For years, modern and mature public transit systems the world over have run their subways with one operator. From London to Lisbon, Bangkok to Berlin and Madrid to Mexico City, the single operator train is the new normal.
On Oct. 9, the Toronto Transit Commission will join those cities — and dozens more — as we begin the rollout of one person train operation, or OPTO.
Beginning with Line 4 Sheppard this fall and then moving to Line 1 Yonge-University once our new signalling system is in place, OPTO is going to allow us to run the system with improved safety and efficiency.
This is in keeping with our five-year corporate plan, launched in 2013, and which has modernization of all aspects of TTC operation at its core.
OPTO is hardly a revolutionary concept. It’s not even revolutionary within the TTC where we’ve been running the Scarborough RT with one operator since it opened in 1985.
In the past, Toronto’s current two-person crew model — one driver and one guard — were the standard for longer trains elsewhere in the world. The additional set of eyes allowed for things like monitoring of passenger flow. But as technology has improved and evolved, so too has the way systems operate.
One of the concerns we hear is that OPTO will somehow make our system less safe. We would not be doing this if we thought for even a second that the safety of our passengers or our staff would be compromised. Safety remains the bedrock of TTC operations.
The fact is that OPTO helps deliver a more structured and systematic approach to managing safety. For more than 30 years, the Scarborough RT has run with no safety issues related to one person operation.
Improved safety features associated with OPTO include:
- Multi-camera views providing three different camera views will cover the entire platform with overlap to ensure duplicate coverage. These views are displayed on screens inside the driver’s cab and remain on as the train leaves the platform.
- New technologies that significantly reduce the likelihood of the doors opening on the wrong side or off-platform.
- A 25 per cent reduction in health and safety incidents for operators. Last year, there were 258 occupational incidents related to guard duties: opening/closing the window, assaults on the guard, and accidents where the guard was struck by debris or other objects while the window was open. Under OPTO, the operator remains inside the cab during subway operation.
Should operators have to leave the cab of the train for any reason, i.e. investigating an emergency alarm, hand-held radios will be provided to allow for communication with Transit Control. Station staff will also be on hand to assist.
To top it off, all of these benefits to passengers and operators come with no job losses. Cost savings will be about $18 million once implemented on both Line 1 and 4 and will be achieved through attrition.
I am proud of the work the TTC has already done to modernize our system and of what’s still to come through initiatives, such as our stations transformation project, new signalling and the move to new fare payment options. I am also proud of our train operators.
OPTO is the next step in the evolution of modernizing Toronto’s transit system to be on par with systems else in the world.
