TTC being privatized?

[Bus_Medic]

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. 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.

I'm going to butt in here because it pertains to me. Boycott be damned.

More evidence you know nothing on the subject.

In all provinces, unless you possess a valid mechanic's licence- that is very illegal, regardless of wether it's a public or privately run operation, union or non.

Lives depend on the equipment being maintained in a competent and proper manner. If you care to I can smack a pair of safety glasses upside your head

(we do have them in XXXXXXXXXXL- just for you)

and give you a crash course in vehicle maintenance, unless you think dirty fingernails are beneath you?

You spoiled ignorant child.

[kevlo86]

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[Bus_Medic]

Drivers do not "fix" vehicles as in taking apart and reassembling parts, their "fixing" is usually limited to superficial attempts such as turning off and on the bus or pumping air or rewiring the streetcar or something of that sort. (Based on my experiences with malfunctioning vehicles)

He said fix, not reset.

I define fix to be a repair, modification, replacement or adjustment.

[Archer]

He said fix, not reset.

I define fix to be a repair, modification, replacement or adjustment.

This. It is very evident reading his post that he does not mean that drivers should be trained in superficial repairs, but in actual repairs (which Bus_Medic has already indicated is illegal without a mechanic's license).

[CLRV4037]

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.

If you claim the systems in Asia are so perfect, shouldn't we be arguing for raising the wages and increasing the benefits of transit operators there? Why must transit operators world wide keep their wages low to meet some sort of acceptable standard set by you?

On the topic of congestion, don't buses in Asia get stuck in traffic as well? Last time I heard, they do, and in a lot of cases the traffic is a lot worse than anything here. Doesn't that throw off their nicely planned schedules?

Quote from the Toronto Star in the Beijing subway article: “Normally, the trip by bus would take at least an hour,” said Lu, clutching his smiling grandchild's pink knapsack. “But with traffic jams, a one-way trip could take as long as 90 minutes. Today it was 20. It's a lot better for us now that they've opened this line.”

Not everybody gets a new subway line.

I thought customer service was paramount in your plans? But I guess now we aren't allowed to talk to the passengers. I guess that makes you a hypocrite for riding around with your grandfather all these times. Make up your mind.

[Future Urban Planner]

I just want to bring this to everyones attn on the cptdb as this is getting serious.

"The Canadian Roadgeek" sent me a PM and is harrasing me! i will post it below.

I told him I have blocked him and that i do not wish to continue with this.

He has been harrasing me and posted on my profile after i blocked him and he said that i am running away from the arguement

We were asked by the Admin to stop and i have done so.. I want to publicly call him out for breaching that and i hope the Admin will look at this as you continue to disobey the orders by the admin.

If anyone wants to continue feel free.

Here is what he posted\;

I am taking this private. If you think I'm juvenile, I might as well "play the game" with you.

And regarding to the meteorology question you just imposed. There's something called the "Probability of Precipitation" (POP, not Proof of Payment), which indicates the probability of precipitation over 0.2 mm (I think it is) in a given area in the forecast area. Since the City of Belleville covers a considerable size, and over the course of the last week (when you made this comment), it's been mostly lake effect snow, which its path is very difficult to predict, it's not surprising at all that you didn't get any snow. Maybe some fell in other parts of the city, maybe it just didn't fall at all, because meteorologists will rarely issue 100% POP for lake effect snows, unless you're directly prone to it, like the shores of Georgian Bay when a storm departs Southern Ontario and bring northwesterly winds. I bet the POP that day ranges from 40 - 60%, which averages to give you a 50/50 chance of snow. It's an equal chance.

And no, meteorologists don't get paid a lot. According to career cruising, the maximum they can get, even after like 30 years of experience, is $100,000 per annum, and that's in the research field, not forecasting anymore. The forecasters, who work in shifts, long shifts, and overnight sometimes, staring at the computer screen (which hurts your eyes more than the outside view of the streets) are only paid $40,000 to $60,000 (if you're lucky) per annum. And these are government paid jobs too (for the most part).

Heard of the butterfly effect? They're wrong because there's always uncertainty in measuring and collecting data. This uncertainty will multiply up (i.e. it magnifies) in uncertainty analysis, and therefore, the further you get from the actual day, the more inaccurate the forecast is. And the atmosphere is very dynamic. A simple change in temperature (does not even have to be ground level) can change everything.

And this is science, not customer service. You can't compare the two. And the weather affects way more lives than a transit worker. The Apple Genius Bar analogy that I was using was comparing customer service to customer service.

On a side note, please don't call someone a child when you're making typos every 5 lines. Like "oppion" when it's supposed to be "opinion". And it's "surprised", not "supprized". "Maybe", not "maby". "You're going to tell people", not "your going to tell people" (you're and your are NOT the same). "Can't", not "cant". "It's getting rather old", and not "its getting rather old" (it's and its are different). Use Mozilla Firefox and get a plug-in to check your spelling if necessary.

So all i ask is that this RoadGeek guy to please leave me alone because i have a life and i don't care about what you have to say.

Did you report his PM to the admins? IMO this guy should be banned for continuously breaching the rules of CPTDB, and this thread should be locked. It is highly unlikely that privatization of the TTC will happen, thus there is no reason for this thread to exist.

[YRT-Guy]

edit: to continue the discussion if wanted... however:

[rocketdriver2019]

Now now guys there's no need to lock this thread because of one poster... privatization is indeed an interesting topic that's worthy of discussion regardless of what side of the discussion you fall on. This thread will be allowed to sink to the bottom if no one else is willing to discuss it, and if certain people don't like what a certain poster is posting, simply don't respond to him or her.

[buschic]

Now now guys there's no need to lock this thread because of one poster... privatization is indeed an interesting topic that's worthy of discussion regardless of what side of the discussion you fall on. This thread will be allowed to sink to the bottom if no one else is willing to discuss it, and if certain people don't like what a certain poster is posting, simply don't respond to him or her.

I completely agree with you, as I'm very interested in people's opinion of this topic, I like disscussing it, as for a brief time I thought that it would be best if Metrolinx took over the Subway system, but was quickly corrected on my thoughts by a lot of my involved in the delivery of Transit in this city, as well as other cities, as a matter of fact, I have had lengthy discussions about this topic with several friends in the political realm as well.

[TKWizard]

Hmm, speaking of Private transit.

Didn't Toronto have the Toronto Street Railway and Toronto Railway Company which were privately owned before the TTC took over?

IIRC, they were good at the beginning, but they severely neglected their work near the end of their franchises.

If Private transit were to return, I really hope it would not come down to that.

[rocketdriver2019]

Hmm, speaking of Private transit.

Didn't Toronto have the Toronto Street Railway and Toronto Railway Company which were privately owned before the TTC took over?

IIRC, they were good at the beginning, but they severely neglected their work near the end of their franchises.

If Private transit were to return, I really hope it would not come down to that.

That's exactly what I'm afraid of... and Toronto is not the only place that had that problem.

When the city wanted to expand transit service to areas that the private companies saw as unprofitable, the companies refused and the city had to run the service itself. The same thing would probably happen if we privatized now... although with none of the TTC services operating at a profit I can't imagine any private company taking over without bringing in a sharp fare increase.

It'd be nice if the powers that be would read up on their history a little bit so they don't lead us down this road again.

[shambala]

That's exactly what I'm afraid of... and Toronto is not the only place that had that problem.

When the city wanted to expand transit service to areas that the private companies saw as unprofitable, the companies refused and the city had to run the service itself. The same thing would probably happen if we privatized now... although with none of the TTC services operating at a profit I can't imagine any private company taking over without bringing in a sharp fare increase.

It'd be nice if the powers that be would read up on their history a little bit so they don't lead us down this road again.

Don't worry. The province will take it over before any privateer ever will.

[TKWizard]

Don't worry. The province will take it over before any privateer ever will.

It said on CP24 that the province had no plans to take over the TTC though.

[shambala]

It said on CP24 that the province had no plans to take over the TTC though.

Then it is doomed to die a slow and painful death as it implodes unto itself due to lack of funding whilst everyone else bickers and squabbles politics.

[Dane]

I am not even from Toronto and have enough information to respond to these posts in general terms. The Globe & Mail has had some fantastic TTC coverage lately, may be worth a few minutes of your time to take a look at the articles should the opportunity present itself, and if you have not already.

It said on CP24 that the province had no plans to take over the TTC though.

... as a whole unit.

Then it is doomed to die a slow and painful death as it implodes unto itself due to lack of funding whilst everyone else bickers and squabbles politics.

... look at any other major agency in Canada. There are highs and lows. Toronto, definately a low right now exasterbated by the crazy municipal political situation but don't kid yourself into thinking that the problem is as dramatic and urgent as to lead to such a firm conclusion.

[smallspy]

... look at any other major agency in Canada. There are highs and lows. Toronto, definately a low right now exasterbated by the crazy municipal political situation but don't kid yourself into thinking that the problem is as dramatic and urgent as to lead to such a firm conclusion.

Not the same situation though. The TTC covers way more of its operating costs than any other transit system in North America*, nevermind Canada. And Ontario still does not provide operating payments to the transit systems, whereas most provinces do. The City's payments of $400mil per year to the TTC are probably more than three-quarters of the budgets of all of the transit systems in Canada combined.

Not only that, but there is a huge increase in capital costs coming within the next 5 to 7 years. New subway cars, new streetcars, more buses, rebuilding the buses they have now, upgrading stations - the list goes on and on.

So in short yes, it is dramatic and urgent.

Dan

*The only other transit system that covers more of its own operating costs is GO Transit.

[Dane]

*The only other transit system that covers more of its own operating costs is GO Transit.

I am in a hurrey but Translink (Vancouver) doesn't get provincial money in any meaningul way for transit services... TL gets confusing because of its operating components. That said, there are obvious challenges to be addressed, and surely things do need to change. Biut is the end here? Hardly.

[pccstreetcar4549]

Hmm, speaking of Private transit.

Didn't Toronto have the Toronto Street Railway and Toronto Railway Company which were privately owned before the TTC took over?

IIRC, they were good at the beginning, but they severely neglected their work near the end of their franchises.

If Private transit were to return, I really hope it would not come down to that.

lol i wish most people who say "privatize it" knew that 90+ years ago we had privated service and the TTC was formed to combat issues, so lol after 90 years of progress that would go down the drain