TTC being privatized?

[mira]

Thank your fellow riders for that mess. They are the ones leaving Metro papers everywhere, littering everywhere, tossing their transfers on the ground.

Hmm, 3,670 members? Yet more than 2.5 million people in Toronto.

LOL.. if only you really knew.

Yes, A driver knows details for every other bus on the route (being sarcastic). So since I've been in the same predicament with apparently being the only bus for about an hour on a 20minute frequency route and my answer was "sorry I have no idea" was a bad, wrong thing? Sorry I'm not up to par with every other bus out there, and not that I have enough to worry about with my own vehicle. I'm responsible for my own bus, not others.

Welcome to my world as a bus driver.

well said

[The Canadian Roadgeek]

Thank your fellow riders for that mess. They are the ones leaving Metro papers everywhere, littering everywhere, tossing their transfers on the ground.

Hmm, 3,670 members? Yet more than 2.5 million people in Toronto.

LOL.. if only you really knew.

Yes, A driver knows details for every other bus on the route (being sarcastic). So since I've been in the same predicament with apparently being the only bus for about an hour on a 20minute frequency route and my answer was "sorry I have no idea" was a bad, wrong thing? Sorry I'm not up to par with every other bus out there, and not that I have enough to worry about with my own vehicle. I'm responsible for my own bus, not others.

Welcome to my world as a bus driver.

This is what you do, to keep it clean. Add platform screen doors, so newspapers don't start flying when a train comes in. And impose a strict fine on littering, or simply put more bins around (but that's rejected due to the fear of "someone starting a fire or hiding a bomb in there", as I have read somewhere in CPTDB)

Not everyone has a Facebook account. In the Toronto network, less than a million has a Facebook account (in 2008, there was 0.5 million Torontonians with a Facebook account). Even so, less than half takes transit, and not everyone cares about transit, and will not go about searching for fan pages... Even the "official" (actually I'm not sure if it's the official) TTC page has ~1,200 members. That's like one-third of the 3,670 you've counted. And after you've added those up, I've found another bunch of groups, varying in size between 7 to 300 members.

And yet that bus for that driver is late for 6-7 minutes. No excuse for that? I don't believe it.

And as a bus driver, you're doing customer service to us passengers. By accepting this job, you've accepted the fact that you might be "treated poorly" by the customers. The customers are sort of your "boss". And I don't think there are many employees who really doesn't get yelled at by their boss once in a while.

Get a shovel, Mr. Roadgeek.

Riders have a responsibility to keep their own system clean too, as YRT-Guy implied. If you're asking for respect from fellow posters, don't sarcastically refer to another member as "your highness, sir MSM", because we all know that's not as a complimentary term. From what I see here, most of the disrespect towards you is instigated by you, nothing here has been unprovoked. It began with a simple disagreement with your point of view, and spiraled to what it has become now because of the outlandish statements associated with your ideas.

Though there's nothing worse than having to repeat something oneself said, I will do it again. You need to do your research to the background underlying this issue, WHY is transit less than stellar here, the situations, circumstances which permit the success in transit operations overseas compared to here. What has happened throughout history, policies, governments, etc. Also, speaking of research, don't assume either--I'm not doing poli-sci.

I'm not the first one who implemented this sarcasm, when others are doing that first. And it was him who started this disrespect, and if he can say something like that, I should be allowed to do so too. I didn't provoke anything. The first provocation was made by rocketdriver2019 about the list of BS that they are going through, and the graph from University of Ryerson claiming that I'm a neo-liberal economist (which I'm not), with no equality and no environmental concerns. These are fairly provoking too, and that long list with repeated items over and over again, calling me "douche feeling brave behind a keyboard" when I'm just pointing out drivers are paid too much, and then with MSM's speech of "get your head out of your ass" or something like that. The fact that I have "no life". Don't you think that's really provoking? I'm not doing much provoking here. And then with the word "BS" spelt out, then with the cartoon picture, then the "leave the kid in the sandbox" comment. Then there's this "secretly jealous and watching porn in your mother's basement". All offensive comments, and I didn't trigger it. I haven't been really doing much, only been responding to these provocation. They're the one who started it, and keeps on elevating it.

Well, don't assume I'm doing planning then. And by the way, I did do some research on the history before 1921. There's a lot built before 1921, such as an extensive of network of streetcars already by 1912.

[YRT-Guy]

And yet that bus for that driver is late for 6-7 minutes. No excuse for that? I don't believe it.

I was 7 minutes late for a bit during my run today, and I had no excuse aside from a shitty planned schedule. And I had absolutely no idea on the status of the other buses, because truthfully I don't care about the other buses, only my own.

The customers are sort of your "boss".

Umm.. nope.. try again. They don't pay me, and they don't tell me what to do, or when to do it, or how to do it, or if I can do it.

[The Canadian Roadgeek]

I was 7 minutes late for a bit during my run today, and I had no excuse aside from a shitty planned schedule. And I had absolutely no idea on the status of the other buses, because truthfully I don't care about the other buses, only my own.

Umm.. nope.. try again. They don't pay me, and they don't tell me what to do, or when to do it, or how to do it, or if I can do it.

7 minutes is pretty late (I think the standard is something like 5 minutes max?), enough to start causing bunching ups if you're running a frequent-service route. And how can you explain a 30+ minutes with no bus in a densely populated community, not some suburban community, when the road conditions are clear (no snow on the ground, no crashes along the route, less cars than usual days), since it was off-peak hours? And from her I also heard that this is not the first time it happened. A sh*tty planned schedule would not cause 2 buses ahead mysteriously disappearing.

Umm... I thought the reason for keeping TTC public was because (I think 70%?) 70% of the fund for the TTC comes from the farebox. And it's a pride TTC takes, being the least subsidized transit system. So the riders pay 70% of your salary. So we're your customer, we're your "boss" in quotes, at least 70%. And I think there's customer service along with that? Tactics to deal with customers? There are courses on that, maybe you should start taking them, and at least learn how to treat your customers. Even though it's the customers' faults, you still talk to them, kindly and gently, and explain the situation with a smile, and not be grumpy and start swearing. Not the way to go, and not the customer service level I'd expect for any organizations in 2011.

In some big corporations, customers come first, not the workers. Why do you think Apple bother selling customer service (Genius Bar and all sorts of supports)?

[YRT-Guy]

7 minutes is pretty late (I think the standard is something like 5 minutes max?), enough to start causing bunching ups if you're running a frequent-service route. And how can you explain a 30+ minutes with no bus in a densely populated community, not some suburban community, when the road conditions are clear, since it was off-peak hours?

How would he know what's up with the other buses? 7 minutes late in the city of Toronto is nothing. And I was referring to myself running 7 minutes late on YRT today. I figure my user name would give it away, but i don't drive TTC, you couldn't pay me enough to.

Umm... I thought the reason for keeping TTC public was because (I think 70%?) 70% of the fund for the TTC comes from the farebox. And it's a pride TTC takes, being the least subsidized transit system. So the riders pay 70% of your salary. So we're your customer, we're your "boss" in quotes, at least 70%. And I think there's customer service along with that?

Sure, they should avoid being "mean" as you state, but still.. passengers are not a bus drivers boss in any way.

Tactics to deal with customers? There are courses on that, maybe you should start taking them, and at least learn how to treat your customers. Even though it's the customers' faults, you still talk to them, kindly and gently, and explain the situation with a smile, and not be grumpy and start swearing. Not the way to go, and not the customer service level I'd expect for any organizations in 2011.

Obviously you don't know me, or have never been a passenger on my bus. Because if you did know me or have ever been a passenger on my bus you would not be saying what you just said about customer service to me.

In some big corporations, customers come first, not the workers. Why do you think Apple bother selling customer service (Genius Bar and all sorts of supports)?

Last time I checked, transit didn't sell macbooks or Ipods or anything close to a "product". And it's funny.. Googling "Genius Bar Horror Stories" results in 147,000 hits. So see, you can't please everyone no matter what you do.

[Future Urban Planner]

I have reported The Canadian Roadgeek to the admins for breaking many of the Conditions of Use on CPTDB. I suggest all of you do the same, if you haven't already. I have decided I'm not going to idly sit by and watch the same false information and insults being spewed by this person any more because I have respect for each and every poster on this board. The Canadian Roadgeek, however, has lost my respect. (Telling people to quit their jobs? Really?)

I will not say any more as I fear I have already given him enough ammunition against me. I shall not reply to this thread again.

End of Line

[D. DeLarge]

Right, the TTC takes pride in their lack of government funding. Uh huh. Sure. Scraping by by rebuilding old buses, freezing the hiring of operators, taking so long to replace ancient streetcars with more accessible modern ones.

Umm... I thought the reason for keeping TTC public was because (I think 70%?) 70% of the fund for the TTC comes from the farebox. And it's a pride TTC takes, being the least subsidized transit system. So the riders pay 70% of your salary. So we're your customer, we're your "boss" in quotes, at least 70%. And I think there's customer service along with that? Tactics to deal with customers? There are courses on that, maybe you should start taking them, and at least learn how to treat your customers. Even though it's the customers' faults, you still talk to them, kindly and gently, and explain the situation with a smile, and not be grumpy and start swearing. Not the way to go, and not the customer service level I'd expect for any organizations in 2011.

The amount of entitlement felt in the above paragraph is astounding.

[general682002]

Veolia operates sleek transit as a matter of fact that I've learned from their site. And I appreciate that, and as far as I can tell, they're doing a pretty good job in running public transit. Veolia does not comply with what the union wants for a reason. Sometimes what the union wants is outrageous.

And you don't know what you don't know. My career is not what you think it is. And don't stalk like that.

Yes, over the improvement from the last contractor. The management harassment over to drivers continues, not the way how you run it.

*shrugs* Right!

[CR SD40-2]

perhaps we should all simultaneously boycott....

leave the kids to their sandbox.

This pissant irritates me to no end. If all the operators leave, by his math that should take about 80% of his audience away.

It's pretty hard to have an argument by himself.

Who's in?

If transit worker goes I would too.I'll take my paperbus bussiness with me too!!!!Then let the kids twidle there thumbs

[FlyerD901]

If transit worker goes I would too.I'll take my paperbus bussiness with me too!!!!Then let the kids twidle there thumbs

LMFAO. Where you taking that company?

There is pros and Cons to everything. But I'd rather keep TTC a public transit system, its cheaper and I can get from one end of the city to the other for $3.00 or less. With a private run transit system that will be a dream. At the same time I don't think TTC should be afraid to try and do business with some private companies. The city is rebuilding regent park with the help of private companies, I'm sure TTC can do the same. They have private companies rebuilding stations like VP, Pape, kipling and others.

[Waiting for 30 Minutes]

Well, don't assume I'm doing planning then. And by the way, I did do some research on the history before 1921. There's a lot built before 1921, such as an extensive of network of streetcars already by 1912.

Never assumed you were doing planning. I said "I know you're INTERESTED IN planning".

[MT0603]

The thing is, most TTC stations aren't clean. There's Metro newspaper laying everywhere, and when a train arrives at the station, the newspaper flies everywhere, transfers got trashed on the floor and sh-mushed up when someone walks in and steps on it with a wet shoe. And the dim and drowsy lighting is not very appealing either. And many stations does not have good ventilation or has too good of a ventilation that it's too cold in the winter (i.e. like Lawrence West, Yorkdale, to name a few)... And while I'm at those stations, not to mention the waiting area (the areas blocked off where you can sit) looks like they haven't been cleaned for 30 years.

If your standard claims the stations in Metro Montreal looks good (personally I only think Berri-UQAM is the one that's acceptable / looking good)... then you're pretty much saying every subway station on earth looks good.

Here's the question though, do they not serve their purpose? How do you think a private company is going to tackle the littering problem.

I laugh at your remark that Berri-UQAM is the only nice looking Metro station in Montreal, you've obviously never been on the Montreal Metroas Berri-UQAM is shabby compared to some other stations.

http://www.metrodemontreal.com/orange/dela...orde/index.html What do you have to say about De La Concorde or any other stations along the Montmorency extension?

[bmountdriver]

To Mr. "The Canadian Roadgeek".

I see (by reviewing your profile) that you are 17 years old; and by a previous post that you lived in Hong Kong for 11 years; therefore I assume that you have been in Canada for 6 years. I have one question for you: where did you graduate from with your degree in Urban Transit Planning (this is an engineering degree BTW). You must have started university when you were 13 years old as this degree program is a four year course for a basic Bachelor's degree. Most degree holders are Masters graduates however, so I would assume that you started university when you were about 9 years old.

You spout off your right wing views and insult many members of this board. Those of us who work in transit (I am a TTC Operator) and who are members of this board are here to enter into intelligent, meaningful discussions. Unfortunately, you are contributing neither of these points to this discussion. When you read this post (after you get home from school), I would suggest that you review your notes from your high school law class. A lot of your suggestions are illegal under both Canadian and Ontario labour laws. Until you are prepared to actually do some basic research before you post your drivel, nobody on this board will take you seriously.

[jamesmoon]

7 minutes is pretty late (I think the standard is something like 5 minutes max?), enough to start causing bunching ups if you're running a frequent-service route. And how can you explain a 30+ minutes with no bus in a densely populated community, not some suburban community, when the road conditions are clear (no snow on the ground, no crashes along the route, less cars than usual days), since it was off-peak hours? And from her I also heard that this is not the first time it happened. A sh*tty planned schedule would not cause 2 buses ahead mysteriously disappearing.

Umm... I thought the reason for keeping TTC public was because (I think 70%?) 70% of the fund for the TTC comes from the farebox. And it's a pride TTC takes, being the least subsidized transit system. So the riders pay 70% of your salary. So we're your customer, we're your "boss" in quotes, at least 70%. And I think there's customer service along with that? Tactics to deal with customers? There are courses on that, maybe you should start taking them, and at least learn how to treat your customers. Even though it's the customers' faults, you still talk to them, kindly and gently, and explain the situation with a smile, and not be grumpy and start swearing. Not the way to go, and not the customer service level I'd expect for any organizations in 2011.

In some big corporations, customers come first, not the workers. Why do you think Apple bother selling customer service (Genius Bar and all sorts of supports)?

Wow women must be dying to be with you! With an attitude like that! Nice game happening there! Maybe you should start thinking about other things in your life, like getting a life for one thing!! All your time seems to be spent here and insulting everybody, can you tell how many people cannot believe how ignorant you really are! I really don't care how this sounds and take it for what it is! People who know me have never seen me post things about anybody else but you really are a piece of work! If you can't understand what I am saying I'll spell it out for you GET A LIFE!!!

[drum118]

If Veolia is a great company, why have they been replace by a number of cities world wide in the past few years with other operators or gone back under the city control?

Riders are 30% responible for the mess on the system as they expect a maid to clean up after them in the first place. They are also responible for how the system operates by not having their fare or transfer ready when borading or sitting on their ass on an crowded bus until it comes to a stop before trying to get off and bitch to the driver as they pull away from the stop.

I am a transit rider 100% and there are more than 2 side to the coin for operating a system.

Everyone is a fault in how a system operates as there are some bad apples at all levels, but more on the rider side.

[CR SD40-2]

LMFAO. Where you taking that company?

There is pros and Cons to everything. But I'd rather keep TTC a public transit system, its cheaper and I can get from one end of the city to the other for $3.00 or less. With a private run transit system that will be a dream. At the same time I don't think TTC should be afraid to try and do business with some private companies. The city is rebuilding regent park with the help of private companies, I'm sure TTC can do the same. They have private companies rebuilding stations like VP, Pape, kipling and others.

Anywere that can people can appreciate transit workers and the REAL meaning of being a bus fan!!

[DL1892]

This is what you do, to keep it clean. Add platform screen doors, so newspapers don't start flying when a train comes in. And impose a strict fine on littering, or simply put more bins around (but that's rejected due to the fear of "someone starting a fire or hiding a bomb in there", as I have read somewhere in CPTDB)

Platform screen doors are incredibly expensive and they are not so much for keeping litter from flying around.. The purpose they serve is to

A ) Prevent "jumpers"

B ) Save the operator money in heating and cooling costs.

As for garbage, its not so much the TTC's fault as it is the riders, and with ~1.5 million riders per day, i'd love to watch you be the one wiggling through crowds picking up garbage.

[63 Ossington]

Mr. Roadgeek, one has to wonder why you think that Canada is a communist state. We do have some left-wing features here, but communist? I don't think so.

And the public refusing to walk 300m? Are you one of those people? One kilometre is nothing still. 10 minutes? Nothing. Because of where I live though I personally walk only 300m for transit service myself, and sometimes farther if I just missed my vehicle and would rather not wait. The reason for not walking over 300m (if your point is true) is that we in Toronto have been spoiled with our extensive network. Other places can only dream of having such high frequencies and extensive network of routes. Half an hour is the most infrequent of routes at any time, and what? 1 hour was the frequency of the 1 Highway 7 bus on a Sunday in YRT land a while back! Whoa! Major route, with 1 hour service? Anything on the TTC is better than that!

Waiting 45 minutes for a 100 Flemingdon Park bus is a regular occurrence for you? During rush hours? I beg to differ, I have not ridden it much, but when I have ridden it, it was fairly reliable. Or were you speaking of another route you seem to be withholding? (Which as 5 minute frequencies) Plus, everything has its hiccups; even private stores *gasp!* run out of stock sometimes!

And you're referring to Paris having a few grand stations, with others in gross disrepair. At least TTC Stations are relatively clean for a public place in my opinion, and definitely cleaner than the RATP Metro stations I've been to. And as others here have pointed out, who is responsible for these messes? Passengers! They're the ones who mess it up, then complain about it. And yes, some TTC stations do have dinky lights, but you can still see, right?

[902]

I'm not the first one who implemented this sarcasm, when others are doing that first. And it was him who started this disrespect, and if he can say something like that, I should be allowed to do so too. I didn't provoke anything. The first provocation was made by rocketdriver2019 about the list of BS that they are going through, and the graph from University of Ryerson claiming that I'm a neo-liberal economist (which I'm not), with no equality and no environmental concerns. These are fairly provoking too, and that long list with repeated items over and over again, calling me "douche feeling brave behind a keyboard" when I'm just pointing out drivers are paid too much, and then with MSM's speech of "get your head out of your ass" or something like that. The fact that I have "no life". Don't you think that's really provoking? I'm not doing much provoking here. And then with the word "BS" spelt out, then with the cartoon picture, then the "leave the kid in the sandbox" comment. Then there's this "secretly jealous and watching porn in your mother's basement". All offensive comments, and I didn't trigger it. I haven't been really doing much, only been responding to these provocation. They're the one who started it, and keeps on elevating it.

Well first off, you asked for the BS list and he gave it to you, so quit whining over it. He wasn't directing the term BS to you but was explaining the amount of...as you say...BS, that we could potentially be exposed to day in and day out.

Secondly, what you're pointing out is wrong and I don't understand why you feel that drivers are paid too much. Do you feel that because you're stuck working in the private industry that everyone else should be as well? We fought hard to get to where we are now, why do you think we should have to lose it now? Because you think we should? As many others have said, if you think it's so easy to do, why don't you get your ass in the drivers seat and see how long you can handle it. BTW riding around on your grandfathers bus when you were 10 doesn't count as experience.

[902]

7 minutes is pretty late (I think the standard is something like 5 minutes max?), enough to start causing bunching ups if you're running a frequent-service route. And how can you explain a 30+ minutes with no bus in a densely populated community, not some suburban community, when the road conditions are clear (no snow on the ground, no crashes along the route, less cars than usual days), since it was off-peak hours? And from her I also heard that this is not the first time it happened.

Well put it in this perspective: If the schedule is poorly timed and we'll use your 7 minute example here...the bus loses 7 minutes per trip because of no recovery time. Assume that bus is on that route all day...by the end of the 4th trip, if the bus hasn't been short-turned to get back on track, that bus is now 28 minutes behind schedule. And that is one way to get service gaps. But you probably wont understand what I'm trying to get to here...

[The Canadian Roadgeek]

First of all, I'll deal with that list. Let me number it as follows:

1) Passengers yelling at you for being late

2) Passengers yelling at you because it snows

3) Passengers yelling at you because you had the audacity to ask them for a fare

4) Passengers refusing to pay the fare

5) Passengers trying to use invalid transfers

6) Passengers trying to use invalid passes

7) Passengers yelling at you for telling them to quit horsing around on the bus

8) Passengers assaulting you for all of the above

9) Passengers spitting on you for all of the above

10) Motorists cutting you off

11) Motorists yelling at you for being in their way

12) Homeless people asking for free rides

13) Homeless people spitting on you for denying said free ride (more gross than normal passenger spitting on you)

14) Passengers sitting up front and talking to you about how Chinese people shouldn't drive or some other racist inappropriate drivel you don't want to hear about.

15) Schedules that are impossible to follow

16) Workshifts that would be illegal in any other industry (like 9 hour shifts without any breaks)

17) Workshifts that are all over the place and prevent any semblance of a social life

18) Fires in the subway that you get to go to track level to put out

19) Other nonsense at track level in the subway that has you working within inches of a 600V electrified third rail

20) Sticking your head out of a moving train while guarding

21) Passengers spitting on you as you stick your head out of a moving train while guarding

22) Passengers smacking you with something as you stick your head out of a moving train while guarding

23) People jumping in front of your train while driving

24) People pretending to jump in front of your train while driving

25) Passengers fighting on your vehicle

26) Gangs fighting on your vehicle

27) People shooting each other on your vehicle

28) People stabbing each other on your vehicle

29) People shooting you

30) People stabbing you

31) People threatening to do either because you want them to pay a fare

32) Vehicles having mechanical problems

33) Passengers yelling at you because your vehicle has a mechanical problem

34) You having to fix the mechanical problem (in the case of streetcars and subways)

35) People having medical emergencies on your vehicle

36) Passengers yelling at you because you stopped for said medical emergency

37) People getting on your vehicle after having been assaulted crying for you to call the police

38) Passengers yelling at you because you stopped your vehicle to call the police for said passenger

39) Passengers yelling at you because you really needed to pee mid-route on a line that does not have washrooms at one or both ends

40) Passengers yelling at you because you're early at an intersection and held for time while staying on the vehicle

41) Passengers yelling at you because you're early at an intersection and held for time and left the vehicle to pick up a snack on your 9 hour shift without breaks

42) Passengers confused that you short turned despite announcing it several hundred times en route

43) Passengers yelling at you for being short turned

44) Passengers confused because you're driving the 29A and not the 29 and thus turned at Tycos

45) Passengers yelling at you for being a 29A and not a 29

46) Passengers assaulting you for being a 29A and not a 29

47) Drunk people horsing around on your vehicle

48) Drunk people puking on your vehicle

49) Drunk people assaulting you

50) Drunk people puking on you

51) Stringed out drug users on your vehicle

52) Stringed out drug users assaulting you

53) Stringed out drug users threatening to give you Hepatitis (anyone remember the Twoonie Lady?)

54) People *ahem* conceiving on your vehicle

55) Little kids screaming on your vehicle

56) Little kids jumping around your vehicle while the parent ignores them

57) Passengers yelling at you because little kids are jumping around your vehicle

58) Parent yelling at you because you told the little kids to sit down and behave

59) Parent assaulting you because you told the little kids to sit down and behave

Allow me to demonstrate. Yelling is a form of assaulting, and therefore yelling = assaulting. And who's doing the yelling/assaulting, what form of assaulting it is, and what the topic is about, is essentially is the same thing. And therefore, 1) to 3), 7) to 9), 10) and 11), 21) to 22), 36) to 46), 57) to 59) are essentially the same thing. So that narrows down the list to 36 things.

And some of these are directed strictly to driving a train or a bus or a streetcar. So that splits the list into three separate things. For instance, the chance for a person shooting or stabbing a driver is (I would say) 1E-5% on a subway train, unless this is a carefully planned murder. On average, there's barely a chance to interact / talk with their subway driver, and they're not dealing directly with fares. So this chance is drastically reduced.

For shooting / stabbing, everything between 27) to 30), On a bus, protector screens have been installed, so your risk of getting hurt has also been drastically decreased, perhaps 0.1%. And given only (on average) one assault made per day, the chance of this falling upon you out of 11,000 personnel on a average day is 1/11000, which is 0.009091%, which means in a year, you only have a 3% chance of getting this, and (I'm not using advanced data management skills here, so this maybe significantly skewed), you need at least a ~33 years experience to get assaulted at least once, and hopefully if you worked 33 years, you should be smart enough to avoid that by avoiding further provocation to the "angry passenger". And also the chance of assault is a little higher in nighttime (especially late night) than in the day, and there are way more drivers in the day than in the night, so therefore, your chance is also reduced.

Numbers 4 to 6 are essentially the same thing for fare evasion. So that narrows down the list further.

10) and 11) are essentially the same. Motorists are passing you because the bus is slow, average speed, like I said is 20 km h^-1, where as a car's average speed is at least 40 km h^-1. They're not going to spend the extra time following a bus, when they can save time passing your bus. It's an obvious thing, and it's bound to happen unless busses start travelling at 40 km h^-1 (on average) like the other automobiles.

54) That's the most nonsense thing I've heard. How often does it really happen? Any stats on that? Once a year?

43) That's sometimes a driver's fault. I've been on the 25 Don Mills, the bus short turns at Deerford, but the driver didn't give us an adequate notice, the driver told us it was short-turning at Finch Av (and I was going to Finch Av), so I stayed on the bus, but by Fairview Mall Dr, the driver says, we're short-turning the next stop. Like what? That was totally unexpected. And short turns are so common on some routes, and it's a scheduling problem, and it's TTC's fault for such. Sometimes short turns are so common, they might as well create another branch for the route.

And the lack of notice does not stop there. I understand the point of short-turning, and it might be a quick thing since the driver realizes that there's not enough time to go to the end of the route and back. But what really pisses many is that when they board the bus, take the 25 for example, it says "To Steeles", but unknowingly, it says "To Finch" during some point on the route, and the driver does not really notify the passengers until the last minute (i.e. after Don Mills Station) in some cases. So you really can't blame for passengers being mad.

And for a record, Toronto is a civilized city, not all passengers yell. The situations you are reflecting is only a small group of people that may only happen in certain parts of the city at certain time of the day/night, which does not impact every single 11,000 employees.

32) and 19) The driver does not really fix it, but rather, sit and wait for the repair crews and come and fix it. And like I said, not every passenger yells, and if they do, emotion management is very important in jobs as such (customer service). When you call for Rogers to help fix your Internet cable, and you yell at them, "why is my internet disconnected?", you would yell at them, and they've been trained not to yell back, and they merely "accept it". If they don't, then they're not a professional customer sales rep. And if it's really unbearable, there's recorders and security cameras (in terms of the TTC) that takes down the entire process, and you report to your supervisor.

31) People threatening to do what?

For like 47) to 53), there should be an emergency help button on the bus (if there's none, they should implement one), so that the TTC Special Constables come and solve the problem. It's not really up to the driver to solve the problem. If they spit at you, you've got your protective plastic cover. A taxi driver could be in the same situation too, and they are in a much smaller vehicle than you are, and may not have other witnesses.

And why do we have TTC special constables? To keep the TTC safe for everyone, passengers and drivers. So leave those issues with them.

You don't clean your buses in most cases anyways. There are cleaning staff for cleaning up pukes. TTC drivers normally doesn't clean their buses, like picking up leftover Metro newspaper and such, while on the other hand, Miller drivers for the YRT, I've seen them doing that, even though there are cleaning stuff. So that's not much to worry about. I've seen puking leftovers on a bus before and it's not really taken care of until the route reaches the end.

35), 54) etc. Many of the stuff you've stated here are really rare cases of emergencies, like conceiving on a bus. Emergency management anyone? In such case, every job has emergencies. Going back to the taxi driver, someone could have conceived in a taxi. They could have conceived in a grocery store. They could have conceived while waiting in line for a new health card, they could conceive in a food court. They could conceive in Shoppers Drug Mart. They could conceive in a convenience store. Anywhere you can think of. Practically every job that deals with people has a chance of that.

41) You shouldn't be leaving your bus. I don't mind if you stand up, stretch a bit, walk around the bus. But it's really unprofessional to leave your bus unattended, when everyone just get on and off freely, without paying fare or anything.

23) and 24). They could be solved with platform screen doors, which someone thought was expensive and outweighs the benefit. And on average, there's ~30 attempts per year, while there are more than 100,000 (I would suspect) subway trips taken every year. For that to happen on you, the risk is less than 0.03%.

Bus drivers worldwide have to deal with many of these, while they accept lower salaries and benefits, notably in Asian countries. In Japan or Hong Kong or Taiwan, the cost of living is no less than Toronto, perhaps even more in Tokyo or Hong Kong. And I'm not even requesting TTC employees to decrease their salary to that level.

14) This brought to my attention that a lot of drivers talk to their customers during their route, which they should not be doing. I find it really unprofessional if they're chatting with someone while driving. I don't know if the TTC bans that, but many places I know ban that. I mean, concentrate on your driving, you can always chat later.

16) Many healthcare industries have longer workshifts than you. And in such case, it's the management's problem.

And I have work to do, and no time to write this further. But you should get my point. I'll further elaborate this if this is necessary.

[Waiting for 30 Minutes]

I think some control needs to be brought to this topic. We're now just wasting our time shooting ideas at Roadgeek's concrete skull, and the conversation has strayed from actually discussing privatisation of the TTC. It's become evident nothing is getting through to him.

This isn't a call to back down, but I think we should get back onto topic.

[JCL]

32) and 19) As a driver, you should be trained to fix the mechanical problems of a bus. And mostly, the driver does not really fix it, but rather, sit and wait for the repair crews and come and fix it.

For OC Transpo in Ottawa, bus operators are NEVER responsible for fixing their assigned bus themselves whenever there is a mechanical issue. I'm pretty sure it is the same for TTC. So really, the operator of the dead bus isn't doing anything wrong for sitting there waiting for a repair crew or a tow truck.

[rob9701]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor

Drivers can leave the bus if they want.. There are ways to close the door and not be in the bus.. Magic eh?

It amazes me that aside from very few TTC joyriders, and a GO bus ending up in Belleville, no one seizes the opportunity for mischief with all of these idling and seemingly abandoned buses sitting around. Maybe it's because we as a society save what little respect we have these days for large vehicles, or buses are just perceived as slow and unsexy, but leaving four or five hundred grand worth of bus sitting in some seedy parts of town abandoned seems somehow objectionable to me.

Or maybe it's just because it isn't our own. It belongs to the "government".

[OC Transpo 8238]

For OC Transpo in Ottawa, bus operators are NEVER responsible for fixing their assigned bus themselves whenever there is a mechanical issue. I'm pretty sure it is the same for TTC. So really, the operator of the dead bus isn't doing anything wrong for sitting there waiting for a repair crew or a tow truck.

And chances are if most operators attempted at fixing the bus, they would only damage it further.