Your TTC/transit horror stories...

[urbanfan89]

Sorry guys, I need somewhere to rant. But it's quite serious stuff.

Right now I live in North York by the Peanut. An hour ago I was taking the subway home from downtown. This required taking the Yonge and then Sheppard subways to Don Mills, and then the 25 bus north.

For no apparent reason I like to sit in the very front of the train to see the tunnel. On the Sheppard train the driver chose to leave the door open and lock it by the front row. Fair enough.

Then I noticed him reading a book while driving the train. If that isn't a safety hazard I don't know what is. I was about to start recording him doing so using my cell phone camera, but he noticed and told me not to. Just to avoid any trouble I got off at Leslie and waited for the next train.

Something's quite rotten when subway drivers are allowed to read books while driving trains.

 

[Second_in_pie]

Not very horror-esque, but I was taking the subway up to Finch and I was just about to make it to my movie at the Ciniplex at First Markham Place on time. Our train was at NYC Station when it stopped for 20 minutes due to "A person on the tracks" at Wellsley Station. About 10 minutes in, a southbound train rushed through the station and I thought that was a sign we were getting going soon, but we had to wait an extra 5 or 10 minutes.

When the train arrived at Finch, I rushed up to the Viva station and there was a bus waiting perfectly there. I was about to get my ticket, but the machine was broken. I had to go inside and buy a ticket. I ran outside to catch the bus, but it began to pull away. Suddenly, it stopped and I thought I had it good. It opened the front door to let in 3 people and then then drove away, leaving me to wait 7 minutes for another bus.

Again, not exactly a horror story, but I got very, very angry mind you.


EDIT: Just wondering, are drivers actually allowed to leave their doors open like that if they want to? I would have thought there is some safety issue that forces them to keep the doors shut.

 

[Kitsune]

indeed, everything I've heard is those doors are suppose to be closed.

I remember the subway door closed on my laptop bag once... the hard drive stopped working a few days later. Worse thing I saw was in Sudbury. The drivers there open and close the rear door by a switch at the front, and the driver closed the door on a toddler. Poor kid was in a ton of pain, was horrible to see.

 

[kettal]

Then I noticed him reading a book while driving the train. If that isn't a safety hazard I don't know what is. I was about to start recording him doing so using my cell phone camera, but he noticed and told me not to. Just to avoid any trouble I got off at Leslie and waited for the next train.

The correct answer is "no, I'm just making a phone call, that's all" and then record.

 

[nfitz]

Something's quite rotten when subway drivers are allowed to read books while driving trains.

Hey, I saw an out of service streetcar running along Upper Gerrard today, with the driver reading a newspaper!

 

[Second_in_pie]

I guess a lazy streetcar driver is less dangerous than a lazy bus driver. There must be something about being attached to rails that decreases your chance of screwing up big time.

I remember one time I had to wait a good 10 minutes at Dundas West station, with the King Streetcar just meters away. The driver went to McDonalds to get a value meal and finished the burger in the car, but couldn't finish the fries and drink in time I guess. Enough said, halfway down Roncesvales, fries flew.

 

[Amphibius]

The correct answer is "no, I'm just making a phone call, that's all" and then record.

Making a phone call in a tunnel deep underground with no network coverage? I don't think the driver reading is that big of a deal though. T1s are virtually automated, employing drivers is mainly for the public's peace-of-mind just in case there's the odd technical glitch or random suicide jumper.

 

[CDL.TO]

Making a phone call in a tunnel deep underground with no network coverage? I don't think the driver reading is that big of a deal though. T1s are virtually automated, employing drivers is mainly for the public's peace-of-mind just in case there's the odd technical glitch or random suicide jumper.

Operationally, T1's are no more automated than any previous subway train. Which is not automated at all.

 

[Epi]

I've seen subway drivers read the paper and so on all the time.

Once I was on a bus where the driver was finishing up a novel at stoplights!

 

[khris]

I've mentioned it previously in another thread, but my horror story is being attacked by 10 neo nazis on the subway. It happened between Royal York and Kipling. Was really scary. I was only 16 years old.

 

[prosperegal]

1. Once a woman working at one of the booths at Bloor station was really cranky when I tried to buy tokens.

2. A middle aged semi-white trash looking male once verbally attacked an Asian teen on the Yonge line, going north from Bloor (nothing truly mean-mean, but he went on and on about how "you people are hard workers" etc, etc... and that his "boss is of the same/similar culture..."). The semi-white trash guy got off on Lawrence (I think)

3. Not in Toronto: Cranky booth guy in Paris called me a stupid tourist (what's with people working in booths??)

 

[Epi]

1. Once the turnstile at Dundas ate my girlfriend's token for some reason, so we told the booth guy (who saw us trying to go through) if he could let her through (I was already through). It was like midnight and not busy at all.

After explaining what happened, the guy completely refused to accept that turnstiles could ever malfunction, then called us liars and eventually threatened to call the police on us for complaining. We then asked for his TTC ID and he told us to 'get the *uck of out my station' and again threatened to call the cops (we were pretty calm although my gf was crying by this point). Meanwhile as this was going on, I saw about 5 people duck under the same turnstile without paying for whatever reason but the booth guy didn't care at all.

2. Once I was on the subway a few years back, and some schizophrenic or mentally disturbed guy sat beside me, kept screaming that there was a bomb in his rolly suitcase and that he was going to kill everyone. This was before the Madrid bombing, but after 9/11.

 

[lordmandeep]

An old Asian lady asked some cranky old ticket collector directions of how to get to Finch at Dundas station.


The driver is clearly a senior guy, lots of experience, gets paid very well.

I swear to God, he said while waving his hands in the air...

"I don't get paid enough to give directions"


Really that old fat overpaid, lard!! At how much that guy is getting paid, he should have help that lady get on the right train...

 

[doady]

Once I was on the bus and the bus driver was talking on his cell phone the whole trip, while he was driving, while passengers were getting on, etc. He was really enjoying himself. Damn unions.

 

[wyliepoon]

A not so "horrifying" story about drivers and cellphones...

I was on a bus stuck in a non-moving traffic jam once for about an hour. The driver called transit control and told them that since he could not use his cellphone while driving, transit control should call his wife to tell her that he would be home late. Then he got transit control to make an announcement over the bus PA that everything is okay and telling the passengers to calm down.