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In subway, a new voice takes over
TTC replaces `colourful' drivers with automated announcements
December 24, 2006
Andrew Chung
staff reporter
The Toronto Transit Commission is speaking with a new voice.
Subway riders on the Yonge-University-Spadina line might have recently noticed a uniform female voice announcing all stops, instead of the voice of the train's driver.
The new voice is automated, and almost all the line's subway cars have been retrofitted to be able to use the technology. The Sheppard line, where the automation was tested, has already been completed.
It will probably be 2008 before all 69 TTC subway stations are announced by the recorded voice.
"It's a voice that's consistent and understandable," says Rick Cornacchia, acting general manager of operations for the TTC. "I've ridden on a number of different subways in different cities, and the interesting thing is that the voice is always similar: clear, straightforward and business-like."
The TTC tried out a number of different voices, all of TTC employees, before settling on this one, "because it was the most pleasant," Cornacchia says.
The voice, indeed, is pleasant, but lacks emotion. There is very little lilt, or pitch.
Toronto now joins most other major cities in the world whose subway systems also include automated station stop announcements.
Cornacchia says it makes sense to be automated. "Sometimes the operator is busy talking to (transit) control, or sometimes there's a malfunction, or they'd say the station but it wouldn't be great from an audible perspective because maybe the driver wasn't holding the mic properly. It can be troublesome."
In fact, the TTC got into trouble last year after the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal said the TTC discriminated against visually impaired riders because drivers didn't regularly announce upcoming stops.
By that time, the automation was already in development.
How does it work? At all the stations, tiny metal transponders have been placed between the tracks.When a train rolls over the transponder, a "location tag" signal is sent to a receiver in the driver's car, which contains information on a database of station names. The announcement is then made over the public address system.
Automation doesn't stop at the subway. By 2008, all streetcar and bus routes will also have recorded voices announcing stops. The total cost of the project is about $5 million, Cornacchia estimates.
More clarity, fewer mistakes.
But what do we lose? The personality of the drivers.
"That's the price of automation," Cornacchia concedes. He says this has been the only lament he's heard from passengers so far.
Most TTC riders have experienced a colourful driver who went the extra mile to brighten their riders' day. Some drivers have done impersonations on the mic; others have given riders neighbourhood history lessons.
Passengers filled a page on the website of urban magazine Spacing with their personal favourites. "A streetcar driver who would announce the locations of every LCBO and Beer Store," one person wrote.
Another remembered a driver who called out each station imitating Ned Flanders from TV's The Simpsons: "Spadina is next. Spa-do-diddly-inaaaaaaaaaaa!"
One man recalled a woman driver whose announcements were getting "more sultry and seductive" with each stop. "I'll never look at Summerhill the same again."
There was also a suggestion that if the TTC ever decided to automate, it should use a mix of local residents and celebrities to name the stops. Get Mayor David Miller to announce Queen Station, where city hall sits, and Mike Myers for a station in Scarborough, where he's from.
The TTC didn't take this advice.
Whether riders like the TTC's new sound or not, it can be seen as progress. Cornacchia says until 10 years ago, there were no announcements at all.
