nfitz
Superstar
I think that ended 5 days ago.
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TTC: Customer Service
- Thread starter Dan416
- Start date
W. K. Lis
Superstar
On the TTC website, there were the following:
The bad news, the transit apps don't show this. You get to a stop, look at your smartphone, and it says a bus will come to the stop in a couple minutes...still waiting... still waiting...
The apps should have red flags at the stops that link to the service alert.
32 Eglinton West diverting both ways via Marlee, Glencairn, Bathurst due to a scaffolding collapse at Bathurst and Eglinton.
Last updated 2:37 PM
32D Eglinton West diverting westbound via Jane, Weston due to construction at Jane and Emmett.
Last updated 3:43 PM
Last updated 2:37 PM
32D Eglinton West diverting westbound via Jane, Weston due to construction at Jane and Emmett.
Last updated 3:43 PM
The apps should have red flags at the stops that link to the service alert.
Steve X
Senior Member
That's up to the app developers, not TTC's fault. Nextbus has no idea and the prediction continues till the bus goes off route.
TTC does have a RSS feed for service alerts that could be integrated in the app but it would be up to the app developer to figure out how to display it when you select that stop. Probably easier to you select an affect route, the message shows up. It will take some serious programming to determine what stops and how many are affected based on this description: Marlee, Glencairn, Bathurst. It would be even more difficult if the detour end on a street that's doesn't have a stop. (It won't be on the nextbus stop list). It's difficult for a computer to determine if the stop is affect since the TTC doesn't provide a list of affected Stop IDs.
Megaton327
Senior Member
I've used, I think, 4 different transit apps on my iPhone for the TTC in the course of living in the city, and I believe all of them had an "alerts/service notices" section. I was in the habit of checking it regularly. In fact, the one I liked the most/used most recently, TTCWatch, lets you enter route numbers and sends you push notification alerts (which my phone also sends to my watch) whenever there's a notice for that route, without even having to open the app/check the alerts yourself. I always found that sufficient in the event of issues (having lived along the 509, with all of the motorists slamming into them on Queen's Quay all the time, those notifications greatly aided me quite frequently).
W. K. Lis
Superstar
I think many of us don't set up an alert. They just walk to a bus stop, pull out their smartphone, and check to see when the next bus is "supposed" to be there.
Which transit apps have an alert capability? And can a senior citizen with dementia know how to to handle it?
Which transit apps have an alert capability? And can a senior citizen with dementia know how to to handle it?
nfitz
Superstar
I just wander to the stop if I'm not at home (though I rarely leave the comfort of my house if I can't see there's anything coming). But I do check out the http://www.ttc.ca/Service_Advisories/all_service_alerts.jsp link before I leave work (wish they'd have separate lists for elevators and vehicles).
Megaton327
Senior Member
What you described, walking to the stop/pulling out your phone/checking to see when the next bus comes, is not in any way negatively affected by having an alert set. How push notifications work on modern smartphones is you don't have to open something and refresh your notifications, the notification just comes in and your phone buzzes/dings and shows you the notification, such as "32 service diverting X/Y/Z due to building collapse". If you get that notification before you leave, presumably you make other plans. If you get no notification, you go to your stop and catch the bus as usual. I don't see what's hard about that.
I'm not sure of a comprehensive listing of which apps do and don't have alerts. As mentioned, TTCWatch for the iPhone definitely has them, I always found it worked well.
A senior citizen with dementia might not necessarily know how to handle the TTC in general or necessarily the day to day necessities of living, so I'm not sure what point you're making there.
299 bloor call control.
Senior Member
The Transit App provides push notifications and provides an icon on the route when there's a TTC alert. Works most of the time.
http://transitapp.com
http://transitapp.com
salsa
Senior Member
I made a short audio recording of the new external route announcements that are being rolled out on the bus network. I've been trying to get a clear enough audio recording of it for a while now so that you guys can hear, and I finally did it. What do you think of it?
Transcript: One Hundred Ninety-Nine A, Finch Rocket, To Scarborough Centre, via Finch Station
Transcript: One Hundred Ninety-Nine A, Finch Rocket, To Scarborough Centre, via Finch Station
DSC
Superstar
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What can one say? It's an announcement and if it correctly says where the bus is going I guess that's all one needs.
joeclark
New Member
One can say what one said to ACAT in a letter complaining about this completely undesigned boondoggle of a system: There is no such thing as a “one hundred ninety-nine” bus anywhere in the TTC.
As ever, when faced with the task of using human language to communicate with human beings, the jumped-up motormen, engineers, and Windows tinkerer-geeks at the TTC fall flat on their faces.
DSC
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You may not like the way 199 is said (do you prefer one, nine, nine?) but it is a perfectly acceptable way to say it.
199 Finch Rocket
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf ?
TheTigerMaster
Superstar
You may not like the way 199 is said (do you prefer one, nine, nine?) but it is a perfectly acceptable way to say it.
199 Finch Rocket
It's perfectly acceptable, but the text to speech should reflect local pronunciations. Adjusting to local speech is an issue go text to speech. We've seen similar problems in Google Maps, where it would call Hwy 401, "Ontario Highway Four Hundred and One, Macdonald Cartier Freeway, Highway Four Hundred and One Express" (something along those lines).
Megaton327
Senior Member
For a visually impaired person, please forgive me for making a wild and outlandish assumption, but somehow I doubt they're going to be upset that the TTC buses that previously had zero external audio will say "One Hundred Ninety-Nine Finch Rocket" instead of "One Ninety-Nine Finch Rocket".
There comes a point that legitimate criticism turns into whining--I guess I'm visually impaired enough that if this ever becomes a serious point that people are upset about, I won't be able to see that point in the rearview mirror.