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More customer service woes for the TTC

mjl08 said:
I can only report on my personal empirical evidence, but out of the many squabbles I have seen between customer and TTC employee, the vast majority of them have been instigated by the customer.
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Me too. I've always been surprised by how decent a lot of the blue-line drivers are with some of the crazies. That's a tough job.

In this case, the driver totally overreacted and shouldn't have responded.

But this passenger is, quite frankly, a moron - 1, for asking something totally ridiculously stupid just to cause a fight, and 2) for then holding up everyone else. I were in the car with her, I would have asked her to leave too, far the sake of actually getting moving.

What did she expect him to say, that he decided to use the streetcar to runs some errands and had to pick something up at Home Depot?

Give me a break.

This "gotcha!" culture is offensive and counter-productive. It is only making everyone's problems worse.
 
jeff316 said:
But this passenger is, quite frankly, a moron - 1, for asking something totally ridiculously stupid just to cause a fight, and 2) for then holding up everyone else. I were in the car with her, I would have asked her to leave too, far the sake of actually getting moving.
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I occasionally ask why a vehicle is late. I've never had anything other than a decent response. Though I haven't been rude about it ... but I'd be surprised if there wasn't a hint of frustration in my voice.

That the other passengers seemed to be siding with the woman, and not encouraging her to leave (which is what normally happens), suggests that in this particular case, the driver was the issue, not the passenger.
 
nfitz said:
I occasionally ask why a vehicle is late. I've never had anything other than a decent response. Though I haven't been rude about it ... but I'd be surprised if there wasn't a hint of frustration in my voice.

That the other passengers seemed to be siding with the woman, and not encouraging her to leave (which is what normally happens), suggests that in this particular case, the driver was the issue, not the passenger.
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Oh, I totally think the driver should be severely reprimanded for his response. He escalated the situated and was totally out of line. Personally, I think how he responded is a much bigger infraction than a lot of these TTC driver incidents we've seen lately.

But as for the woman, and the question, well really? Come on. This guy is on a streetcar. Which has no steering wheel and which is attached to tracks. Which, for Bathurst, he has to deal with cars and stop lights and left-hand turns and rush-hour and pedestrians and crosses pretty much every single major east-west street in downtown Toronto.

He really doesn't have much of a say in whether he's late or not, unless he was being nice and by waiting for all those earlier posters who complain about being left behind by a smilin' streetcar driver when they were just a smidgen late... ;)

His response was not appropriate and he should be in big trouble if not fired. But I can understand how drivers get their backs up - faced with load after load of 50 sweaty, cranky, hungry people staring holes of fury into your back for reasons that are out of your control. It's not a easy job and it's a stressful spot to be in, even without people who think the driver is their verbal punching bag after a long day of work.
 
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It might be a rare occassion that a customer is denied boarding without a good reason, just because the operator is on a power ride. The problem is that the customer has no effective recourse in that situation.

If that woman left when required by the operator, and then used official channels (sent a complain to the TTC customer service), she would simply never get any meaningful reply.

The TTC needs to implement a process of promptly investigating the situations when a customer has been denied boarding. If the reason was questionable, the customer has to be paid a compensation. The operator may be given the benefit of the doubt and not disciplined if this is an isolated incident. However, if the same operator is involved in customer disputes regularly, and much more frequently than other operators, steps have to be taken.

Otherwise, situations like the one discussed here will continue to happen from time to time. People don't like to be pushed around.
 
Better customer service usually requires empowering employees over the customer. Make the employee comfortable first and customers will naturally be handled nicer.

WestJet, Southwest, Ritz, and Four Seasons all have a policy of empowering and standing behind all of their employees. The Maid at the Ritz can give you a free meal or kick you out of the hotel. Ditto for the airlines who may actually charge you extra for delaying the aircraft by being kicked off it.

Give staff tools to diffuse the situation. Coupons for free trips, 5% off the next metropass, day passes, etc. Put a limit on it if necessary (100 trips per year or something).

Next, give them tools to remove the situation. Call cops directly without requiring a supervisor involved.

Once employees feel they are in control they will be much more comfortable handling situations and stress levels will drop significantly. The diffusion tools will normally work making stories like this disappear. It's possible the reduced sick-leave, injuries, and delays will even gain back the lost revenue from the freebies.
 
Bus rider ‘disgusted’ after TTC employee urinates on Runnymede station

Published On Sat Jul 9
by Wendy Gillis


TTC rider Gary Pieters was upset about staff sleeping on the job, brawling with passengers and texting while on the road. But what he witnessed during a recent bus ride really ticked him off.

On the morning of June 15, Pieters was sitting on a bus at Runnymede subway station when he saw a uniformed TTC employee walk to the side of the building and stop near a laneway.

According to Pieters, the male employee then leaned against the station and began to urinate, in view of those on the bus and nearby pedestrians. When the employee finished, he “casually zipped up his pants” and remained near the station.

“It was just disgusting,” Pieters says. “You can imagine how, you sit down on a bus and you expect to have an uneventful ride to your workplace, and the first thing you see when you hop on the bus is this type of behaviour.”

Pieters immediately contacted TTC customer service by phone, then followed up a week later to provide identifying information.

In a July 5 email, Chris Upfold, the TTC’s chief customer service officer, acknowledged the incident, saying what Pieters witnessed was “unprofessional and unacceptable.”

“You have the assurance of the TTC, and my personal assurance, that the employee was identified and appropriate action was taken,” he wrote.

Uphold says he can’t provide the details because of the TTC’s obligations as an employer. But he confirmed the employee was a member of the staff temporarily deployed to Runnymede station.

When contacted, TTC spokesman Brad Ross said he was aware of the allegation, and said the transit company was investigating.

Pieters says he understands why he can’t be told about disciplinary action taken. But he’s going to take Upfold up on an offer to have a phone conversation about what happened. He wants clarification about how something like this could have occurred in the first place.

“I’m sure that the TTC has washrooms. What would it have taken for this person to just go downstairs, get a key and use the washroom in the station?”
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http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1022775--bus-rider-disgusted-after-ttc-employee-urinates-on-runnymede-station
 
rbt said:
Better customer service usually requires empowering employees over the customer. Make the employee comfortable first and customers will naturally be handled nicer.

WestJet, Southwest, Ritz, and Four Seasons all have a policy of empowering and standing behind all of their employees. The Maid at the Ritz can give you a free meal or kick you out of the hotel. Ditto for the airlines who may actually charge you extra for delaying the aircraft by being kicked off it.

Give staff tools to diffuse the situation. Coupons for free trips, 5% off the next metropass, day passes, etc. Put a limit on it if necessary (100 trips per year or something).

Next, give them tools to remove the situation. Call cops directly without requiring a supervisor involved.

Once employees feel they are in control they will be much more comfortable handling situations and stress levels will drop significantly. The diffusion tools will normally work making stories like this disappear. It's possible the reduced sick-leave, injuries, and delays will even gain back the lost revenue from the freebies.
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Empowering employees is great, as long as there are checks and balances in place.

If you get kicked off a hotel or a flight without a valid reason, just because they didn't like you, you can easily document the incident. Then, you certainly can make a big media story out of it, and quite likely launch a lawsuit against the business. After paying up, the business can choose to take steps against the employee who caused the problem, or stand behind the employees in all situations - in any case, the customer gets compensated.

In case of local mass transit, a lawsuit is not an option because of the low cost involved. In fact, even getting the incident documented may be difficult.
 
So much hatered towards the TTC why don't these people just go out and buy a car if the TTC is that bad.
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Exactly, everybody should buy a car and drive it downtown every day!
 
doug said:
Exactly, everybody should buy a car and drive it downtown every day!
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What day, month and year do you expect to make it downtown once everyone buys a car????:confused::confused:
 
This woman is well know to TTC staff, that's why she did not want her name or photo published. This is not the first time she has been in a confrontation with a driver
 
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