Transit absolutely does have a problem of people feeling it is unsafe, but that doesn't mean it is, it could be a media fabrication. The TTC was the subject of what almost felt like a smear campaign earlier this year with how much negative attention individual incidents were being reported on. My mother would probably answer a survey that she would feel unsafe on transit. She is retired, lives in the suburbs with a car, maybe rides the ttc once a month to go downtown, and has never personally had a bad experience. But she watches CP24, the 24-hour violent crime network, so she thinks Line 1 is Afghanistan and Line 2 is Iraq.
And to be honest turbanplanner, I can't tell you your experiences didn't happen or that your feelings of being unsafe are wrong, but your experiences just don't track with mine.
I have ridden the TTC every day for years as a young, physically unimposing person. I rode downtown, I rode in the suburbs, I rode the subway, and I rode the bus through "bad" neighborhoods. I rode during peak and off-peak times, and often during the middle of the night (I go to a lot of concerts). I have never, not once in my years of riding the TTC, ever felt unsafe. Have I encountered unstable people? Sure. But I was always taught that just because someone has an addiction or mental illness doesn't mean they are a danger to me. In fact, such people are often more a danger to themselves than others.
So this description of your rides being wild adventures full of danger leads me to believe that you probably just have misplaced sense of whether you are actually in danger. For example, you mention unstable people screaming at other passengers. I would just put my ear buds in and ignore that, you make it sound like some dangerous ordeal.
