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TTC: Stations that Need Improvements

CBC News said:
No TTC stations meet cleanliness standard


A TTC study assessing the cleanliness of all its subway stations has found that none of them meet the transit agency's own standards.

The TTC's cleanliness audit, conducted in May, evaluated stations on a scale of one to five.

Level one is defined as "unkempt neglect," while five has been labelled "orderly spotlessness."

The TTC aimed for a level four, in which floors are clean, payphones free of graffiti and washrooms clean and stocked. But none of the 69 subway stations met that standard — although 66 of them achieved level three cleanliness, described as "casual inattentiveness."

It would take at least 60 additional full-time staff to meet cleanliness requirements, said TTC chair Adam Giambrone.

But the transit agency has no money to hire them, he said, so improvements in cleanliness may not come for a while.

"It is not possible under the current resources to achieve all of the cleaning, all of the painting, all of the things that people expect from their stations," said Giambrone.

Some improvement since 2008

The audit reports an improvement in cleanliness over the last two years.

In 2008, 34 stations were classed as level two cleanliness, or "moderate dinginess." As of May this year, only four stations fell into that category, the TTC said.

But the TTC still has a long way to go, as stations are not cleaned frequently enough, said Giambrone.

For instance, subway walls are cleaned once a year, but Giambrone said they need it every six months.

"That's one example of how you need to almost double the resources to take what is a year and turn it into six months," he said.

Thirty temporary cleaners will be added in August to undertake a six-month cleaning blitz, said Giambrone.

The TTC board will meet Wednesday to discuss the audit's finding.

In addition to the audit, TTC vice-chair Joe Mihevc is also inviting riders to conduct their own audit of the system's cleanliness. He is asking riders to go to their regular station on July 17 at 11 a.m., fill out the questionnaire and then send it to his team at the audit website.
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Link to article: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/07/12/ttc-cleanliness-audit641.html#ixzz0tUjXtSMN
 
I was at Yorkdale station yesterday... when you take the escalator down to the exit, you can see a series of spherical spotlights which are covered with so much dust and dirt, it looks like they haven't been cleaned in a decade.

The whole network is disgusting. Some stations seemingly haven't had any work on them whatsoever since I arrived in Toronto 23 years ago. I put the entire blame on the provincial government. The TTC needs stable operating funding from the province.
 
Well, TTC has to take some responsiblity as well - station cleaning not involving access to track level is one area that can and should be outsourced.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Well, TTC has to take some responsiblity as well - station cleaning not involving access to track level is one area that can and should be outsourced.

AoD
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Yep. Not even Summerhill could make the cut. How much garbage and dirt could be accumulating there that regular cleaning can't remove it all.
 
You mean 67 people to stand around and do nothing? Where are all the TTC cleaners anyway? The stations are absolutely horrible state. It wasn't this bad 5 yrs ago or 10 years ago when funding was a perpetual crisis and TTC was losing riders and had no funding support from province. Things are much better funding wise now, but the stations are a disgrace to this city. The garbage, the filthy floors, the newspapers and pop containers on platform and track level, and don't even get me started on the missing ceiling slats (WTF did they mess up a perfectly good and fairly new station - North York Cetre, looks like shit now).

I propose 2 simple solutions:

1)Outsource the cleaning to professionals and fire the TTC cleaning staff as they don't understand how to clean stations.
2)Implement steep fines to help pay for the cleanup and restrict food/drinks onto the system. If you're riding the TTC subway you don't need to eat. If you need to eat, then get off and eat. Steep fines ranging from $50-$500 with strong enforcement will help to get people to stop leaving newspapers and their trash on the stations and in the trains.

This has got to stop.
 
lead82 said:
I propose 2 simple solutions:

1)Outsource the cleaning to professionals and fire the TTC cleaning staff as they don't understand how to clean stations.
2)Implement steep fines to help pay for the cleanup and restrict food/drinks onto the system. If you're riding the TTC subway you don't need to eat. If you need to eat, then get off and eat. Steep fines ranging from $50-$500 with strong enforcement will help to get people to stop leaving newspapers and their trash on the stations and in the trains.

This has got to stop.
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1st Idea I like a lot. Smaller non union cleaners could clean 2 full stations a day and almost effectively clean every station once a month. But you know the idea wouldnt fly with the current TTC union member$.

2nd Idea I hate. All our freedoms are being slowly taken from us. You can't smoke in bars. You can't talk on a cell phone and drive. You can't be at Queen & Spadina during the G20. I hate anything that takes away freedom. That being said, pigs who liter the ttc with their food containers/spilt food don't deserve freedom.
 
Joe Mihevc posted on Facebook about the 'TTC Passenger audit' and that it is a few days away. Lots of people have signed up for it and it involves taking a form to a station that you want to audit and fill out the form regarding the cleanliness of it, the design and it even asks the auditors for their own opinions on what they would like to do to improve the station they are auditing. I have two children and I am taking them away this weekend but I think we can submit these forms at a later date as well.
 
I'm not a panhandler, but if I was, I would get an apron and broom and clean the TTC for tips.
 
2)Implement steep fines to help pay for the cleanup and restrict food/drinks onto the system. If you're riding the TTC subway you don't need to eat. If you need to eat, then get off and eat. Steep fines ranging from $50-$500 with strong enforcement will help to get people to stop leaving newspapers and their trash on the stations and in the trains.
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The TTC used to have such a rule (no eat/drink) and fought hard to keep it that way, a court struck down the rule (part of TTC By-laws) on the grounds the TTC was overreaching its authority (I'm thinking 20 years ago now?)

As to outsourcing.....perhaps. I'm certainly not a fan of the way the job is done now; but honestly I think it has more to do with management in many ways.

A few weeks ago I was coming home late, and saw the overnight cleaning crew at work at my local station........as my bus wasn't there......I thought for a few moments and couldn't resist, and went up to one of the cleaners and asked about the state of things from his perspective.........here is what I learned.

*** I don't know any of what's below for a fact, this is just anecdotal stuff I was told****

1) He was very proud of the job he did; and pointed out what was being done; but admitted some of his fellow workers didn't work as hard or smart as he would like.

2) He felt the above problem was due to a TTC decision to change the way cleaning crews work. That they used to be teams of five, responsible for 4-5 stations, and one person was the supervisor/crew-chief. Now, apparently crews are 2-3, and there is NO supervisor. He said this created a problem because no one on the team is the boss, or has the right to 'order' anything done. So while they have a check-list to-do; its completely up to the whims of a given crew as to whether or how it gets done. No one is accountable. Managers do check the work or visit site from time to time; but not daily.

3) We talked about ceilings and brake-dust; he said he wanted to clean them, but the TTC doesn't have the sky-ladder (the raising scaffold) at every station, more over, because the TTC has thought to put various wires exposed on many ceilings ( actually protected by a cover, but below ceiling level) many workers refused to use the ladder to clean the ceiling as they were afraid of electrocution. The TTC doesn't force the issue or hire outsiders to do the work.

4) I asked about track-side walls; this made him maddest, he said they used to clean them from the platform level, just by turning off the local power to the third rail for that station. He has no idea why they stopped that, some years ago; but there was no good reason as far as he was concerned. (note, this set to start again, at St. George this fall as a pilot)


Sounds to me like there's plenty of room for improvement in-house; not sure how well managed any outsiders would be. Maybe they could outsource the management!
 
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