The Better Way
Our public transit system, the TTC, has not been doing so well lately in terms of public relations. Service has been deteriorting for some time now (so much so that I now routinely leave home fifteen minutes earlier to allow for the near-inevitable "delay due to mechanical difficulties" on the subway). In December, the TTC announced significant fare hikes would be taking place in January, and then experienced the traditional "token shortage" to prevent passengers from buying up tokens at the then-current price for use when the prices jumped (and did the token shortage mysteriously end when the fares went up? Why, yes it did).
So passengers are already unhappy with the service they're getting for their money. Then in mid-January, a passenger posted a video of a booth operator sleeping away the afternoon, sparking further anger from the fare-paying public. The union president's public chiding of the passengers (who apparently should have been checking to see if the man had a medical condition instead of taking his picture and "assuming" he was sleeping) did not help matters any.
Late-January, the head of the TTC, Adam Giambrone, issued a public apology.
"We need to do better, and that's what we're talking about today," TTC chair Adam Giambrone said Wednesday.
"We owe our riders an apology for customer service that does not live up to expectations."
Two days later, a passenger posted photos of his streetcar driver stopping the streetcar in the middle of rush-hour traffic, going to the bank, making a withdrawal from the bank machine, and returning to the streetcar to resume his route. More pictures of driver/operator wrongdoings have since surfaced.
So now a new Facebook group has popped up: "Toronto Transit Operators Against Public Harassment". It currently boasts 427 members, presumably all transit operators or their kin. Its missions statement:
This is a group where Operator's can give suggestions on how to fight back to the recent photo and video harassment from passengers just looking to make trouble for us. And post photo's of your own of passengers breaking the rules.
Man, what are you guys, twelve? Your response to shitty service and angry patrons is ... publicly bitch about how crappy your customers are? Seriously, you're taking the stance of "how dare they make public our transgressions"?
A number of the posts are angry ramblings about how the TTC is clearly failing to enforce bylaw 3.17, which states, “No person shall operate any camera, video recording device, movie camera or any similar device for commercial purposes upon the transit system without authorization.” I'm guessing the posters of these rants are not 100% clear on what "for commercial purposes" means. Some of the posted pictures show litter in the subway cars and passengers with their feet on the seats, to illustrate just how shitty TTC passengers are.
Since the group's existence was reported in this morning's media, it has become a closed group. I'm hoping that once their own union gets wind of it, it becomes a non-existent group. It's going to serve no purpose other than to further fuel anger at the transit operators.
Jesus, I wish I had another option for getting into the city every morning (other than driving, I mean). I'd love to withhold my monthly $121 from these guys for even a little while, just to try and cut down their sense of entitlement.
So passengers are already unhappy with the service they're getting for their money. Then in mid-January, a passenger posted a video of a booth operator sleeping away the afternoon, sparking further anger from the fare-paying public. The union president's public chiding of the passengers (who apparently should have been checking to see if the man had a medical condition instead of taking his picture and "assuming" he was sleeping) did not help matters any.
Late-January, the head of the TTC, Adam Giambrone, issued a public apology.
"We need to do better, and that's what we're talking about today," TTC chair Adam Giambrone said Wednesday.
"We owe our riders an apology for customer service that does not live up to expectations."
Two days later, a passenger posted photos of his streetcar driver stopping the streetcar in the middle of rush-hour traffic, going to the bank, making a withdrawal from the bank machine, and returning to the streetcar to resume his route. More pictures of driver/operator wrongdoings have since surfaced.
So now a new Facebook group has popped up: "Toronto Transit Operators Against Public Harassment". It currently boasts 427 members, presumably all transit operators or their kin. Its missions statement:
This is a group where Operator's can give suggestions on how to fight back to the recent photo and video harassment from passengers just looking to make trouble for us. And post photo's of your own of passengers breaking the rules.
Man, what are you guys, twelve? Your response to shitty service and angry patrons is ... publicly bitch about how crappy your customers are? Seriously, you're taking the stance of "how dare they make public our transgressions"?
A number of the posts are angry ramblings about how the TTC is clearly failing to enforce bylaw 3.17, which states, “No person shall operate any camera, video recording device, movie camera or any similar device for commercial purposes upon the transit system without authorization.” I'm guessing the posters of these rants are not 100% clear on what "for commercial purposes" means. Some of the posted pictures show litter in the subway cars and passengers with their feet on the seats, to illustrate just how shitty TTC passengers are.
Since the group's existence was reported in this morning's media, it has become a closed group. I'm hoping that once their own union gets wind of it, it becomes a non-existent group. It's going to serve no purpose other than to further fuel anger at the transit operators.
Jesus, I wish I had another option for getting into the city every morning (other than driving, I mean). I'd love to withhold my monthly $121 from these guys for even a little while, just to try and cut down their sense of entitlement.