TTC: Customer Service

[Molybdenum]

I was on a bus today on Route 86 Scarborough that had the external route announcement system, I don't recall the exact bus number, but it was definitely not one of the four listed by the TTC in their announcment.

The external announcement system procurement was approved at the TTCs board meeting in November and they are now in the process of installing the system on all buses. Report: https://ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Commis..._of_External_Route_Announcements_ERA_Kits.pdf

 

[CDL.TO]

Is anyone else being simultaneously amused and frustrated by how clueless and unhelpful the TTC's @TTChelps Twitter account can be? They're clearly trying, but sometimes they really miss the mark.

• There's a good number of posts along the lines of people complaining about 45 min waits for a streetcar with @TTChelps replying "What's the issue?".
• The unlucky guy who has the @AndyByford Twitter name vulgarly requested that people stop tweeting to him about the TTC. @TTChelps replied multiple times asking him what his TTC issues were.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Those tweets read as if they're coming from someone who's learning English as a second language.

 

[nfitz]

The gross incompetence of TTC Customer Service, and their ignorance about Toronto never continues to amaze me.

The new signage at Main Street station says it's a 10-minute walk to Danforth GO (300 metres down the street):

TTC's explanation:

And they provide a link that shows:


Which does require one to trespass through the Self-Storage place at the bottom of Dawes Road, and then scale a chain-link fence to get to the GO Platform:


Rather than simply walking 300 metres down Main Street between the two stations:

 

[EastYorkTTCFan]

The gross incompetence of TTC Customer Service, and their ignorance about Toronto never continues to amaze me.

The new signage at Main Street station says it's a 10-minute walk to Danforth GO (300 metres down the street):
View attachment 66344


TTC's explanation:
View attachment 66346
And they provide a link that shows:
View attachment 66345

Which does require one to trespass through the Self-Storage place at the bottom of Dawes Road, and then scale a chain-link fence to get to the GO Platform:
View attachment 66341

Rather than simply walking 300 metres down Main Street between the two stations:
View attachment 66347

it looks like someone got some bad directions from google maps. Although there are signs on hydro poles outside the station pointing the right way across the danforth

 

[44 North]

lol. Next tweet might say "bolt cutters & stepladder loc. inside storage facility. ask for Slippery Pete".

 

[nfitz]

it looks like someone got some bad directions from google maps. Although there are signs on hydro poles outside the station pointing the right way across the danforth

I suspect those that designed the signage, and provide Customer Service have never stepped foot on Main Street - if they even live in Toronto at all ...

 

[PL1]

I suspect those that designed the signage, and provide Customer Service have never stepped foot on Main Street - if they even live in Toronto at all ...

Like in the fantasy thread here when someone suggest LRT on Vic Park south of Gerrard. Seriously, someone should physically have walked the suggested route prior to paying money for signage. I saw the 10 min walk signs and thought they were being very generous. I didn't realize they had no idea how to walk to Danforth GO from Main Stn!

 

[nfitz]

5 minutes would have been generous. 10 minutes seems more like a conspiracy to protect ridership, and discourage people from switching to GO - similar to the massive TTC campaign and service improvements on the Airport Rocket service timed to match the Union-Pearson opening.

 

[Skeezix]

They should never have put a time on the sign in the first place, because it's largely meaningless. The time in which in takes a person to walk a specific distance depends on their age, their mobility issues*, whether they are accompanied by small children, whether they are carrying anything, the weather, their footwear, etc.... Even the traffic signal at Main and Danforth will have a big impact, given this distance. They should just put the distance and let each individual assess what that means for them.


*(As the old saying goes, there are two groups of people in this world: people with mobility issues, and people who don't have mobility issues ... yet.)

 

[P23]

They should never have put a time on the sign in the first place, because it's largely meaningless. The time in which in takes a person to walk a specific distance depends on their age, their mobility issues*, whether they are accompanied by small children, whether they are carrying anything, the weather, their footwear, etc.... Even the traffic signal at Main and Danforth will have a big impact, given this distance. They should just put the distance and let each individual assess what that means for them.


*(As the old saying goes, there are two groups of people in this world: people with mobility issues, and people who don't have mobility issues ... yet.)

Most people understand that they are estimates based on average walking speed, so they can adjust according to their own speed. Nobody knows how many meters per minute they walk.

 

[Skeezix]

Most people understand that they are estimates based on average walking speed, so they can adjust according to their own speed. Nobody knows how many meters per minute they walk.

Given the diversity of abilities and circumstances among the general population, average walking speed is a largely meaningless measure, and based on the old approach of treating a 30-year old able-bodied male as the norm (an approach we are all trying to move away when thinking about public spaces). And nobody needs to know many metres per minute they walk to appreciate what roughly a third of a kilometre means for them in terms of travel time.

An actual distance is concrete information; an estimate of walking time involves a bunch of assumptions. The former is obviously much more useful than the latter.

 

[LNahid2000]

Most people understand that they are estimates based on average walking speed, so they can adjust according to their own speed. Nobody knows how many meters per minute they walk.

Really? I know that I can walk about 100m per minute. How else do other people figure out how long it will take to walk somewhere?

 

[ShonTron]

I'd estimate it's 5-7 minutes once you exit the station, cross at the lights, and actually get to the platform level. Another minute or two if you're going east. Especially for someone who isn't a quick walker. Five minutes is closer to the truth for most people.

A direct tunnel would cut a minute or two from the walk.

But going via Dawes? That's ridiculous.

 

[Skeezix]

I'd estimate it's closer to 10 minutes once you exit the station, cross at the lights, go up the overpass and descend back down to the platform level. Especially for someone who isn't a quick walker.

A direct tunnel would be about five minutes for the average pedestrian.

Well, that's the issue isn't it? People are going to take significantly different amounts of time to traverse the route you just described. Even the timing of the traffic signal is a significant factor. That's why time is a meaningless indicator here.