TTC Customer Service

[Venti de Milo]

I'm sure this thread will grow...

May 10/07 - rush hour 5:30pm-ish, destination, Keele Station.

The train got stuck at the Spadina stop (green line). It didn't move for about 10 minutes. All we got was ONE annonucement about something happened at Christie. The volume was so low, and we didn't get it. After ANOTHER 10 minutes later, another annoucement, this time, it just said not sure WHEN the train will be moving again. Again, we had NO IDEA what happened. After waiting for about 30 minutes, a louder annoucer said that due to power outage at Christie, shuttle buses were avaible for people travelling from St. George to Ossington.

So, many people started to get off the train.

If I knew earlier, I'd have taken the Spadina/Univeristy yellow line up north to St Clair, then streetcar to Keele. Instead, I had waited for almost 30 mintues to find out the problem.

Ok, so I got off the train, like many people did. As soon as we got up the stairs, WE HEARD THE GOD DAMN TRAIN MOVING! We ran back down, the train left! Some people, including me, cursed the TTC like there's no tomorrow!

And of course, the next train took about 5-8min to arrive, and it was too full to jam in...

Totally, it took me more than 1 hr to get from Bay Station to Keele/St. Clair!

I wish we have those LCD screen in the train to annouce TTC news since those annoucers are not reliable to communicate with the commuters and most of the time, it's very difficult to hear what they are saying.

 

[ShonTron]

Here's a tip: 90% of the time, do not bother taking the shuttle buses due to a sudden subway service distruption. By the time the shuttle buses are scrambled from service on other routes and the garages, and the crowds jostle to get on the too few buses, the subway would be about ready to start up again.

Yep, I am sure this will be a popular thread. Like the time I was on the St. Clair car and a collision had all streetcars turning at Oakwood, but no one bothered to tell the passengers, of whom many could have taken alternate routes, and then operators kicking everyone off at Winona, two blocks uphill to Oakwood, where there were other routes (63 and 161).

 

[Observer Walt]

I was heading downtown from Kipling yesterday about 6 pm. and experienced apparently the same problem situation as you. The eastbound train stopped at Islington. The difference was, the driver was informative and got on the intercom right away, to say that power was out between Ossington and Christie. We sat for a few minutes, then got moving again, and the driver said the train would proceed as far as Keele and then turn back westbound. "Hopefully" there would be shuttle buses. By the time we got to Keele, this was once again revised and we were told the train would be proceeding right through.

I have to compliment this particular train operator for making a good effort to keep us informed. I think that makes the difference. Too often the attitude seems to be "can't be bothered".

 

[Tuscani01]

lol... I once got stuck at Dupont thanks to a power failure in the area. The trains were stuck in the station (both northbound and southbound). After about 10 minutes of waiting many people started leaving the train... I stuck around. About a minute after a wave of people leave the train, the power comes back on and we are off.


My biggest complaint has to do with how the TTC handles bus accidents. No one can leave the bus until a new one arrives. Last month I was almost late for an exam because my bus hit a car and the driver wasnt allowed to unload passengers until another bus arrived. Luckily another guy started getting noisy and I guess the driver buckled under the pressure. He let us out. We then all walked into Eglinton West station... a whole busload of people just going through the turnstiles without paying. I wonder what everyone who wasnt on the bus was thinking.

 

[salvius]

Queen St. streetcar during night is an uncertain proposition.

 

[TOinTO]

Like the time I was on the St. Clair car and a collision had all streetcars turning at Oakwood, but no one bothered to tell the passengers, of whom many could have taken alternate routes

I have similar complaint about a lack of information on problems ahead.

It was couple of months ago, on the day after that storm that took down a lot of trees and power lines - the day when the city was advising everyone not to leave their houses . I was on the College street car going west. I, and about 10 other people, got off at Spadina to get on the south bound Spadina street car.

Now it turned out that the Spadina line was dead. When I finally gave up waiting and walked I found more than 20 north and south bound street cars stopped a Dundas. So the problem had been around for a while. I guess the power was out at Dundas.

My complaint is - why couldn't the driver tell the passengers that the Spadina line was dead BEFORE they disembarked at Spadina? Many could have stayed on and taken Bathurst as an alternative. (They were routing south bound cars over to Bathurst at College. Of course there's no stop on the north side of College, so that didn't help me.)

The driver was either oblivious to it, which he shouldn't have been, or didn't care.

The TTC seems to think it's job it just to move trains, buses, street cars around. Instead, I wish it would start thinking of itself as a service to help people get around. Telling people about service interruptions in front of them is part of that.

 

[Hydrogen]

^And it's not like it can't be done. I can recall a couple of occaissions where there were detailed announcements of service disruptions down the line

 

[Venti de Milo]

I was heading downtown from Kipling yesterday about 6 pm. and experienced apparently the same problem situation as you. The eastbound train stopped at Islington. The difference was, the driver was informative and got on the intercom right away, to say that power was out between Ossington and Christie. We sat for a few minutes, then got moving again, and the driver said the train would proceed as far as Keele and then turn back westbound. "Hopefully" there would be shuttle buses. By the time we got to Keele, this was once again revised and we were told the train would be proceeding right through.

I have to compliment this particular train operator for making a good effort to keep us informed. I think that makes the difference. Too often the attitude seems to be "can't be bothered".

I agree. It makes so much difference if the driver "cares" about what s/he's doing. Sadly, most of them don't give a hoot about customer service, yet, they are getting such high salary.

 

[doady]

I agree. It makes so much difference if the driver "cares" about what s/he's doing. Sadly, most of them don't give a hoot about customer service, yet, they are getting such high salary.

Customer service is only part of their job. Probably not a good time to cut salaries considering the huge shortage of drivers...

 

[Venti de Milo]

Customer service is only part of their job. Probably not a good time to cut salaries considering the huge shortage of drivers...

My friend wants to get a job there, but it's impossible to get in...

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Since this thread is your outlet for your silly hissy fits and axe-grinding againt TTC drivers, I suppose then that when something good happens, or even, as in 99% of the time nothing happens and you get to where you need to go, we won't be hearing from you?

 

[Chuck]

The TTC has a monopoly within the price range that it charges. Regardless of the service it provides, most people have to take it, and therefore it has a huge obligation to provide top notch customer and transportation service.

If you have a bad experience at the Bay, you'll go to Sears next. If you don't like coke, you'll try pepsi. But if your trip was wrecked by a rude driver, the lack of alternative means you'll be back on that same route the next day, the day after, and the day after. As the taxpayers who fund the TTC, we have a right to complain as much as we want about that one tirp out of 50 that could have been better with a little more courtesy from the drivers.

 

[doady]

The TTC doesn't have a monopoly on anything. If you don't like the service, take the car, walk or bike and quit your bitching.

We don't have threads dedicated to stupid employees from other companies or stupid motorists who constantly hit your car including by a 24-year-old last week and this is the seventh time you've had fix it in the past 10 years.

I've had plenty of bad experience with mean, belligerent transit employees as well and in my experience most are very nice--what about a thread dedicated to them?

 

[Pep'rJack]

Since this thread is your outlet for your silly hissy fits and axe-grinding againt TTC drivers, I suppose then that when something good happens, or even, as in 99% of the time nothing happens and you get to where you need to go, we won't be hearing from you?

We don't have threads dedicated to stupid employees from other companies or stupid motorists ... I've had plenty of bad experience with mean, belligerent transit employees as well and in my experience most are very nice--what about a thread dedicated to them?

Thanks - I'm glad you two said these things before this thread got too idiotic.

"this thread is your outlet for your silly hissy fits"

So far, Venti, this seems to be your sole purpose in posting on this forum.

You are not my Hero.

 

[ShonTron]

I'm more inclined to complain than to complement, but if I see a driver do more than what his job call for, I will make a customer complement. I've done this twice in the last six months, the same number of times where I got angry enough to make a complaint. (St. Clair, and the time the driver blew right past me on the 99 Arrow Road).