has zero dynamism or ambition in comparison.
 
Towered said:
Can't blame him for leaving for a better paying job in a much larger city, especially after spending 5 years here battling the stupidity and regular interference from politicians.

I miss him. I feel like the TTC has regressed back into the cushy union mentality it had before he came in and shook things up. The new CEO has zero dynamism or ambition in comparison.
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To be honest, he's running into the same issues down in New York, just on a greater magnitude (everything's bigger in New York).

www.nydailynews.com

Cuomo threatens to kneecap MTA budget, imperils key subway repairs

Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday threatened to take the air out of NYC Transit President Andy Byford’s plan to save the city’s subway system. The governor told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that the M…
www.nydailynews.com www.nydailynews.com

I would definitely agree that the TTC needs to transform itself into a more open organization- this was something Byford excelled at- he knew how to let the public know about his initiatives. North American public union mentality is often an entrenched bunker mentality, which does them no good with the public- which to be honest, tends to be rather thankless and sometimes downright hostile.
 
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ticky said:
I couldn't even tell you the current CEO's name, yet I managed to hear Byford's name constantly.
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Rick Leary is the TTC's CEO.

To be honest I cant blame you though, the man has only made 1-2 public appearances since he became CEO and I cant even name a single new initiative that he's launched/spearheaded.
 
steveintoronto said:
Both this and the "This is where" campaigns had Reddit strings. For the "You said it" ones, I often chuckle looking at the Twitter addies who the comment is ostensibly from. I'm not on Twitter (thank God) so maybe those addies are real, but it all smacks of some shallow PR firm making it up as they go along.

They're about as effective as the "Baby On Board" signs in the back windows of cars. The people they're aimed at are the last...the LAST ones who'll ever read them, let alone take any notice when they do.

They might as well put up signs: "Love everyone, and stop the hate now".
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I also don't use the cyan canary (for various reasons).

Apparently, the TTC's marketing team is one decade behind. Twitter is no longer the hip new website. In fact, Twitter's main problem is handling almost a billion users and moderating extremely toxic tweets. No small number of these messages are essentially the Internet equivalent of asking to be punched in the face. Even Twitter's CEO once said that the website is woefully deficient in handling trolls and said website contains much more harassment than the TTC will ever have, many of which are unpublishable. Twitter is at the point of being toxic, especially for a self-proclaimed social news website. Twitter relies heavily on ad money (and thus, the sale of personal information, though not as much as Facebook). Which major multinational corporation wants to be associated with hatemongers? Even Disney was very close to purchasing Twitter for US$14B, but decided that it's too toxic to be purchased. Oh, and Twitter is not profitable most of the time.

Let me paraphrase the late Yogi Berra: "Nobody uses Twitter anymore. It's too popular."
 
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#WeTheNorthbound: TTC service information for Raptors Game 5

June 10, 2019

As the city gears up for a historic Toronto Raptors Game 5 tonight, the TTC is prepared to get fans safely to and from the downtown core.

To ensure everyone enjoys their evening, the TTC will have additional service available:

- Subway service will be extended. The last trains will head northbound from Union Station on both the Yonge and University sides of Line 1 at 2:25 a.m. with connections available to Line 2 at Bloor-Yonge and St George stations, and to Line 4 at Sheppard-Yonge Station.

- Additional subway trains and buses have been scheduled in the downtown core before and after the game with extras on standby to ensure service runs smoothly.

- Extra TTC staff will be situated throughout the subway system and around downtown to help direct customers, answer questions and manage crowding.

There will also be several diversions and short turns in place to accommodate the increased volume of traffic expected this evening.

There will be no streetcar or bus service east and west between Bathurst St. and Church St. and north and south between College St. and Lake Shore Blvd. The following routes will start short turning at or near those intersections at the end of the third quarter of tonight's game:

- 6 Bay
- 72 Pape
- 121 Fort York-Esplanade
- 320 Yonge
- 501 Queen
- 504 King
- 505 Dundas

Please check https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FTTCxRaps&data=02%7C01%7C%7C72ca04d3a07345eb6b3c08d6ede8b67b%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636957981074719773&sdata=zT8l1LDoWSp%2FNV7wcRCRQyFIuqNXnfQYKBYoKJakVZ4%3D&reserved=0 for more detailed diversion information.

Anyone travelling into or out of the downtown core this evening is strongly encouraged to use the TTC. Customers should follow @TTCNotices on Twitter for the most up-to-date service information.

The TTC wishes all Toronto Raptors fans a safe and fun game-watching experience tonight and reminds everyone to party responsibly. Let's Go Raptors!!
 
I work at the Residences of Maple Leaf Square and it is a zoo even now. I would not even attempt it. Despite the rain, the zones are filling up quickly.

Rain or not.. tonight will be a mess of epic proportions. It is so bad I am hunkering down at work for the night rather than attempt to leave. .

Stay out of Downtown Toronto.
 
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