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Miscellaneous TTC Discussion & Questions


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Yesterday I saw one of the Mall buses, either 111 or 112, running east along Dundas to Kipling station with DROP OFF ONLY displayed. It seemed fairly full for these days, maybe 10 people aboard. Was that sign to keep the bus from picking up additional passengers and create an unsafe environment?

(Of course this was a Queensway bus. Interesting that this was the afternoon before the refusal to work.)

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20 hours ago, Ed T. said:

Yesterday I saw one of the Mall buses, either 111 or 112, running east along Dundas to Kipling station with DROP OFF ONLY displayed. It seemed fairly full for these days, maybe 10 people aboard. Was that sign to keep the bus from picking up additional passengers and create an unsafe environment?

(Of course this was a Queensway bus. Interesting that this was the afternoon before the refusal to work.)

i'm assuming so. A couple of days ago, I overheard some wilson ops at Lawrence West talk about how when they arrived at work, they didn't have any gloves, or masks for them. He was pretty miffed about it, and called a couple people relatively loudly. As much as we feel for the front line workers, the secondary workers, (Transit personnel, delivery people, food staff) deserve more thanks than we give them. They are exposed to many members of the public everyday, and most don't complain. If any real TTC employees see this, this is my heartfelt thanks to you.

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5 hours ago, ttc_fan said:

Heard from a friend that 1500, 1662, and 7955 through 7957 have been converted to EMS transport buses. Any truth to that? Also any photos of them?

That's information that is on the wiki. Yes, It's true for the 79xx buses, but for the NGs, idk.

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7 hours ago, meltingtomato said:

That being said, I haven’t physically seen them seatless.

I’m hearing now that a total of 10 units are tapped for hospital service.

Perhaps they rethought recruiting hybrids, and went with 7900s instead for reliability. Seeing as how service demand isn’t going to warrant returning the full fleet to service anytime soon- let alone have the city in financial shape to do so.

It would  certainly be inconvenient if a hybrid was to fail with a load of gurneys onboard.

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 GM NEW LOOK Model bus

(Red/Black/White-actual double rear doors)

 

I'm not sure which colour scheme this is, but I lnow corgi Die-Cast models made a two TTC buses in two colour scheme's a Redish/cream colour & red/black/white colour scheme in 1:50 scale. the only issue with those two where the rear doors where incorrect.

 

I've found a TTC Bus in the Red/Black/White paint scheme with the real rear doors in a 1:43 scale from Vector Models on E Bay-

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-GM-New-Look-Bus-TTC-Toronto-Custom-Made-1-43/293546061886?hash=item4458b5703e:g:QjUAAOSwFOleRwrE

 

its going for $215 US. I bought one. Also on the same sellers site there's a Mississauga Transit  GM Artic $445 US as well as OC Transpo GM Artic $445 US 8222. He had 8201 GM Artic which I bought at cheaper price he has it "make offer" listed.A OC Transpo GM New Look with Maple Leaf(error on fleet# though)

 

If anyone decides to buy one just a heads up even though it states seller from Israel, the package is shipped from the Ukraine and takes long time to get here 6+weeks but worth it. 

 

GM Mississauga Artic

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-GM-New-Look-Articulated-Coach-Bus-DIESEL-DIVISION-Hand-Made-1-43/293174244495?hash=item44428bf48f:g:1BcAAOSwdhdcM74x

 

OC Transpo Artic

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-GM-New-Look-Articulated-Coach-Bus-New-Paint-Ottawa-Canada-Hand-Made-1-43/293186133380?hash=item4443415d84:g:vAcAAOSw8EhdUdFe

 

OC TRANSPO GM NEW LOOK Maple Leaf(Note: not correct Fleet #, should of been 8000-8200 series)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-GM-New-Look-TDH-5301-Bus-Ottawa-Canada-Custom-Made-1-43/293187056849?hash=item44434f74d1:g:5S8AAOSw~BxdSc1H

 

 

 

 

 

s-l1600.jpg

TTC NEW LOOK E Bay

s-l1600.jpg

OC TRANSPO GM ARTIC E BAY

s-l1600 (1).jpg

MISSISSAUGA GM ARTIC E BAY

s-l1600 (2).jpg

OC TRANSPO NEW LOOK E BAY

s-l1600.jpg

My OC Transpo Artic I bought off E BAY

 

 

 

 

 

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The author is a stone cold idiot.

FEF9C838-2A42-4E07-A5F2-AF9C8F11E3DF.thumb.jpeg.cc599e1c872ed75b85a26496a065052f.jpeg

Click on the red link she cites.....

854EF55B-9443-4BB8-8497-F114BF493F5B.thumb.png.579637c3a1c869aa19b6bb922b31812a.png

....and the Wikipedia article contains this image.

Another example of the quality journalism Blog TO has become renowned for. Required reading for urban trust fund babies everywhere.

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3 hours ago, Bus_Medic said:

The author is a stone cold idiot.

FEF9C838-2A42-4E07-A5F2-AF9C8F11E3DF.thumb.jpeg.cc599e1c872ed75b85a26496a065052f.jpeg

Click on the red link she cites.....

854EF55B-9443-4BB8-8497-F114BF493F5B.thumb.png.579637c3a1c869aa19b6bb922b31812a.png

....and the Wikipedia article contains this image.

Another example of the quality journalism Blog TO has become renowned for. Required reading for urban trust fund babies everywhere.

I try to not loose too much brain cells to blogTO

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There was this alarming post to reddit today from someone claiming to be a TTC employee that has inside knowledge on the future situation. I’ll let you read it

I believe the TTC service is about to get significantly worse.

I am a TTC employee and I believe we are about to see our transit system buckle under extreme financial pressure. I've seen posts about overcrowding on the TTC despite calls for social distancing. I get the feeling that it's about to get much worse.

The TTC is currently losing about $90M/month. In an effort to save money wherever possible, TTC is making some dramatic changes, both service-oriented and operationally. Salary increases have been paused for non-union staff, any business travel has been eliminated, overtime costs have been removed unless related to COVID-19, all contract/co-op positions are being removed, and any open positions are being removed.

On top of that, 1000 unionized employees are being laid-off, as well as 200 non-union staff. When all of this is done, it will save $25M of that $90M. We will still be losing $65M. More rounds of layoffs are likely to come, and service will get even more sparse.

The new service period starts May 10. On that date, all express routes are being pulled except the 900 and 927. All special service (high park, bluffers park, toronto zoo, etc.) are pulled. The 140's are pulled. A handful of the 300s are pulled. And of all the standard routes that are remaining, their service levels are dropping significantly (my colleague told me roughly 20-25% decrease for all routes).

A sad reality: There is no "bail-out" for TTC despite it being an essential service. With 27 employees testing positive for the virus, the Queensway Garage currently shutdown until May 1st due to managing a potential outbreak, and already several groups of employees walking out on the job, I think between now and September, transit within Toronto is going to continue to become worse.

This isn't intended to be a "boohoo, help me, I'll lose my job" post, because tons of companies are experiencing extreme financial hardship. Despite being an employee, I am one of the TTC's biggest critics, and there are a million things they could have done to be more resilient in the face of this. With that being said, we're about to see just how much Toronto truly relies their transit system.

Good luck, everyone!

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12 hours ago, John Oke said:

There was this alarming post to reddit today from someone claiming to be a TTC employee that has inside knowledge on the future situation. I’ll let you read it

I believe the TTC service is about to get significantly worse.

I am a TTC employee and I believe we are about to see our transit system buckle under extreme financial pressure. I've seen posts about overcrowding on the TTC despite calls for social distancing. I get the feeling that it's about to get much worse.

The TTC is currently losing about $90M/month. In an effort to save money wherever possible, TTC is making some dramatic changes, both service-oriented and operationally. Salary increases have been paused for non-union staff, any business travel has been eliminated, overtime costs have been removed unless related to COVID-19, all contract/co-op positions are being removed, and any open positions are being removed.

On top of that, 1000 unionized employees are being laid-off, as well as 200 non-union staff. When all of this is done, it will save $25M of that $90M. We will still be losing $65M. More rounds of layoffs are likely to come, and service will get even more sparse.

The new service period starts May 10. On that date, all express routes are being pulled except the 900 and 927. All special service (high park, bluffers park, toronto zoo, etc.) are pulled. The 140's are pulled. A handful of the 300s are pulled. And of all the standard routes that are remaining, their service levels are dropping significantly (my colleague told me roughly 20-25% decrease for all routes).

A sad reality: There is no "bail-out" for TTC despite it being an essential service. With 27 employees testing positive for the virus, the Queensway Garage currently shutdown until May 1st due to managing a potential outbreak, and already several groups of employees walking out on the job, I think between now and September, transit within Toronto is going to continue to become worse.

This isn't intended to be a "boohoo, help me, I'll lose my job" post, because tons of companies are experiencing extreme financial hardship. Despite being an employee, I am one of the TTC's biggest critics, and there are a million things they could have done to be more resilient in the face of this. With that being said, we're about to see just how much Toronto truly relies their transit system.

Good luck, everyone!

Welp, there goes my shot for working at the TTC during one of my co ops. 

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18 hours ago, John Oke said:

A sad reality: There is no "bail-out" for TTC despite it being an essential service.

There is no "bail out" yet.  

 

The TTC is not the only agency in this situation.  There will be some sort of financial aid down the road. Transit will be vital to rebuilding the economy in large centres like Toronto or Vancouver.  The costs of leaving a mass transit system crippled will be significantly higher than that of injecting Provincial/Federal aid.

Anyone who's been laid off will get their job back, its just a question of when.

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Slightly off topic, just curious but for those that are in High School, if the school year is canceled for the year does this mean you need to repeat the year over again or will you get credit and either graduate or go on to the next year?

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3 hours ago, MCIBUS said:

Slightly off topic, just curious but for those that are in High School, if the school year is canceled for the year does this mean you need to repeat the year over again or will you get credit and either graduate or go on to the next year?

Province has not said what will happen, yet.

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4 hours ago, 9924 said:

There is no "bail out" yet.  

 

The TTC is not the only agency in this situation.  There will be some sort of financial aid down the road. Transit will be vital to rebuilding the economy in large centres like Toronto or Vancouver.  The costs of leaving a mass transit system crippled will be significantly higher than that of injecting Provincial/Federal aid.

Anyone who's been laid off will get their job back, its just a question of when.

That assumes that the system fully recovers its ridership.

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5 minutes ago, PCC Guy said:

Eventually, why wouldn't it?

Eventually yes but might not be in the next year or two. A lot of small business will close down leading to lost of employment and lower ridership for a while. If the economy doesn't pick up in a year, those poor layoff folks wouldn't get back to work anytime soon

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8 hours ago, Xtrazsteve said:

Eventually yes but might not be in the next year or two. A lot of small business will close down leading to lost of employment and lower ridership for a while. If the economy doesn't pick up in a year, those poor layoff folks wouldn't get back to work anytime soon

Like I said, it’s a question of when, not if. Not sure what the collective agreement says about how long a recall is valid for but I wouldn’t be surprised if some are already called back by fall. 

The hospitality/tourism sector will be the hardest hit followed by the retail sector, but even the retail sector will bounce back relatively quickly.  After months of online shopping, people will yearn to get out into real stores to spend their money.

If things go OK, schools will be back in session come September, and for any mass transit system, thats one of the biggest ridership bases.  Depending on how deep the run cuts go through the summer, even if the schools come back at only 50% capacity, they'll have to add capacity by then.  If they plan on keeping seating restrictions through the fall, then they'll have to add even more capacity.

One thing you learn about seniority, is that you build it a lot quicker than you realize.  When I started at my first transit job, I was the most junior driver for 2 years.  Granted, it was a much smaller system, at the time we only had about 30 drivers, but that can make it even harder to build seniority.  After my 6th year, I was the most senior driver.  People get fired, they quit, they retire.  The same thing applies here, if the TTC laid off 1000 drivers and you're say number 697, people ahead of you won't go back when they're recalled.  People who are still there will retire, they'll quit, they'll get fired, etc.

Obviously, the circumstances with whats going on now is quite different and will make things more difficult, and even though none of us have a crystal ball, I'd remain positive and understand that these layoffs are only temporary.

As much as it hurts me to say this, the Government isn't that stupid to ignore the Country's biggest and most vital transit systems and realize how incredibly vital they are when it comes to rebuilding the economy as quickly as possible. 

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9 hours ago, 9924 said:

Like I said, it’s a question of when, not if. Not sure what the collective agreement says about how long a recall is valid for but I wouldn’t be surprised if some are already called back by fall. 

The hospitality/tourism sector will be the hardest hit followed by the retail sector, but even the retail sector will bounce back relatively quickly.  After months of online shopping, people will yearn to get out into real stores to spend their money.

If things go OK, schools will be back in session come September, and for any mass transit system, thats one of the biggest ridership bases.  Depending on how deep the run cuts go through the summer, even if the schools come back at only 50% capacity, they'll have to add capacity by then.  If they plan on keeping seating restrictions through the fall, then they'll have to add even more capacity.

One thing you learn about seniority, is that you build it a lot quicker than you realize.  When I started at my first transit job, I was the most junior driver for 2 years.  Granted, it was a much smaller system, at the time we only had about 30 drivers, but that can make it even harder to build seniority.  After my 6th year, I was the most senior driver.  People get fired, they quit, they retire.  The same thing applies here, if the TTC laid off 1000 drivers and you're say number 697, people ahead of you won't go back when they're recalled.  People who are still there will retire, they'll quit, they'll get fired, etc.

Obviously, the circumstances with whats going on now is quite different and will make things more difficult, and even though none of us have a crystal ball, I'd remain positive and understand that these layoffs are only temporary.

As much as it hurts me to say this, the Government isn't that stupid to ignore the Country's biggest and most vital transit systems and realize how incredibly vital they are when it comes to rebuilding the economy as quickly as possible. 

Not so fast on retail. If anything this will help people push to online shopping, retail was struggling with physical stores already. 

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